Attractions

Exploring Friday Harbor

Friday Harbor is the only real town on all of the islands, and as such it is home to numerous tourist-oriented shops, restaurants, motels, and B&Bs, as well as such island necessities as grocery and hardware stores. With its well-protected, large marina, it's also one of the most popular places in the islands for boaters to drop anchor.

If you arrive by car, you'll first want to find a parking space, which can be difficult in the summer. Once on foot, take a stroll around Friday Harbor to admire the simple wood-frame shop buildings constructed in the early 20th century. At that time, Friday Harbor was thought of as the southernmost port in Alaska and was a busy harbor. Schooners and steamships hauled the island's fruit, livestock, and lime (for cement) off to more populous markets. Today such pursuits have all died off, but reminders of the island's rural roots linger on, and these memories have fueled the island's new breadwinner: tourism.

Whale-watching is one of the most popular summer activities in the San Juans, and no one should visit the islands at this time of year without going out to see the area's orca whales. Before you head out, stop by the Whale Museum, 62 First St. N. (tel. 360/378-4710; www.whale-museum.org), where you can see whale skeletons and models of whales and learn all about the area's pods of orcas (also known as killer whales). The museum is open daily from 10am to 5pm (July-Aug 9am-6pm); admission is $6 for adults, $5 for seniors, and $3 for students and children ages 5 to 18.

If you're interested in learning more about island history, stop by the San Juan Historical Museum, 405 Price St. (tel. 360/378-3949; www.sjmuseum.org), housed in an 1894 farmhouse. It also includes several other historic buildings on its grounds. From May to September, the museum is open Tuesday through Thursday from 10am to 3pm and Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 4pm. In October, March, and April, the museum is open Saturday from 1 to 4pm. Open by appointment in other months. Admission is $2 for adults, $1 for children ages 6 to 18; free to children under 6.

Many of the town's old buildings now house art galleries and interesting shops. At Waterworks Gallery, 315 Spring St. (tel. 360/378-3060; www.waterworksgallery.com), you'll find fine art and contemporary crafts by local and regional artists. Arctic Raven Gallery, 130 S. First St. (tel. 888/378-3222 or 360/378-3433; www.arcticravengallery.com), specializes in contemporary Native American arts and crafts. The Garuda & I, 60 First St. (tel. 888/675-7039 or 360/378-3733), carries fascinating items from throughout the world, with an emphasis on Asian imports. Up at the top of Spring Street behind an amazingly contorted Camperdown elm tree, you can also visit the little Island Museum of Art, 314 Spring St. (tel. 360/370-5050; www.wbay.org), which is affiliated with the Westcott Bay Sculpture Park & Nature Reserve. The museum highlights local and regional artists. The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11am to 5pm. Admission is free.

If you need some wine for your vacation or want to take some home with you, stop by the tasting room at Island Wine Company, 2 Cannery Landing (tel. 800/248-WINE or 360/378-3229; www.sanjuancellars.com), which is the only place you can buy wine from San Juan Cellars. However, these wines are made from grapes grown in eastern Washington, not grapes grown on the islands. You'll find the wine shop on the immediate left as you leave the ferry.

If you walk over to the other side of the ferry landing and then out on the pier that serves as the dock for passenger ferries, you can take a peak at the Spring Street Landing Aquarium, a modest tank full of local denizens of the deep. The tank is in an open-air building at the end of the pier. Also keep an eye out for wildlife here. I've seen an otter swimming around by this pier.

Continuing along the waterfront toward the marina, you'll come to Fairweather Park, where you'll find artist Susan Point's traditional Northwest Coast Indian house post sculpture, which is similar to a totem pole. The sculpture represents the human-animal relationship and the marine ecosystem. Here in the park, you'll also find some covered picnic tables. At the adjacent marina, there are free concerts on Sunday afternoons in July. Concerts currently start at 2pm.

Seeing the Rest of the Island

Most of the island's main attractions can be seen on a long loop drive around the perimeter of San Juan. Start the drive by following Roche Harbor signs north out of Friday Harbor (take Spring St. to Second St. to Tucker Ave.).

In about 3 miles, you'll come to San Juan Vineyards, 3136 Roche Harbor Rd. (tel. 360/378-9463; www.sanjuanvineyards.com), which makes wines both from grapes grown off the island and from its own estate-grown Siegerrebbe and Madeline Angevine grapes. The tasting room is housed in an old schoolhouse built in 1896. It's open daily from 11am to 5pm in summer, Wednesday through Sunday from 11am to 5pm in spring and fall, and by appointment in other months.

