"As You Like It" in the San Juans

My husband and I just spent a fabulous and full weekend in the San Juans. The San Juans are made up of multiple islands in the north Puget Sound so just like if you were going to Hawaii everyone asks "which island?" and we were on THE San Juan Island.

Even more fabulous about our quick getaway is that we flew Kenmore Air round trip in a 7-seater float plane. Easy and efficient, we flew in and out of Lake Union (just 5 minutes from home) and directly to the island in about 45 minutes. And the views were 1st class the whole way - since you're only at about 1500 feet up you can really see the world below you.

It's been one of my travel dreams to ride mopeds around the San Juans so we picked two up from Susie's Mopeds and sped off to Friday Harbor. I'm really glad that I fulfilled my moped dream but I probably won't do it again. The island is much bigger than I realized. It took about 30 minutes to go 10 miles and to spend all day on a moped would have left my body feeling numb and I think we would have felt rushed. We ended up renting a car for the rest of the weekend which really felt like a necessity to do it all on the island. They have a shuttle service but it would have cost almost as much to rent the car to get around and it doesn't run often enough to be convenient.

San Juan Vineyards is the only winery on the island and we sampled 5 wines and ended up settling for a glass of their Cabernet Merlot blend with crackers and cheese on their porch. From our table we could watch Mori the camel entertain other visitors across the street.

We visited the southern most point of the island Cattle Point and then visited American Camp. America and Britain both claimed ownership of the San Juan Island in the 1800s and so they setup small camps. Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany helped end the dispute and gave the island to US and all was peaceful except for the loss of a pig. If you want to know the full and most accurate history you can ready more on the National Park Service site.

Dinner Saturday night was at Vinny's, an Italian Restaurant. We order a mushroom appetizer, I had seafood fettuccine and my husband had veal. Dessert was creme brulee for me and spumoni ice cream for him. My fettuccine sauce was a little boring but the seafood was great. Overall a very good dinner and I would go back.

My favorite part of the trip was watching a production of Shakespeare's "As You Like It" in the park/woods. Each summer Island Stage Left puts on a free performance and fortunately we saw a sign about it. The actors were amazing spitting out complicated Shakespearean verse and they all sang and danced. It was an incredible and unexpected experience.

We ended our evening at Hillside House Bed & Breakfast in the Captain's Quarters. We had a peek-a-boo view of the sound and a very comfortable mattress. In the morning they provided a hot breakfast of cranberry walnut muffins (I want the recipe) and a spicy green chili egg souffle.

With a full day of plans ahead of us we started at the Pelindaba Lavender Farm where we sampled lavender chutney (not so good) and vanilla lavender ice cream (worth a taste). They have a lavender version of almost anything you can think of including hand sanitizer and lavender lemonade. This would be a great place to take a stroll through the fields or relax and breathe in the lavender scents but there were a lot of bees if that bothers you (they didn't bug us s they were just doing their pollinating thing and wanted to be left alone).

Next stop was Lime Kiln Point State Park where you can view whales from the shoreline and they have a cute light house too. We didn't see any whales while we were there but one seal did pop his head up for a moment. This park is a great place to relax and do some boat watching. We saw an enormous yacht cruise by with a helicopter on the back. And yes that is Canada across the way.

Last stop of the day before heading back to Friday Harbor was English Camp to hear their side of the land dispute story. A cool treat was a telescope that they had setup so that you could see 4 young osprey's hanging out in their nest at the top of a tree. The camp was a nice area for picnics and has one extremely large maple tree.

For lunch back in Friday Harbor we went to the Front Street Ale House which is an extension of the San Juan Brewing Co. I ordered nachos and was disappointed with only a sprinkling of green onions and 5 little slices of tomato. But my husband received some very generous portions of halibut with his fish and chips order. Afterwards we grabbed some ice cream and walked around the town before settling down with our books to wait for our flight home.

The San Juans are a great place to get away and spend a weekend. I highly recommend having a car to really see the island though as it's spread out and alternate transportation is limited. If you have more time I would jump on a ferry and visit the neighboring islands. Overall, a very full yet relaxing and enjoyable weekend.