Wednesday, September 1, 2010

What makes an Englishman smile? Roche Harbor and Garrison Bay



The San Juan Islands are sparsely inhabited with the exception of a few towns that by our mainland standards still are quite small. Many of these started as fishing ports or ports that carried on business. One of those is Roche Harbor, where lime was milled from the hills surrounding. Now it is a bit of a resort town with the old and famous De Haro Hotel and condominiums and shops. AND might I add some pretty impressive yachts and some killer drinks to boot.


Before leaving for lunch we stopped by La Vida to see how expertly Curtiss has outfitted their 26 foot boot. Only a true cruiser would know how to create storage out of nothing! From La Vida we could watch people coming and going and the general busy-ness of the harbor, including the portable pumpout guy who was looking for heads to clean.


Then we headed into the town to find lunch stopping to see shops along the way and read few signs.....


The lime mills were still set into the hillside .




Our destination was an outdoor restaurant with a reputation for good food and great drinks.



Berry Mojitos gave way to Rum Runners and we all were having a marvelous time.


But no one enjoyed the day as much as our Englishman John who had been looking for decent fish and chips for 18 years here in America. He declared these were by far the best he has had! Curtiss liked them too and both of them spent the next hour or so explaining why they loved these crispy pieces of Halibut.



Glenn drank a beer, not one of those fu fu drinks, a beer. He didn't miss the drink except for the umbrellas...They are good ear decorations.


After throughly enjoying ourselves it was off to Garrison Bay, where English Camp is one of three places in the US where the Union Jack flies over National Parkland.

A day meant for our English transplant.

It was here through peaceful arbitration a dispute over a dead pig helped decide the ultimate borders of the US and Canada in 1846 setting up the 49th parallel as the border between the two countries.


The English ladies felt more at home with their formal gardens.








So did the deer


We headed back to the boat with a plan.... We would take land transportation to Friday Harbor the next day...


Meantime we surveyed the views

Cooked a little dinner

Set Crab pots the next morning before heading off.


On to..... Friday Harbor!

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