Ecotourism | Sherry Lachelle Travels

We drove 1 1/2 hours from Seattle to the Anacortes ferry, where we parked our car and walked onto the ferry for the hour-long ride over to the San Juan Island. I had reserved a room at the Earthbox Hotel for 1 night after our whale watching adventure. The ferry arrived in Friday Harbor…

where we disembarked and walked 2 blocks to the hotel. We explored the town after having lunch at the Downrigger restaurant on the water.

I chose the Western Prince for the whale watching and decided to book the 14 person expedition on a Zodiac boat. It was amazing. At one point, the whale named “Mike” came within 20 feet of our boat.

The feeling it invokes is one of wondrous excitement. Our guide said we had good whale “karma”.

My photos didn’t come out as good as I had hoped, because I decided not to take my good camera, for fear it may get splashed.

Have you ever gone on a vacation and everything was perfect…the weather, the train pulls up just as you walk to the platform, the locations you chose to stay in, the traffic is light, the whale comes within 20 feet of your whale watching boat! This was one of those trips. I fell in love with the VRBO (Vacation Rental By Owner) in Seattle. As you can see from the photos, the views were spectacular.

You could walk down to the beach…

The location is only a 10 minute drive from downtown Seattle and situated on the Puget Sound, in a neighborhood called Magnolia. The first day was a little cloudy, so I was very surprised and in awe the morning of Day 2, when I looked to the South from the picture windows and rising, like an apparition, was Mt. Rainier, in all of its glory. I had no idea it would be so dramatic and spiritual in nature.

We had dinner at Palisades Restaurant, which also has a lovely view. If you have reservations for 5pm seating, it’s only $29 for a 3 course meal. The food was good…not great.