From the mountain to the sea...

And, vice versa.

What a beautiful day in the San Juan Islands!  Summer is really here.  Sunshine, warm (got into the upper 70s here today), low humidity, very light wind.  We decided to scooter through the islands again today.  Leaving the marina...

We walked to breakfast, where we discussed the plan for the day... and ate bacon.  I think better with bacon in my belly.  Back at the boat, we got it ready for a warm day, then up to permit parking for the scoots, and down to the ferry landing...

Checking WA-DOT, we saw that the ferry was going to be 15 minutes late arriving - exactly the amount of time we needed to get some ice cream.  I travel better with ice cream in my belly.  The lady who runs the ice cream shop was telling us that the "hot weather" was bad for business: it makes the ice cream too soft.  (Really.  Around here, upper 70s is hot; 80s is almost unbearable; if it gets to 90º, people start passing out from heat exhaustion.  They may be tough when it comes to cold and wet, but they can't handle the heat like us southern folks.  ;-)

When the ferry came in, they loaded Shaw Island vehicles first (so they could U-turn them at the far end of the ferry), then those two good-looking scoots went to the front of the ferry...

We headed north in San Juan Channel...

Joan picked up a map for Orcas Island at started checking out new places to explore...

We went outside when the ferry turned into the channel through the Wasp Islands...

A nice view of Mt. Baker in the distance...

The perspective on the water is so different from our boat to the whale watch boat to the ferry... and all of them are good.

Pulling into the Orcas Island ferry landing, we went down to the scoots to gear up.  They unload the walk-ons and the people with bicycles first, then the motorized two wheelers (we were the only ones)...

We were up the ramp before the pedestrians got to the street, and on to the scenic roads...

We knew we wanted to ride that great road up Mount Constitution, but wanted to ride around West Sound this time...

Past Deer Harbor Resort & Marina...

We have stayed here, and I have run charter trips to and from this harbor.  Our first time through here on land - great roads...

Beyond Deer Harbor, the road narrows; two cars would not be able to pass easily.  We could see Pole Pass through the trees.  Lots of great cabins and homes.  And the road narrowed more...

Then, came to an end.  Only way out: the way we came in.  Oh, darn, we're going to have to ride that road again!  ;-)

We turned east, then north after a while; next stop: Eastsound.  On the way, we came across those dreaded orange signs...

We saw those last time we were on Orcas, but they hadn't started the construction, yet.  Well, now they have...

Fresh chip-seal.  It's a layer of oil, then a bunch of gravel spread across the road.  In can be a real hazard for motocycles, if the oil has oozed up.  This wasn't bad.  Still, plenty of loose gravel.

Our first water view of East Sound...

We decided to stop for lunch in the town of Eastsound.  It's a cute little town; a variety of shops and restaurants.  We saw a familiar name: Madrona Bar & Grill - we have eaten at the one in Roche Harbor, and the food is good.  We parked the scoots...

That is an early GL1000 (Goldwing) parked between us.  Well, it was there first; we parked around it, giving the rider an easy exit if he left first.  Those early Goldwings were not the touring bike so well known these days - Honda promoted them as a muscle bike.  They really didn't gain an audience until people started putting fairings and saddlebags on them - they have come a long ways.

On to lunch...

The lady seating us asked if we wanted inside or outside seating - they had a table on the deck, with an umbrella for shade and a gorgeous view of the water...

Lunch was great - Joan had fish 'n chips, I had a flat-iron steak smothered with bleu cheese and tomatoes... and we did some swapping.  With bellies full, we headed towards Moran State Park and Mount Constitution...

More constructions signs, and this time they weren't kidding...

Yep.  Stopped by a flagman.  We found out, the road bed is gone.  We only had to go another half mile or so to get to the turn to Mount Constitution...

We had to off-road over a berm of asphalt, then headed up the road to Mount Constitution...

Those mopeds that were in front of us when we were stopped by the flagman were smoking and down to a crawl.  I was amazed that they were pulling uphill at all.  The average grade uphill is 8.5%, but gets to 15% at times.  We blasted around them like they were standing still.  Well, they were close to that.  Our Hondas pulled us up without breaking a sweat...

We passed a couple more mopeds that were really straining.  I am amazed that the rental company on this island allows them to go up this road - they really are a road hazard.  We came upon a Mini Cooper (with the bike on the back) that was having no problem with the twists, turns, and climbs...

We stopped at a turn out to enjoy the view to the south...

Back on the scoots, we caught up with the Mini Cooper before they reached the top.  We parked our scoots and went to check out the view to the northeast...

Check out the chick in the background...

Word has it she had a lot of fun on the ride up!  ;-)

What goes up must have a blast going back down (I think that is the saying).  We stopped for another scenic photo along the way...

I said to Joan, "I could tell you were smiling on that tight curve with the steep drop back there."  She smiled again.  She is a good rider.  I tried to pull away from her at one point on the way down - didn't happen.  ;-)

Back through the construction and the state park...

Back through Eastsound...

A different fun road back...

One more over the shoulder shot...

We made it back to the ferry landing in time to put the scoots at the front of the line and check out a nearby gift shop... Joan said, "For later shopping reference."  The ferry was on time, and we rode the scoots in...

It took a while for the ferry to get up to speed - there were a couple sailboats and one big powercruiser with an obvious party going on onboard that were blocking the ferry's departure.  Stupid.  From the Rules of the Road: BIG boat eats little boat.  It was this same place last year where a ferry ran over a sailboat that turned in front of them... did I mention: stupid.  Blasting the horn didn't seem to get their attention today.  When those three boats finally got out of the way, we were on our way through the Wasp Islands again...

And back to Friday Harbor.  $15.40 to get the scoots there and back; yes, total or both of them.  What a bargain!  A beautiful day to be on the water (on the ferry) and on the mountain (on the Hondas).  Some fun, new roads.  The ride up Mount Constitution was a "rerun"... sometimes things aren't as much fun second time around.  There was more traffic everywhere today, but the riding was even better.  Maybe it was the warm weather; maybe it was the fact that we were comfortable with the ferry schedule and knowing that we would go to the front of the line?

The guy at the Orcas ferry landing who sold us our tickets said, "That is SO smart, having those scooters.  Those things are perfect for here!  What do you get for mileage?"  When we told him "100 miles per gallon, sometimes more," he again said, "So smart.  Those Hondas are great."

Hard to argue with the guy when he's so right.  ;-)