Hubby and I tend to be last minute planners, at least for weekends. We've never been to the San Juan Islands before. We've talked about it lots but for whatever reason it has never happened. Until now. The May long weekend was okay weather wise and we had no other plans. So off we went. Dragging our friends along with is.
We flew into Bellingham first to clear customs. We later found out that we could have flown direct to Friday Harbor as there is a customs office there. Oh well know we know for next time.
We couldn't find a whole lot of information on flying in the San Juans, so we kind of made it up as we went along. We were hoping to camp at Friday Harbor, but they don't allow camping on the airport. No one could tell us why, just that it wasn't allowed.
This is what we now know about Friday Harbor Airport. They have transient parking for single and twin engine planes. There is no landing fee, the overnight fee is $13.00. No take offs between 1000pm and 700am. At the transient parking there is a bathroom (kind of - there's a superloo), carts for hauling luggage out to a vehicle, and a small building with a phone for calling taxis, flight planning etc.
There is a cafe at the airport, that's open for lunch and dinner. It's on the opposite side of the airport to the transient parking. So you'd have to go out the gate, and then walk round to the cafe. The cafe is called Ernie's.
The town of Friday Harbor is only a 6 minute walk from the airport. Our first stop was lunch, being a passenger is hard work and makes you hungry. We decided not to eat at the airport, we wanted to eat on a deck overlooking the harbour. Our first choice was closed, our second wouldn't allow kids, our third was good - Friday's Crabhouse. We had burgers and beer. It was good, and inexpensive, we'd eat here again.
(image from Friday's Crabhouse)
Friday Harbor is full of shops and boutiques, we window shopped a bit and picked up a few gifts. A store that we spent a fair amount of time in? The Hot Shop. I think they have every hot sauce known, and then some. They even have a sauce or two that you have to sign a waiver before you can buy!
There is much more to see in Friday Harbor and on San Juan Island. And we'll be back.