Orcas Island Jaunt

We just got home earlier today from an overnight trip to Orcas Island. The weather was and is great. Today is sunny and in the 60s. A very nice way to begin Autumn. Yesterday we hit the road relatively early to drive to Anacortes to catch the 10:05 am ferry. The ferry stops at Lopez Island and Shaw Island before it drops us at Orcas Island.



Here is the view from the Orcas Hotel, our home for the evening. And this was also our view from our room, just one flight higher. Our room had a balcony. We sat out for a while, watching the ferries come and go and listening to the seagulls argue.

We've stayed in this hotel before. It's old and charming. The pics on the website are quite flattering. Not that it isn't nice, but it's old and creaky, and doesn't look quite as fresh and new as the website. The walls are cardboard thin. Last night was proof. Think of the Paul Simon song, Duncan -

"Couple in the next room
Bound to win a prize..."

I had to leave on the bathroom fan in order to get any sleep at all. We cruised around the Eastsound Farmer's Market. I picked up two varieties of hand-made soap. S grabbed a fresh raw oyster for an on-the-go snack. For the rest of lunch we headed to Olga to eat at Cafe Olga.

Here we are on top of Mount Constitution in Moran State Park. What a view. You can see Mt. Baker clearly. So many islands are visible from this point Lummi Island, Sinclair Island, Cypress Island, Blakely Island, to name a few.
On the ferry back to Anacortes, we had a primo spot in the very front, one of the three front row cars. Of course, for 2/3 of the trip we rode backwards. But we still had excellent views. Here is Mt. Baker again, as seen from our spot on board the Yakima.