Getting to the Ferry

Our main objective of this trip was to head to the San Juan islands. Since they are only accessible by boat or plane, we decided to take the ferry from Anacortes. We wanted to take our time driving to Anacortes, so we decided to spend the night there and then take the ferry the next morning.

We turned what should a been a few hour (at most) drive into a good half day drive by stopping. On our way North to Anacortes we felt the need to shop, so we stopped at the very nice Seattle Outlet Mall. Here we browsed some nice stores, found a few items that we wanted, and made a stop at Harry and David's. Harry and David's is a fancy food store and we picked out some yummy snacks to take with us. There are a number of very nice stores here and it is worth the stop. If one member of your party is not into shopping, the casino right next to the outlet stores will provide some entertainment. The mall lacks anywhere that good to eat, but the casino has a wonderful buffet. The next exit North on I-5 has a number of stores and restaurants as well.

After finishing up everything else, we finally arrived at our destination in Anacortes, The Anaco Bay Inn. This is a nice little hotel just as you enter Anacortes. There is no restaurant on the property, but they do have breakfast in the morning. The hotel has about 14 rooms. We wanted one with a jacuzzi tub, but they were all booked. We got a room with a king bed, a gas fireplace, and a small kitchen. The room was spacious and very nice. The fireplace had the addition of a fan that would blow the heat from the fireplace into the room. We didn't have to turn on the heater as the fire kept the room quite warm.

We enjoyed the fire and watched some TV before heading to bed to get an early start in the morning.