A Whale-Watching Tale

There are several companies here that will take people out to look for this area's native whale species and marine wildlife.  We researched the local ones and decided to take the Washington Ferry System over to San Juan Island to use San Juan Safaris Whale Watching Tour.  There's a couple of other tours there as well as more located on the other San Juan Islands.  We wanted a boat that's not too big (less crowds) a boat that's not too small (might need that boat head) and this company had one that seemed just right for us (intimate yet offers comfort).

We left out from Anacortes early, taking the Washington Ferry over to Friday Harbor, the largest town located on San Juan Island.  We were going to have clear skies and temperatures in the low 70's.

Smooth sailing ahead..

As we traveled through the San Juan Islands, we viewed many smaller islands that make up this populated island chain.  Some islands are nothing more than a rocky outcropping with growing evergreen trees.  Our ferry ride was about 90 minutes.

Soon, we're arriving into Friday Harbor.

Once we disembarked the named "Samish" Washington Ferry, we made a quick walk over to the docks to locate San Juan Safaris.

What a beautiful harbor with the backdrop of the float planes landing and taking off.

Right off, we find San Juan Safari and our boat we'll be taking on their whale watching tour.  Yes, I like this boat.  Not too small, not too big, just right.

We walked onto the Washington Ferry, so we do not have the Jeep for touring this day.  We wanted lunch so we walked up to the Spring Street Deli, bought some of the most delicious sub sandwiches and enjoyed an awesome lunch.  We sat in the shade with this incredible view, watching the ferries come and go, the dock activity and the float planes.

We had about 2 hours once we got off the ferry to get lunch, walk a little around Friday Harbor and locate the tour company.  We got all that in and around 1:30 we were boarding our our boat on our way to look for the Orca Killer Whales of the San Juan Islands.

Our boat ride out to where a pod of Orca Killer Whales have been spotted is smooth and scenic.  We pass by more islands and other tour boats headed to view the whales.

The whales have been spotted in Canadian waters, so it's going to be a longer ride out than usual. Our naturalist tells us we are traveling to the boat's distance limits.  Soon, we spot them along with other tour boats, NOAA law states whale watching boats must stay 200 yards from the surfacing pods.  I don't have a telescoping camera lens so these photos are zoomed in as far as my camera will allow and then cropped for a better close up.  No, not the greatest photos, as we were facing into the sunlight too, but it's proof we were there and we saw them.  I did spend most of my time just enjoying the unbelievable moments of watching the huge mammals break the water's surface, dive back down and resurface. 

Our naturalist tells us these are Transient Orca Killer Whales, known as the being carnivorous.  The male has the tallest dorsal fin, being almost 6 feet long.

We enjoyed about 45 minutes of this amazing display. 

Our tour is over too soon and we must turn and head back to Friday Harbor.  We've spent over an hour traveling to the pod, watching them for about an hour and then travel back.  On our return trip, we see more wonderful scenery of the San Juan Islands.

With our tour complete, we have about an hour before it's time to board the Washington Ferry System and return back to Anacortes.  Our ferry ride of about 90 minutes is smooth and comfortable.  The afternoon sunlight puts a different mood on the islands as we ferry by.

We arrive back to Anacortes a little tired, but exhilarated for this memorable experience in our full time RV travels.

More later.

Anacortes "Fourth of July" Parade

We had been looking forward to the Anacortes' version of a traditional American Fourth of July Parade.  The town did not disappoint us, it was entertaining, informative and we really enjoyed it.  The parade involved patriotic displays of the United States Flag with military color guard, the local high school and middle school bands, local law enforcement and fire departments, politicians and some business floats.  There were Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, baton twirlers, cheerleaders, equestrians, fancy cars and kids on decorated bikes, all typical parade participants.  However, there were some units that did stand out to us. Here are some highlights.

A 1959 or 1958 Corvette that looks like new!

