PNW Road Trip Days 15 and 16: Orcas Island to Portland to Home

Well, we are coming to the end of this journey. Why are the end of vacations so bittersweet? While I was looking forward to getting home in many ways, I was also feeling very sad. I was sad because the adventure and the feeling of freedom were almost over, and the good friend that I just shared all of these amazing experiences with lives in a different city and it would probably be another year before I saw him again. So...while I was still enjoying these last couple of days, I was also feeling rather melancholy and sad.

Day 15 started out early with getting up, packing up the car and driving to the ferry terminal at Orcas Village. We parked the car in line and headed over to Orcas Hotel for a little breakfast. The poor lady at the cafe was completely overwhelmed. She was the only one working and there was a long line...she was taking the orders, working the cash register and fixing breakfast. It was a long wait. *sigh*

We sat and had our breakfast looking out over Orcas Village feeling sad about leaving this beautiful place...when we saw our ferry (below) come around the corner. I guess that means we should start heading back to the car now.

The front porch of the Orcas Hotel.

After driving onto the ferry, we got out and went up to the upper decks to enjoy Orcas and the San Juan's for as long as possibile. View looking back to Orcas from the ferry.

Here we go....bye for now Orcas!

View of the ferry and the San Juan Islands.

Heading to Lopez Island.

After the ferry ride back to the mainland, we did some serious driving south toward Portland. We had one stop to make though before heading to our hotel...and that was at a place for a piece of cherry pie and a damn fine cup of coffee. Yep, my travel mate HAD to make a stop at Twede's Cafe in North Bend, the diner of Twin Peaks fame, for the cherry pie and coffee. It was a little out of the way, but a fun stop to make! The town was really cool. It was surrounded by mountains which had a cloud cover hanging all over them...very much the mood of Twin Peaks.

A piece of cherry pie (ala mode) and a damn fine cup of coffee. Yum....the pie and the coffee were truly both delicious. I got a coffee mug to go too!

After our stop at Twede's, we made a beeline for our Portland hotel. We wanted to get settled and head out for a nice dinner in Portland and a visit to Powell's Books. This was the view from our Portland hotel room.

I didn't take my camera out this evening, but we ate at Henry's 12th Street Tavern near

Powell's Bookstore in Portland Oregon (phone photo below). We had a nice meal and some delicious draft beers and then headed over to Powell's Bookstore where we wandered for a long long time. Powell's seemed to go on and on forever. Oh, we did stop for some gelato first though.

After wandering around Powell's, we headed back to our hotel to do our final packing and get to sleep. Both of our flights left fairly late the next day, and we wanted to hit the Hawthorne District for breakfast and shopping in the morning and then walk along Waterfront Park before heading to the airport in the afternoon. A good friend of mine who grew up in the Portland area told me that I had to go to Petite Provence for breakfast, so that is where we headed first thing on our last day.

Oh, if breakfast was as good as these French pastries looked...Yum!

I ordered the Eggs Provencal...which was two fresh poached eggs served atop basil pesto and flame-roasted tomatoes sprinkled with mozzarella cheese. It was served with Provencal potatoes and butternut squash and a homemade croissant with fresh jam...and a delicious espresso. Oh, so so good! Good thing this place isn't right down the street from my house!

After breakfast, we wandered all over the Hawthorne District of Portland doing a little shopping for friends and family. This is the famous Bagdad Theater (below).

An interesting window display in the Hawthorne District. It sort of felt like I was in Amsterdam.

After shopping for awhile, we headed over to the Waterfront area to look around. We parked in a big office building and hiked a few blocks to Waterfront Park where we walked for awhile, feeling rather sad that this journey was coming to an end.

A Portland Bridge over the Willamette River.

Some Canadian Geese that had a hard time swimming against the current when the Portland Spirit left the dock.

The waterfront was getting ready for some big event over the weekend (we were there on Friday, June 10th, 2011). There were all kinds of ships docked along the river and rides and food places were going up all over. Lots of people milling around.

The Portland Spirit.

This was a boat that was used in Vietnam (below).

Twin Canadian ships.

One last photo of Portland before heading back to the car to go to the airport. This was an interesting part of town...it reminded me a bit of downtown Long Beach (hometown) where there is a mixture of new development and older buildings, as well as a mixed bag of residents.

Time to head to the airport now. My friend's plane left WAY before mine, so I would spend several hours at the airport before heading home. Unfortunately, the Jet Blue counter was closed and I had to trapse all over the airport with a huge luggage cart in tow until they reopened a few hours later. I was pretty emotional this day. A good friend was going home and a fun adventure was coming to an end. I have to admit that I was in tears for awhile after saying good-bye :(. After a couple glasses of wine and some dinner, I was able to check in for my flight and was ready to head home. Goodbye Oregon and Washington...it was an amazing adventure! Thank you for being so beautiful! This is a photo of Mount Hood from the airplane headed home.

