On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
frosty
This wasn’t on our original itinerary. We were going to see our Florida/Oregon friends in Bend but it turned out they weren’t going to be there this summer. We had a week planned in Bend and Portland and decided to switch it up. We’ve been in Portland, but not Seattle. So I set about finding a place to park the trailer. Seattle over 4th of July was difficult but we found something.
Our first stop by Puget Sound was near Anacortes. We were there for 2 1/2 days; visited the town of La Conner, drove down Whidbey Island to Lagrange, and on our last day took the ferry to San Juan Island. We left the car and went as passengers only – much easier and cheaper. When we got to Friday Harbor we got on board the “Jolly Trolley” for a hop-on hop-off tour of the island. We’ve done these before in a lot of other places. Kind of kitchy but it’s a good way to get an overview of a place.
Then down to Seattle. First stop was the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum. I’ll post pictures of this later in another post. After that we went to Pike Place Market, had dinner at the Zig Zag Cafe, and made our way back.
Passage between islands on the way out
Ferry arrival at Friday Harbor
We hopped off at Lime Kiln Point State Park, on the west side of the island. The main attraction here is whale watching; specifically orcas. There were three pods in the area the day we were there. Unfortunately none of them were within view.
The lighthouse at Lime Kiln Point
Pike Place Market. We were there the Friday after July 4th. Lots of people!
The first Starbucks. Zoom into the logo, it’s the first one they used before they covered the mermaid up.
The line you had to wait in to say you bought something from the first Starbucks. I passed. If we can skip the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London because of the lines, we can skip Starbucks.
Pasta stand. Both regular and gluten-free. I bought some sweet potato penne; haven’t tried it yet.
Part of the Gum Wall, which goes for half a block. It’s exactly what you think it is. It’s famous enough that it was mentioned in my Fodor’s Guide to the Pacific Northwest. In Paris they put padlocks on the bridges over the Seine. In Seattle …
Another picture of the (ewwww!) wall
eclare
Very cool photos!
I zoomed onto the Starbucks sign and didn’t see anything surprising.
Baud
I wouldn’t wait in line either.
raven
We camped at Doe Bay many moons ago!
CaseyL
@eclare:
The original logo was a bit racy. It’s been steadily made-safe-for-corporate ever since.
BretH
I pass on ordinary Starbucks with their burnt coffee anyway. The Gum Wall sounds fascinating and is probably colorful from a distance but I’d skip the extreme close-ups.
BretH
Double-post
Winter Wren
I am the same way about long lines. It has to be really special. That gum wall is pretty interesting. Nice shots of the urbanscape and lovely photos of the coast. Sorry you missed the Orcas.
MCat
Thanks for the photos. Sorry the orcas were busy.
West of the Rockies
Interesting post & pics! Thank you.
There is (or was) a Bubble Gum Alley in San Luis Obispo 20+ years ago. Neat idea, I guess… Gross up close.
StringOnAStick
If you ever come through Bend in the future, we could do a meetup; I love this town!
Dan B
It’s interesting to see what visitors make of this area. I’ve worked in the San Juan’s and vacationed there. My favorite way is flying, especially the float plane from Lake Union to Roche Harbor at the north end of San Juan Island, but the flight that made stops on multiple little islands, some with dirt and gravel runways. BTW the original Starbucks was a block south and didn’t brew coffee. It smelled amazing.