Beautifully restored Chrysler Imperial

The Soroptimist Thrift Shop's float with accompanying volunteers pushing patriotically decorated walkers. Yes, that was a hoot!

A really cool restored Jeep

The colorful "Pixie" Ladies dancing to a happy tune.

A very clean, partially restored 1968 Chevrolet Truck

Dancing Anacortes Beer Bottles

There was very impressive display of restored military vehicles.  These are just a few of them, I'm guessing they were from a private collection.

Serendipity showed up when our RVing friends, John and Suzanne landed in the same RV park as us.  Imagine our surprise when we all ran into one another as they were checking in for their 2 month stay.  We had not seen them since our time together in Florida April 2015. We celebrated The Fourth together at the Anacortes "Seafarers Waterside Town Park".

We all sat bundled up to ward off the chilly wind while we listened to the band and waited for the Anacortes Fourth of July Fireworks Celebration.  The band and fireworks were fantastic and catching up with our friends, even better.

More later..
Our whale watching trip from San Juan Island.

Heather Meadows

Viewing our National Park Service map of the North Cascades National Park, we saw an area called Heather Meadows and the Mount Baker Highway. After "googling" the site and finding out the road up to the Visitor Center had just opened, we knew we just had to make this drive. What we found was snow (lots of it) and outstanding views of Mount Baker.

Traveling State Road 542, also known as the Mount Baker Highway, views of the small communities were quiet and pastoral. That's Mt Baker's snowy cap peaking out from the rugged mountain range.

The roadway ditches are full of wildflowers, especially foxglove.

The Mount Baker Scenic Drive travels by Western Red Cedars that we read are at least 900 years old.  It is a wonder that these trees survived because some of the tree stumps we saw in the surrounding forest were huge.

Our GPS took us right there.  The drive up went by the Mount Baker Ski Lodge.  Ski season is over, therefore the Lodge was closed.

Continuing our drive up towards the Heather Meadows area, you pass picnic spots and parking lots for the ski lifts.

Yes, this is way more snow than what we saw on the Beartooth Highway in Montana. This is the 2.7 mile drive up to Artist Point.

The snow drifts get deeper and deeper along this scenic and curvy road.  We couldn't help but to wonder, what this road would look like during winter when the skiing is in season. Researching, I found that the Washington Dept of Transportation doesn't attempt to keep this section of the road open. There is just too much snow accumulation up here and the heavy snow would crush road warning signs and guard rails.

When we reach the anticipated Artist Point, the surrounding views are amazing.  Ron and I climb the high snow drift to see the Nooksack Ridge and it's gorgeous.  Most folks we saw had on shorts and short sleeves as the temperature was in the upper 60's.  The snow was melting fast and you could see many waterfalls in the area.  I had on heavier tennis shoes and had no trouble walking in the hard packed snow but it was a little slippery at times. Here's what I saw from my left..

Nooksack Ridge

And here's what I saw to my right..

Mount Shuksan 9131ft

And from behind me, you can see the parking lot and the tremendous snow drifts!

That's the bathroom covered with snow drifts.

Walking across the parking lot, you get the view of Mount Baker 10781ft.  This was my view from top of the snow drift.

And a zoomed in view of Mount Baker..

To give one some sort of size comparison of the snow drifts up there, here I am standing beside one.

World Record Snowfall in 1998-99 

and this link too.

Yes, you read that right.  In 1998-99, the National Climate of Extremes said a world record snowfall fell on Mount Baker of 1140 inches.  That's 95 feet.

Leaving Artist Point, the views to us are just as spectacular.

The Heather Meadows Visitor Center was not yet open this day.  Built by the Civilian Conservation Corp in 1940 as a ski warming hut, this sturdy building looked as if it blended into the surrounding rugged landscape.

Even the nice paved hiking trail down to Bagley Lakes was still closed by the snow.

And finally as we are leaving, a drive by a peaceful lake with a reflection of Mount Shuksan.

More Later.