Another one...

Some serious storm clouds outside of Portland.

Well, that is the end of my Pacific Northwest adventure. After the initial sadness wore off, I was ready to plan my next big adventure...I wonder where it will be?

PNW Road Trip Day 14: Westsound, Deer Harbor and an Orcas Whale Expedition

Day fourteen brings us to our last full day on Orcas Island...boo-hoo. Tomorrow we head out early to catch a ferry back to the mainland and then a long drive back to Portland for our last night before heading home the following day. Okay, getting ahead of myself a little. We still had today to enjoy! Since our whale watching excursion wasn't until the afternoon, we got up and headed to the only part of the island that we had not really explored yet...West Sound and Deer Harbor. We first came across a sleepy little town on West Sound with this cool wooden pier. I don't recall seeing a single soul while we were walking around here.

Nice calm waters with cloud reflections.

A beautiful pink rose.

We continued along this road along the west side of the island over to Deer Harbor where we found a little big larger town and some people milling around. This beautiful Wisteria was at the entrance to the Deer Harbor Dock.

This was a funky little store on the Deer Harbor dock.

A beautiful patch of daisies that we came across near Deer Harbor...had to stop and take photos. Imagine that!

Up close.

There was some really beautiful rural scenery on this side of Orcas Island. This lovely blue shed sitting out in a field of green and gold was just calling out for a photo to be taken. Someone on Flickr told me that was a Wedding Bush in the foreground. Pretty!

Windmill in a field of gold.

We saw this barn and wanted to stop and take a few photos of it, when all of a sudden we had a visitor. I like to call her Mrs. Ed (I know, I am really dating myself here). She was a beautiful horse. What a picture perfect rural scene.

I think she was hoping for an apple. Sorry I didn't have any.

Oh, here comes her mule friend...

This was a beautiful red wood and stone house between Deer Harbor and West Sound. It reminded me so much of the French countryside. There was woman outside doing some gardening and there were a couple of goats following her around. A very peaceful scene.

After stopping, once again, at the Orca Hotel for a salmon sandwich and a beer, it was time to go see if we could spot some Orcas this time. The photo below was taken while I was wandering around outside waiting for the guys from Outer Island Expeditions to get us going.

We took the big boat this time and Beau (Outer Island Expeditions) even went with us. I think he was as excited as we were that the Orcas were back in the San Juan's.

The moment we spotted "our" first Orca was a feeling like none other. Complete wonder, excitement and awe. From that moment on, the click, click, click, click, click of our two cameras was non-stop. What a thrill to see wild Orcas in such a beautiful place. Anyway, here are a few photos from our Orcas boat trip.

According to the long straight fin, this is a male Orca (below).

A mom (smaller curved fin) and her calf (tiny fin)....awwwwwwww!

A couple of female Orcas below.

A female and a male Orca.

Sailing the San Juan's...yeah..I could do that!

Three in a row...a male and two females.

This looks like a male Orca and a calf or a female below the surface.

Female Orca spouting.

Two females.

This could be a mom and her calf.

Male.

As we came near this cape where the lighthouse was, the Orcas starting getting excited. They became more active and came out of the water more...almost as if putting on a show for the people on the shore.

In this one, you can just barely see one of the Orcas rounding the bend of the cape (far right).

Female Orca getting more lively.

And then...there is was...a breach...but, of course, I missed it with the camera and just got the big splash at the end. Darn! There were actually three breaches within a few minutes and I missed EVERY SINGLE ONE of them. *sigh*

Luckily, my friend caught one of them...YAY!!! 

Photo credit: Mark Stevens

Well, after a few hours with the Orcas, it was time to start heading back to Eastsound. I think I could have stayed and watched them forever. Ah well, time to start back. We stopped at this island, which was a wildlife refuge, to see the seals on the way home...and caught one Harbor Seal (below) in a funny (cute) pose. I also love the American Oystercatchers on the rocks above the seals.

After we arrived back at Eastsound and started making our way back up to the Outer Island Expedition office, an Osprey flew directly over us allowing me to take some pretty cool photos of him/her.

Finally, after arriving back on Orca's Island, we headed back to the hotel to clean up for dinner. It had been a very long and satisfying last day on Orca's...now we were hungry...but it was late.  We called a few places to see what times they closed and decided on the Inn at Ship's Bay. We better hurry. After a delicious dinner, it was still light outside so we decided to walk around the grounds a the bit. 

View onto Eastsound at the Inn at Ship's Bay.

A gorgeous red cottage and lilly pond with Adirondock chairs sitting out front. So lovely!

Well, that was it for our last day on Orca's. We headed back to the hotel to pack up and get to bed since we had a very early wake-up the next day. It was such a pleasure to spend four great days on this wonderful island. I think I could live here..and who knows...maybe someday I will. Goodnight.