Roche Harbor ...

- You & Me,  Roche Harbor   03/2011 -

This post should have been made in March so please bear with me while I try to catch-up.

Jess, Aidan & I got back from Seaside, Oregon on a Thursday afternoon (March 24, 2011) and they left to go home the next day, Friday and then Mike & I left moments later.

We jumped in the car and headed off to Anacortes to catch the ferry  over to the Roche Harbor Resort on San Juan Island.

We had never been to the San Juan's before but I had always wanted to see them but they are on my 2011 Washington Bucket List.

 

When we decided to move back to Washington from San Diego I promised myself that I would finally go visit all the amazing places this state has to offer but we had never bothered to go see.

Washington is such a beautiful place to live and I want to see, hear, smell and experience all of it.

This my 2011 Pacific Northwest Bucket List: 

1. Hoh Rain forest
2. Forks (Hey, if I'm lucky enough to live near the Vampires I'm gonna go see them!)
3. San Juan Island 
4. Orcas Island
5. Gonzaga University
6. The Petrified Ginkgo Forest
7.  Elwha Dam
   
8. Ghost town
9. Washington's MaryHill Stonehenge
10. Grand Coulee Dam

The San Juan Islands are an archipelago located about 65 miles north of Seattle (about mid way between Vancouver, BC and Seattle, WA).   

We caught the ferry over to San Juan in Anacortes.

The archipelago is made up of the American San Juan Islands and the Canadian Gulf Islands and collectively there are more than 400 islands.  The 3 largest inhabited islands are the San Juan, Orcas & Lopez Island.  Roche Harbor resort is located on San Juan Island.

The biggest town on the island is Friday Harbor and the Roche Harbor is about a  15 - 20 drive from the town of Friday Harbor.

Friday Harbor is a beautiful little island town but you can see evidence of economic troubles all over the town which is riddled with 'For Lease' signs.

The Roche Harbor resort is so beautiful.  While most of resort is closed down for the winter season there is still much to see & do - kayaking, canoeing, fishing and hiking.

  Roche Harbor was originally settled by the Hudson Bay Co. in 1845 but by 1886 it became the Tacoma & Roche Harbor Lime Company. It was a company town and the workers were paid in scrip which was good only in the company store until the company was sold in 1956 (but the workers receive in currency whenever they wanted).

I found some old pictures of Roche Harbor back when it was a mining town and I thought it would be fun to have a look at the Old and the New.

 Here is the main harbor as we saw it during our visit ...

The harbor in the early 1920's ...

Boats in the harbor today ....

and the boats of yesterday ...

The Hotel De Haro today ...

And yesterday ...

The Owner's home (from the hillside above) which today is a restaurant & bar ...

and years ago  ...

Beautiful gardens surround the house today, in fact, a friend's daughter is getting married in these gardens in a couple weeks.

and in years past the mine's owners hosted many elaborate parties in these gardens ...

The Company store today ...

it hasn't changed all that much ... 

Now ...

Then ...

I love a good trip through yesterday ...

Today

 Yesterday

All in all we had a wonderful trip. Incredible weather - sunny but cool - people about but not crowded. 

We just relaxed and enjoyed the peacefulness of our surroundings and each other.

- Roche Harbor, San Juan Island, WA -

March 2011