Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Scootin' to Fairhaven...


Last night at sunset, there was beautiful light...


Not a lot of color in the actual sunset...


We planned for a scooter day today - woke up to some fog...


Cleaned up, had our morning coffee and hot chocolate, then took the scoots to the ferry landing.  It's nice that we don't have to get in line an hour and a half before hand with the scooters - go to the head of the line, we're the first ones on the ferry.  We're getting this system down.  There were 3 other guys on bikes - one on a Honda Silverwing scooter, one on a Harley dresser, and another on an old Yamaha XS1100.  Turns out the guy on the Silverwing was Henry - the canvas guy I worked with on Kittiwake's new top.  We visited for a while, comparing the attributes of scooters.

I stepped back to get a photo of the bikes...


... and Joan took a photo of me getting a photo of her...


We rolled onto the ferry where they positioned us near the front...


They put us in a place that a car wouldn't fit - near the front.  First ones on, but there will be some other vehicles off before us.  We knew the bikes would handle the ride, so we went up to the passenger area on the ferry.  The obligatory "Joan on the ferry" shot...


Again, she took a photo of me...


I think she wanted to show my how good my trimmed beard looks (she gave me a haircut and trimmed my beard quite a bit yesterday).  Then, she took a selfie (us-ie?)...


I walked to the front of the ferry and took a few images of the fog coming and going...





Just before getting to Anacortes, we went down to the bikes...


The other guys on bikes were gearing up, too.  One of the parking attendants came over and asked us about our scooters - he didn't visit with the other bike guys... I think the PCXes just look approachable.

We rode into Anacortes and stopped for breakfast.  It was a chilly morning, so it was nice to start our ride with a full, warm belly.  We had no plan at this point, and decided to ride along the water to Fairhaven, near Bellingham.  The highway out of Anacortes...


Then, we turned north to drive along the bay...



It was low tide - not much water in Padilla Bay...


And by "not much", I mean: you coulda soaked it up with a sponge.  We came across this boat ramp...



Was it really necessary to put "High Tide Use Only" on the sign??  ;-)

Lots of agriculture along this road in Skagit County...


Through the small town of Edison...

 

Crossing the Samish River, we saw these boats...


There were quite a few run down RVs in this area; I'm assuming housing for the farm workers.  The boats above didn't look like they were going anywhere any time soon.  With RVs, we call that "Camp Dead End"... not sure what to call it with boats.

Riding further north, the scenery changed from farmland to heavily forested...




Good twisties and hills - some fine riding!  We stopped for a view of Chuckanut Bay...


Yes, there is plenty of water in this bay; we have anchored here with Wild Blue.  Some "we were here" photos...


Then, back on the road.  Past Larrabee State Park and through the woods...




Into the town of Fairhaven...


Lots of neat architecture...



A farmers' market...




Meal options and shopping...






Neat mural on the building...


Lunch at the Fat Pie pizza place (tasty!), then more wandering around...




Check out the rooftop on the building above: gardens.  We both like that premise - retail below, apartments above.  And a great view of the shipyards from the rooftop.

We stopped at a Haggen's grocery store to pick up a few things (the store in Friday Harbor has been out of double dipped chocolate covered peanuts since we got here), gassed up the scoots (102 mpg for me, 105 for Joan), and headed for the twisties again...



Some more shopping in Anacortes, then off to the ferry landing... and not two hours ahead of departure.  To the front of the line!  And then they loaded two other lines first... this ferry was making a stop at Lopez before going on to Friday Harbor...


Joan got in a short nap...


While I went to the back of the ferry to get a shot looking back through Thacker Pass...


A stop at Lopez Island to drop off a bunch of people and vehicles...


Then back to Friday Harbor.  A good day... some fine riding... pretty scenery... a nice walk around Fairhaven... and some fine Chicago deep dish pizza.

:-)


4 comments:

MarkJ said...

Awesome pics! Would love to be there!!!

Captain Jim and the Blonde said...

Thanks, Mark - we do enjoy this part of the country.

Chillis Lives said...

Thanks for taking the time to document the action. Gorgeous up there!

Herb Stark said...

How come I knew you would have lunch at the Fat Pie Pizza?

It just sounds right.