A little farther north, you'll come to Roche Harbor Village, once the site of large limestone quarries that supplied lime to much of the West Coast. Many of the quarries' old structures are still visible, giving this area a decaying industrial look, but amidst the abandoned machinery stands the historic Hotel de Haro, a simple whitewashed wooden building with verandas across its two floors. Stop to admire the old-fashioned marina and colorful gardens; the deck of the hotel's lounge is one of the best places on the island to linger over a drink. In an old pasture on the edge of the resort property, you'll find the Westcott Bay Sculpture Park & Nature Reserve (tel. 360/370-5050; www.wbay.org), a sculpture park that includes more than 100 works of art set in grassy fields and along the shores of a small pond. Back in the woods near the resort is a mausoleum, which was erected by the founder of the quarries and the Hotel de Haro.

South of Roche Harbor, on West Valley Road, you'll come to the English Camp unit of San Juan Island National Historical Park (tel. 360/378-2902; www.nps.gov/sajh). This park commemorates the San Juan Island Pig War, one of North America's most unusual and least remembered confrontations. Way back in 1859, San Juan Island nearly became the site of a battle between the British and the Americans. The two countries had not yet agreed upon the border between the United States and Canada when a British pig on San Juan Island decided to have dinner in an American garden. Not taking too kindly to this, the owner of the garden shot the pig. The Brits, rather than welcome this succulent addition to their evening's repast, threatened redress. In less time than it takes to smoke a ham, both sides were calling in reinforcements. Luckily, this pigheadedness was defused, and a more serious confrontation was avoided.

This English Camp unit of the historical park is set on picturesque Garrison Bay, and, with its huge old shade trees, wide lawns, and white wooden buildings, is the picture of British civility. There's even a formal garden surrounded by a white picket fence. You can look inside the reconstructed buildings and imagine the days when this was one of the most far-flung corners of the British Empire. If you're full of energy, hike the 1.25-mile trail to the top of 650-foot Mount Young for a beautiful panorama of the island. There's also an easier 1-mile shoreline-hugging hike out to the end of Bell Point. The grounds are open daily from dawn to 11pm, and the visitor center is open from early June through early September, daily from 9am to 5pm. Throughout the summer, there is a variety of living history programs here on Saturday afternoons.

South of English Camp, watch for the Mitchell Bay Road turnoff. This connects to the Westside Road, which leads down the island's west coast. Along this road, you'll find San Juan County Park, a great spot for a picnic. A little farther south, you'll come to Lime Kiln State Park (tel. 360/378-2044), the country's first whale-watching park and a great place to spot these gentle giants in summer. This latter park is open daily from 8am to dusk and admission is $5. On either side of the state park are Deadman Bay Nature Preserve and Lime Kiln Nature Preserve, two properties acquired for public use by the San Juan County Land Bank. Between the state park and two preserves, there are more than 3 miles of hiking trails, which makes this the best hiking spot on the island.

As Westside Road moves inland, a left onto Wold Road will bring you to Pelindaba Lavender Farms, 33 Hawthorne Lane (tel. 866/819-1911 or 360/378-4248; www.pelindaba.com). The farm has roughly 5 acres of lavender plants, including a cutting field where visitors can cut their own lavender stems. It's open daily from 10am to 5pm between May and September. The gift shop is packed with lavender-scented products, and at the Lavendera Day Spa, you can get a massage or other skin or body treatment. There's another gift shop and tearoom in the Friday Harbor Center shopping plaza, in downtown Friday Harbor. The farm has a Lavender Harvest Festival each year in mid-July.

At the far south end of the island is the wind-swept promontory on which American Camp stood during the Pig War. Here you'll find a visitor center (open daily 8am-5pm in summer and 8am-4:30pm in other months) and two reconstructed buildings; before American Camp was built here, this was the site of a Hudson's Bay Company farm. The meadows sweeping down to the sea were once grazed by sheep and cattle, but today you'll see only rabbits browsing amid the high grasses and wildflowers (and the occasional red fox stalking the rabbits). Hiking trails here lead along the bluffs and down to the sea. My favorites are the Mount Finlayson Trail, which leads to the top of a grassy hill, and the Lagoon Trail, which leads through a dark forest of Douglas fir to Jackle's Lagoon, a great spot for bird-watching. Keep your eyes peeled for bald eagles, which are relatively plentiful around here. If you'd just like to picnic at a pleasantly secluded beach, head to the park's Fourth of July Beach. During summer months, there are Saturday afternoon living history programs at American Camp.

Continuing past American Camp will bring you to Cattle Point, site of a lighthouse and the Cattle Point Interpretive Area. This latter spot served, in the 1920s, as a Navy Radio Compass Station that helped ships navigate the nearby waters. Today there are rock outcrops, two tiny beaches, great views of Lopez Island, interpretive signs, and a few picnic tables that make this one of the best picnic spots on the island. Cattle Point is also a good destination for a bike ride from Friday Harbor.