A Day in Friday Harbor

I had the joy of spending this spring in the Pacific Northwest, above Seattle in Washington State. One of my first day trips was to charming Friday Harbor, a village on San Juan Island.

Taking the Ferry from Anacortes

To get there, you have to take the ferry from Anacortes, which for a non-resident like me, is a real treat! Being on the water like that feels so wonderful, even in a huge ferry boat. For the Anacortes ferry to any of the San Juan Islands, you can take your car onto the ferry, or park and walk on. The cost of taking an average-sized car from Anacortes to Friday Harbor is about $75. To walk on is just $15, though you’ll have to pay for parking, which is an extra $13.

If you drive, plan on being at the ferry terminal a good 30 minutes or more in advance. If you’ve made a reservation – which is a very good idea, especially on a weekend – you have to check in over 20 minutes in advance anyway. Don’t worry about arriving too early – there are always bathrooms and snacks nearby. And certainly, bathrooms and food on the ferry once you board. If you arrive too late, there’s a chance there won’t be room for you and you’ll have to wait (possibly hours) for the next one.

On this trip, I was running late and almost ran to catch the ferry as a walk-on. So, if you’re walking on, you can cut it a bit finer (though not as fine as me – that was stressful!) It’s much better to give yourself at least 15-20 minutes to find a parking spot, pay for parking by phone, buy a ticket, and board in a sane fashion.

Arriving at Friday Harbor

It takes over an hour to sail to Friday Harbor depending on stops. My trip was one hour and twenty minutes after a stop at Lopez Island, but if you get a direct sailing, it’s closer to one hour. On the ferry, you can stay in your car, walk up to the passenger deck and have a seat inside, or walk outside to better see the view as you pass between the smaller San Juan Islands.

Once you arrive, the town is right there at the ferry port. There’s no need to walk or drive any distance to get there. And for the most part, it’s a quaint shopping and dining destination. There is a residential population on San Juan Island, but Friday Harbor is particularly touristy, with lots of shops and cafes, and offices for whale-watching tours.

I took an almost-noon ferry and walked off the boat hungry, so I found a quick hot meal at the Golden Triangle before setting off for some sightseeing.

The Whale Museum

I took a museum approach to my afternoon in Friday Harbor. It was a weekday in mid-April, and a lot of the shops were closed anyway. More is open on weekends and during the warm summer months. My first stop is The Whale Museum, to the right of the ferry dock.

As far as museums go, it’s a little basic. But there are fun artifacts inside – mostly in the form of whale skeletons. The museum is a two-story building, with the bottom floor taken up mostly by the large gift shop. One classroom-style room is around the corner and this is where you can find where the most recent whale sightings have been around the islands.

The majority of the collection is upstairs, via a colorful, muraled stairway. There’s no elevator, but there is a stair lift for those that can’t get up the stairs on their own. On the second floor is a colorful folklore area and some kids’ spots, along with a video loop about whales, ocean noise pollution, and conservation. In the main room are several skeletons, models, and facts about whales. The main focus of the museum is Orcas, but there are other whales represented as well.

It’s well worth a visit, especially in the off-season when you can’t take (or can’t afford) a whale-watching boat tour. Admission to The Whale Museum is only $10 per adult, $6 for seniors 65 and over, $5 for students 6-18 or college age with ID, and free for kids five and under. The museum is open 10:00-4:00 every day, except for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s days, and usually a week or so from Jan 1 for an annual spruce-up.

San Juan Islands Museum of Art

My next stop is the San Juan Islands Museum of Art, up the hill from the dock. It’s just a bit farther out from most of the shops, but it’s well worth the effort to get there. (They’re actually closed the week I’m posting this, to get ready for their summer exhibition which opens June 8.)

The art museum is smallish with basically three rooms, lending itself to exhibiting three artists at a time, though that’s not always the case. During my spring visit, they had the art of three ceramicists on display, each very different from the other.

First, was Patti Warashina’s project made during Covid lockdown, titled appropriately, World Upside Down. Her playful figures explore themes of feeling attacked by the virus itself, the Russian war, fear, and anxiety. It’s fanciful, but kind of literal. It made me wish I had a creative project during Covid.

The next artist was Geoffrey Pagen with more abstract tiles. It’s nice to look at, but it wasn’t my favorite.

My very favorite is George Rodriguez’s El Zodiaco Familiar, his fifth iteration of the Mexican Zodiac in collaboration with 13 other artists. These are just fabulous! It seems he would sculpt the mask in conjunction with the other artist, who would then add their own aesthetic discipline to it. They were colorful, joyful, and so interesting! They were presented in the front atrium room with lots of light, which was so nice. I was fascinated by these.

In an upstairs classroom space, there was a video on loop, with a section about each of the three artists and their work, with plenty of seats to sit and watch for a while.

Shops and Return Ferry

I visited what shops were open on my way to each museum, and now worked my way through town on my way back down to the dock. In particular, I enjoyed the overstuffed Serendipity Used Books and zipped through there before it closed at 4 pm. I bought a coffee near the ferry dock to warm me up after a cold day of walking around, then took the ferry back to my car in Anacortes.

In all, it was a lovely way to spend a day, and I highly recommend it as an introductory way to get to know the San Juans. And while I’d love to bring my car and explore more of the island, it is really nice to be able to hop on and off the ferry without worrying about a car. (Or paying $75.)