28 JUN 2006 : WEDNESDAY (continued)
We basically did a clockwise circuit around San Juan Island. Friday harbor is approximately at the two o�clock position.
The first major stop was at the American Camp area of the San Juan National Historic Park. It was were the USian settlers stayed before �ownership� of the islands were finalized; they is an equivalent English Camp on the other side of the island.
We did not see any of the camp buildings. We stopped at South Beach and looked around a bit. We then stopped at the Cattle Point Interpretive Area and looked around. And finally we stopped at the actual main ranger station for some water. Amanda had to buy some, so I guess water was not free (San Juan being a island and all).
During our moped buggy trip we saw other buggies and actual mopeds, so they are rather popular.
We then stopped at a lavender farm. It was interesting seeing all the different lavender plants and huge fields of lavender. There was a tour bus there, and the people inside were fascinated with the buggy.
We then stopped at Limekiln Point State Park. It has the only public whale watching area in the US or world or something like that. We actually saw some of the resident orcas while we were there, and the view was better than our later whale watching trip.
Anyways, back on the road we passed through the English Camp, but we did not stop. We passed Roche Harbor which is apparently a nice resort area of some sort, but we did not stop either.
We did stop at an alpaca farm. They were cool.
Our final stop was at San Juan Vineyards. We got there right before they closed, but the person manning the visitor house did not mind. I tried a few of their wines; most of them are made with grapes grown elsewhere in Washington State… and now I wonder if they were fermented elsewhere, too. I did get their two whites that there grew right on the island. They were nice, but not mind-blowing; I got them more for souvenirs.
The wine person knew immediately we were in one of the moped buggies because we smelled like gas and petrol products.
We finally made our way back to return the vehicle and stopped only to put a small amount of gas in the tank.
We then made our way to our hotel to check in. The person at the desk had been wondering if we were going to show up even though we had dropped our bags off earlier. No harm done, though.
After washing the gas smell off, we considered dinner. We decided to go to a wine bar that we had passed by earlier. Here is a review I wrote up in 43places: