Being based in the Seattle area we are about a 30 minute flight from the San Juan Islands. For us to drive to the islands, it would require a fully committed weekend with a 3 hour drive to Anacortes and then a 2 hour ferry ride to the islands. There’s no way we would be able to do a quick dinner on the islands without the airplane.
It’s Papa Pilot’s birthday today and he wanted to go to Friday Harbor for dinner. Our friends, The Birdies were able to rent an airplane and meet us there! We loaded up from Auburn with our other friend the Canadian and decided to meet up over Lake Sammamish and do a formation flight to the islands. We had preplanned a location to join up, different altitudes to be at and a frequency to talk on. As planned, but with a minor delay from Renton Tower, we joined up as briefed and flew over to Friday Harbor. The flight from the land over the water into the islands was just gorgeous.
Friday Harbor Airport was not as busy as we expected for our arrival, as by 5pm on a Sunday, most people have already left. The airport is uncontrolled so all the pilots are responsible for making their own radio calls and keeping themselves separated. We landed on runway 16 and taxied to transient parking. From there it’s a short walk into the town and it’s all nice sidewalks (important with the kids!) We walked over to Downrigger’s because the Canadian had never had oysters and Downrigger’s is right on the water. The restaurant is newly renovated because a few years ago it caught fire. It’s a very open floor plan and the blue sky day wasmade the atmosphere bright and cheery. We ordered the raw oysters from Wescott bay. Wescott bay is just on the other side of San Juan Island from Friday, so these were nearly as local as the oysters could be. The oysters were super-delicious, creamy and very fresh. The other food we ordered included the Dungeoness crab tater tot’s, scallops, and the Pork Belly. mmmmm- delicious.
Afterwards, we walked around the boardwalk and got ice cream close by. Another short walk back to the airport and we loaded up and flew as a flight back towards Seattle. The Canadian spotted a pod of whales on our climb just south of Lopez Island and we were able to get some some great photos of the Birdies 182 and stayed as a flight until near Paine field. We landed back home just after sunset. Again the little airplane pulled through as a time machine to get us to a fabulous birthday dinner on a beautiful day with our great friends.
