2014 Summer Solstice Inn at Ships Bay Orcas Island

We wanted to show Big D where his parents tied the Knot.

sereneness

Had a great party in this Hall

Looking for Eagles

Ships Bay on the East side of East Sound

 The historic 1869 Adam's farmhouse now the Restaurant and Bar

Found the patio was a good spot to just sit and do some birding

and enjoy other things

Barn Swallow

A few Canada Geese

A couple of Juvenile Eagles

The Daddy Eagle (or the mama)

Mexican Violet Green Swallow

On the way back we noticed this sign for tomorrows big Solstice Parade

Back in time for Happy Hour!

2014 Summer Solstice Inn at Ships Bay Orcas Island

http://www.innatshipbay.com/

We took D to visit the place where his parents tied the knot, thought that would be good for him to know where it officially began, plus we just wanted to revisit a place where two families came together as one to foster the newest addition. Incredibly fond memories and Orcas continues to be a special place in the entire family's heart.

We walked the grounds and reminisced plus introducing it all to Drew. Eagles frequent here as the Restaurants chef tosses out the several pounds of salmon and other seafood stuff off the cliff down to the water most days around 5pm. Enough wildlife shows up to clean the rocky beach below of all the scraps.

I am sure anywhere in the San Juans is remarkable but for whatever reason Orcas made a particular impression on this family. I have an old High School buddy Martti who's family fell in love with San Juan Island and in particular  Friday Harbor, they spend as much time as possible there each summer with their grown children. I really like that spot as well especially since it is a big cruisers destination and there is always something going on there with sailboats. 

"The San Juan Islands are an archipelago in the northwest corner of the contiguous United States between the US mainland and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The San Juan Islands are part of the U.S. state of Washington.

In the archipelago, four islands are accessible by passenger ferry operated by the Washington State Ferries system.^[1]

Point Lopez Island, one of the San Juan Islands, Washington

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) defines the San Juan Islands as the archipelago north of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, west of Rosario Strait, east of Haro Strait, and south of Boundary Pass.^[2] To the north lie the open waters of the Strait of Georgia. All these waters are within the Salish Sea. The USGS definition of the San Juan archipelago coincides with San Juan County. Islands not in San Juan County are not part of the San Juan Islands, according to the USGS."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Juan_Islands

The four Islands served by the ferry system are Lopez, Shaw, Orcas, and San Juan. You need a boat or Sea Plane to get to all the others. We are particularly fond of Sucia since we anchored there for 1 night when we chartered a 42' Tayana out of Bellingham several years ago. Once you get to any of the four islands there are ususally excursion services that can get you to just about anywhere. We have lots of friends who repeated go to the Virgin Islands to bare boat charter. I have tried to encourage them to just once do a charter out of Anacortes or Bellingham and sail one of the finest sailing grounds on planet Earth. I have had opportunities to talk to sailors here in the PNW who have literally sailed all over the world and when they ended their incredible cruise they came to the San Juan area to live because to them this was the most beautiful spot on the planet to them. Many of my Texas friends who have tons of sailing experience say they don't want to have to deal with the big tides and currents, and they don't like cold water. I encourage all to get out of their comfort zone and learn something new...that's Real living!