After an extensive search, I settled on staying at EarthBox Inn & Spa which was just at the edge of Friday Harbor. The girls quickly settled in and claimed one of the queen beds as their own. The room was spacious and included a little kitchenette and a skylight. The skylight was beautiful until I realized that the sun sets at like 10 p.m. and comes back up at 4 a.m. around this time of year. The kids went to bed late and woke up early because the sun was up!
The hotel pool was a hit with the girls who insisted that we swim every day and then relax on the spacious patio afterwards. Their form of relaxation is completely different than mine. EarthBox Inn & Spa also had complimentary bikes which we had to skip due to the short legs in our group. Maggie's legs just couldn't reach the pedals! Luckily for us, we were right in town and walked to most meals and adventures.
We took an early ferry up to the island and after checking into our hotel, we headed out to lunch. Our first stop was The Bait Shop for Fish and Chips! We pretty much ordered everything off the menu in an attempt to try everything - Shrimp and Chips, Fish and Chips, shrimp tacos, New England Clam Chowder, King Crab Bisque. I made a plate for myself of everything and it was so good! Maggie ate all the fish and even stole some right out of my hands. Molly went nuts for the shrimp tacos and Scott loved the clam chowder.
After lunch, we roamed around town and visited a book store where Molly convinced me to buy her a book (I'll never turn down a book purchase). We explored some quite shops before checking out the Farmer's Market. I knew Scott was in vacation mode when he mentioned heading to the Farmer's Market, my one true love. They had the biggest pan of Paella being made which made me hungry even though I was already full from fish and chips.
After fueling up and exploring Friday Harbor, we headed back to the hotel to get the car. We headed north to Roche Harbor. The girls were fascinated by the wedding party being photographed while I mouthed to Scott, "We can't afford to encourage girlish dreams of a Roche Harbor wedding!" because you know that wedding was $$. Roche Harbor is on the northwest side of San Juan Island and is a sheltered harbor and resort. Facing Haro Strait, the resort is quite quaint but everything shuts early. We barely grabbed an much talked about ice cream before the shop closed at 3 p.m.
We then drove up to Lime Kiln Point State Park where I heard whales could be found. Ever since our whale trip in Hawaii, I've been itching to see more. Unlike Hawaii though, whale tours on San Juan were crazy expensive, $100 a person. We hiked down the whale trail from the parking lot and set our eyes to searching. We roamed around and talked to the researchers in the light house. It is a beautiful park and while we weren't lucky enough to spot whales, we did get to see a Fox and Deer.
We went to bed exhausted that night and everyone slept in! On Sunday we woke up and headed to Cynthia's Bistro for breakfast. I love tomato sauce with baked eggs but never get it. I ordered it from their menu and had chorizo added. It was so delicious! The girls had swedish pancakes and asked me to make some for them. I guess, I'll be working to learn how to make them. We had a long wait for food but the waitress brought the girls a puzzle and they passed time by sticking their toys in glasses of water. Ugh!
We next headed out to English Camp to explore. We hiked around and Molly found a rock wall to climb. She talked about climbing that thing for the rest of the weekend and even had us return on Monday to climb it again. I also had a nice chat with the woman working the informational booth and bought some National Park Passport Books for the girls. We're hitting up a ton of National Parks this summer so we'll be getting their books stamped. I'm excited and nervous about our summer road trip.
After spending time at English Camp, we decided to explore American Camp on the southern side of the island. We headed to Grandma's Cove which a short but steep hike to the beach. The girls had the best time running around and throwing sticks in the water. Scott even found a snake to show the kids.
By this time we were all tired and hungry and needed a bit of shade. We headed back to Friday Harbor for lunch at Market Chef. This deli makes mean sandwiches which filled our empty bellies right up. I knew the kids were hungry when they ate their sandwiches and stole our chips to finish off and then asked for ice cream. Since we were on vacation, we gave into their request and headed down to the ferry dock for delicious ice cream.
We then spent the rest of the afternoon swimming at the hotel and "relaxing" on the patio. For dinner, we headed to Cask & Schooner where I enjoyed the Ploughman's Platter.
I was so tired at the end of Sunday that the walk back to the hotel was seriously hard. As soon as we got back to the room, I got everyone changed and then crashed. Maggie decided to sleep with me that night which meant she slept on me. I was so tired, I didn't care.
Monday was our final day on the island and Molly asked to return to English Camp. After breakfast at Rocky Bay Cafe, we headed back up to the camp. Molly wanted to rock climb again so we headed up to the rock wall. Scott found an easy, flat 2-mile hike and suggested we head out to do that. I got excited and headed toward the trail head. We got about 1/4 mile into the hike when Molly announced that she wasn't doing it and ran back toward the car. What a disappointment! I did however get to see an Eagle land on a tree above me.
Since we weren't taking the ferry home until later and hiking was off the table, we had some time to kill. We ended up driving around the island a bit and then heading back to Friday Harbor where Molly convinced us to have another ice cream cone while watching the ferry dock. After some time spent in a park and walking around town, we were ready for our ride home. It was a great weekend and we are already looking forward to our next adventure!
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