San Juan Sunday

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Going into the weekend, Jeremy said we were going biking on Sunday, but would not disclose where. Lisa said if it was longer than 20 miles or included hills, she would not be happy. Sunday morning, we woke up early (too early for some of us, ahem) and after a quick breakfast at Fresh Flours in nearby Phinney Ridge, we drove up I-5 to Anacortes to catch the ferry to Friday Harbor for a “leisurely” bike ride around San Juan Island.

We made good time up to Anacortes (less than an hour and a half) and as we drove down the scenic cove to the ferry terminal where we saw a ferry waiting, we congratulated ourselves on making the 10 a.m. ferry.

Problem was, after paying for parking and walking our bikes over to the ferry dock, there was no 10 a.m. ferry. Whoops. 

“You can catch the 12:05 to Lopez and transfer to get to Friday Harbor,” the ferry employee told us, seeing our fallen faces.

We faltered momentarily at the thought of waiting two hours, as it would not put us into Friday Harbor until 2 p.m. We thought of calling it quits and going home, or trying to find an alternative bike ride. But then we decided that since the sun doesn’t set now until about 9 p.m., and it was 70 degrees and sunny, and we’d driven all the way, we might as well make the most of the day.

So we caught the ferry, hopped off at Lopez Island and quickly hopped back on the ferry to Friday Harbor. 

That’s the view from the deck of The Doctor’s Office, a small cafe where we had lunch — half a turkey club and half a veggie special, all melty with boursin cheese and carrots and zucchini. 

Properly fortified, we hopped on the bikes and headed to South Beach, at the southern end of the island. Here was where that whole “leisurely” bike ride was proven a bit of a misnomer. Let’s just say there were a lot of hills, a certain amount of sweating, some angry tooth grinding by Lisa, and ultimately gorgeous views of Mt. Baker, Mt. Rainier (a good 150 miles away) and a calm beach to relax upon. 

After an hour of lazing about, we got up to leave, with visions of pints of beer at the end of all those hills back. But as we started up the hill, Jeremy’s gear caught on something and bent halfway out of joint. We started a sweat a bit, realizing we were almost 10 miles from Friday Harbor, with no cell phone service to call a cab.

Fortunately, we had Canadians. A convoy of British Columbian firefighters (really!) were on their way back from the beach, and we hailed them to ask if their cell phones worked. Instead, they poured out of their pickups, circled Jeremy’s bike, discussed animatedly how to repair it, and did just that with a rock and a screwdriver and a bit of elbow grease.

So we biked back to Friday Harbor and rewarded ourselves with microbrews from the San Juan Brewing Company at the Front Street Alehouse, as well as a tasty seafood chowder highly recommended by the waiter, with big chunks of yam and salmon.

Comfortably sated, we made our way back to Anacortes and home — with a deuce-deuce (22 oz.) of San Juan Brewing Co. pilsner in tow for our efforts. Next time, we’ll know the ferry schedule better, and perhaps try Lopez Island, which is supposed to offer some flatter terrain for biking.