Seattle Part 5: Excursion to Lopez Island

My final Seattle adventure was a trip to one of the San Juan Islands, north of the city.  The San Juans are up near Canada, not technically in Puget Sound, but still shielded from the open ocean by Vancouver Island.  Due to some local geography, they are in a relative rain-shadow, receiving about 20 inches a year, while Seattle gets about 35.  Parts of the Olympic Peninsula (like the rain forest I visited in the last post) get over 200! 

I only visited one island, Lopez, which is known for farms and for being very bicycle-friendly.  I took the ferry to the island, and made the decision that I would leave my car on the mainland, bringing Joe's mountain bike and a pack filled with my tent and other gear.  Here's a picture of the ferry approaching the dock:

 From the dock I huffed and puffed with my heavy pack for a mile before I found my campground.  Not any surprise that it was empty, given that it was mid-week in early November!  I set up my tent, stashed everything except a small day-pack inside, then hit the road.  Lopez is big enough to have a small town and lots of farmland.  I biked a loop roughly following the coast that was about thirty miles long.  Not bad!  Most of the interior is rolling farmland, like this:

 Just like when I was in Iowa and Nebraska, I was captured by the old barns.  Here are my two favorites:

Doesn't look like an island, but then I would turn a corner and have a view over the ocean:

Here's a fun picture of my shadow as I biked along.  The sun was sinking low and I was starting to head towards the town and some dinner:

Here's a picture looking across the harbor towards town:

 

The summer tourist season is well past, so there were only two restaurants open.  I noticed that one had a lot more cars parked out front - I figured that was a good sign, so I went there.  One burger and a bunch of sweet potato fries later I had listened to two guys at the next table talk about the hay crop, their kids' school and sports, etc.  Made me homesick for North Carolina! By then it was dark (but only 6:30) so I peddled back to the campground and spent the evening walking along the beach, watching the occasional boat going by.  The next day was colder and a little rainy, so I headed back to town and spent some time in the library.  It cleared as I headed back to the ferry, and I passed the local radio station:

Funny to think of such a small island having its own radio, but then, they probably don't pick up many stations from the mainland!  During the ferry ride, then car ride back to Seattle I watched the farmland go by.  I like the rural feel of the area north of Seattle.