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You are here: Home / Foodie / Orcas Island Birthday Getaway

Orcas Island Birthday Getaway

June 17, 2014 •

Looking toward Vancouver Island

Look­ing toward Van­cou­ver Island

Island map

Map of Orcas Island and nearby San Juan Islands

We cel­e­brated my birth­day with a quick trip to Orcas Island, mid­way between north­west­ern Wash­ing­ton and Canada’s Van­cou­ver Island.

Orcas Island is lushly green, blessed with beau­ti­ful views of the Sal­ish Sea as well as rolling val­leys, forested hills and moun­tains.

It’s a mag­net for hik­ers and bik­ers — but not a place to visit if you’re addicted to always-on smart­phone access or tex­ting. Cel­lu­lar cov­er­age is spotty, at best.

Deer Harbor

Beautiful inn, even on rainy days

Beau­ti­ful inn, even on rainy days

Old boats near the inn

Old boats near the inn

Kayaking and boating in Deer Harbor

Kayak­ing and boat­ing in Deer Har­bor

We stayed at The Inn at Orcas Island in Deer Har­bor, at the south­west­ern cor­ner of Orcas Island.

The inn is an upscale B&B, much like a Euro­pean bou­tique hotel. Its set­ting is glo­ri­ous, per­fect for sun­set watch­ing or canoe­ing the tidal inlet that leads to Deer Har­bor. The innkeeper is very wel­com­ing, and makes guests feel quickly at home.

Deer Har­bor is a favored des­ti­na­tion for boaters and hik­ers — peo­ple who want to avoid the tourist con­ges­tion in East­sound. The islanders who live there con­sider it to be very remote (a 20-minute drive from East­sound).

We had hoped to bring kayaks and/or our tan­dem bike, but were dis­cour­aged by a rainy weather fore­cast. (Luck­ily, the rain storm arrived a day late.) The weather would have been per­fect for either kayak­ing or bik­ing.

Hiking Along the Shore

Instead we spent the morn­ing on a 6‑mile hike, bask­ing in the unex­pected June sun­shine, and work­ing out kinks from the long drive. Our walk took us to the end of the road, along the shore­line. The pub­lic path fea­tured har­bor views, long vis­tas over­look­ing the Sal­ish Sea — and bloom­ing trees and gar­dens every­where.

Pacific Northwest driftwood

Pacific North­west drift­wood

Along the way we strolled through a tidal pre­serve at low tide. Mul­ti­ple types of sea­weed, algae and tidal pool crea­tures were on dis­play. My hus­band, a for­mer biol­o­gist, could have spent hours exam­in­ing that beach…

Exten­sive log­ging through­out Cas­ca­dia means it’s easy to spot mag­nif­i­cent exam­ples of drift­wood along the water’s edge. Atlantic drift­wood seems puny when com­pared to these West­ern giants.

Farm-to-Table Mecca

Island trees block the wind

Island trees block the wind

Much of Orcas Island is rural, home to small fam­ily farm­ers and crafts peo­ple. As a result the Sat­ur­day morn­ing farm­ers’ mar­ket abounds with hand­i­crafts, arti­sanal cheeses, fresh pro­duce, local fish, meat and dairy prod­ucts.

At the farm­ers’ mar­ket we dis­cov­ered and fell in love with Monastery Cheese from nearby Shaw Island, a raw cow’s milk cheese with a flavor/aroma pro­file rem­i­nis­cent of French cheese. This cheese is made in tiny batches by an order of Bene­dic­tine nuns who live in the Our Lady of the Rock com­mu­nity.

East­sound restau­rant own­ers pride them­selves on buy­ing from local farm­ers, for­agers and fish­er­men — their source of ultra-fresh, farm-to-table good­ies and shell­fish.

We had planned to explore sev­eral restau­rants, but found our innkeep­er’s break­fast to be so boun­ti­ful that it was easy to skip lunch. On Thurs­day night we enjoyed a spec­tac­u­lar din­ner at Sazio di Notte, an Ital­ian eatery in East­sound — one we highly rec­om­mend. The chef waited on us per­son­ally, and explained the prove­nance of all the key ingre­di­ents and his inspi­ra­tion for each prepa­ra­tion.

On Fri­day night we were invited to dine at a friend’s nearby home. We feasted on wild salmon he had caught the day before, as well as fresh greens and peas picked shortly before din­ner. Hap­pily, we had brought along a bot­tle of Aven­ni­a’s sauvi­gnon blanc to com­ple­ment the meal.

Home to Artists and Craftsmen

Orcas Island Pottery

Orcas Island Pot­tery

Seaside shopping

Sea­side shop­ping

We recov­ered from our hike with tours of local art stu­dios and pot­tery shops, before head­ing back to the inn for show­ers and din­ner.

We fell in love with Orcas Island Pot­tery, a sea­side stu­dio that fea­tures a truly spec­tac­u­lar set­ting for dis­play­ing hand­made pot­tery. Many of the wares are dis­played out­doors in the gar­dens, grouped by color, artist or style. On a sunny day the ocean view must dis­tract the shop­pers…

My hus­band had a fun time shop­ping there, choos­ing a set of serv­ing bowls for my birth­day gift. We put them to good use when we got home, fill­ing them with super ripe straw­ber­ries and cher­ries from a road­side stand in Ana­cortes.

Getting There

Orcas has become a pop­u­lar get­away des­ti­na­tion, so ferry lines can be long. If you miss the ferry, you could wait sev­eral hours.

We mis­read the ferry sched­ule, and found our­selves with 3 unex­pected hours to spend in Ana­cortes. Luck­ily, we stum­bled upon a fab­u­lous spot for lunch, the A’Town Bistro, located in the his­toric sec­tion of Ana­cortes. Like the Orcas Island restau­rants this bistro prides itself on local farm-to-table ingre­di­ents and hand-crafted beers and ales.

Plan on at least 5 hours to get to Orcas Island from the Seat­tle area (dri­ving + ferry + wait times). For week­end com­muters with plenty of money, fly­ing to Orcas is a faster alter­na­tive.

No mat­ter how you get to Orcas, it’s well worth the trip for food­ies, week­end ath­letes or boaters. Or peo­ple who just want to relax at an island inn, or hang out in the charm­ing shops and cafes in East­sound.

We can’t wait to return to Orcas.

About This Blog

Reflec­tions on life, travel, books, and yoga. Think­ing out loud about the pur­suit of mind­ful­ness and well-being.

Learn­ing how to recover from the loss of a beloved spouse, and then to find a trans­for­ma­tive path for­ward.

About Me

Semi-retired marketing exec, transitioning from a career in high tech. Now "managed" by two Tonkinese cats. Missing travel and friends on the West Coast. Avid reader and foodie. Staying active with long walks, biking, kayaking and yoga.

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