28 JUNE 2006 : WEDNESDAY
We got up early to catch the Victoria Clipper to Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands. We stopped at a caf� in the hotel for some breakfast snacks for Amanda before walking to the docks.
The trip was uneventful. Immigration was quick; I guess I no longer look like a young punk who is out for causing trouble. There weren�t all that many people on the clipper (a smaller one than we rode on to Victoria). The weather was nice, the ride smooth, and it was pleasant to watch the scenery. The captain periodically gave information on the islands we were passing or sea creatures that we could see. It took a couple hours to get to Friday Harbor, which surprised me.
Customs at the dock (Spring Street Dock) was minimal. They were basically set up in a small airy building on the small dock, and all they did was look at our passports and waved us away.
It was again too early to check into our hotel, but we walked up to it and dropped off our backpacks. Friday Harbor is not that big, so it did not take all that long.
We then walked about the small town. We ate lunch at a Mediterranean place overlooking the harbor (Maloula�s). The outside deck had a nice view, but unbeknownst to us they were doing construction on the hill beside us so there was intermittent racket. We still stuck around. We both got falafels and I got a side of fries. The falafel was good, but unusual in the sense that they put dill pickles in the pitas. I thought it was interesting, but not really my thing. Amanda did not like it at all.
After a bit more idle walking around, we decided to rent a two person moped vehicle and ride around the island. The rental guy said it would take us around two-and-a-half hours probably if we did not stop anywhere. It was on the expensive side, but, hey, we were on vacation.
The vehicle was basically a moped surrounded by a small golf cart body; there was a single wheel in the back for locomotion, two wheel in the front for steering, and a couple smaller wheels in the back to prevent the thing from tipping over. Two people could allegedly ride in it. I found the thing very cramped, and I could never really put my feet and legs anywhere comfortable whether driving or riding. Amanda found it a bit more comfortable. We could have gotten separate actual mopeds, but that would not have been any fun.
The thing topped out at around 25mph if one was lucky, and faster than that downhill. However, one did not want to go faster because the thing got all squiggly and wobbly. We also really exceeded the max weight of 300 pounds, so it was probably more underpowered than normal.
Riding around was fun, though. There was not all that much traffic on the roads, and it was easy enough to stay at the right hand side or shoulder and let any faster cars pass us.
(to be continued)