I will tell you a story, it is long but it was great. You may wish to grab a snack.

This last summer I took a few days to island-hop in the San Juan islands here in Washington state. My sister-in-law came along on her Aprillia. It was good to have company.

Anyway, we went up the Kitsap peninsula up to Port Townsend and caught the ferry (the first of many) across to Coupeville on Whidbey island. The wind across the Sound was brisk and smelled heavily of salt. The ride was 40 min, I spent most of it up on the sun deck of the ferry. It was late afternoon, and the sunlight twinkled on the water towards the west.

We stayed that night at my (biological) sister's house near Clinton. We ate dinner with them, played with my nephews and had some quality "grown up time" with my sister and bro-in-law. My sis-in-law bought some wine on the way, it was such a pleasant evening.

Next morning, we headed up the island to catch our next ferry in Anacortes. It's a long, windy ride up Whidbey. Lots of farms and views of the water. We got food and gas in Oak Harbor and went up to Deception Pass. We got off our bikes and enjoyed the scenery. The pass is a narrow stretch of water that separates Whidbey from Fildalgo island. The bridge is over 200 feet above the water. To one side you see the mainland. The other side opens up to the straits of Jaun de Fucha. To the south is the Olympic peninsula, in the distance to the north is Vancouver island, Canada.

We left the pass and wound our way up Fildalgo island. Up past the two big refineries, through quaint downtown Anacortes. It's a neat place, almost like the bastard love child of Spanaway and Port Angeles. We rolled through town, anxious to make our reservations for the ferry to Friday Harbor. We paid our fare at the terminal and pulled to the front of the line. Washington State Ferries (WSF) allows motorcycles to cut to the front of the line and are usually first loaded onto the boat (therefore the first off too).

The ride to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island takes over an hour. We didn't see them, but there are pods of resident orcas that live up there. The Sun was brilliant on the cold blue waters and everywhere you look is another island. Some (like Orcas Island) are really big, others are so small that they literally have just one house on them. I found myself wondering what on earth people who own a home on a tiny island in the middle of nowhere must do for a living.

We arrived just after noon in Friday Harbor. It's the end of the line and we intended to hop from there back. The town is scenic and very touristy.