Scott AndersonRachael and I biked the San Juans for our honeymoon 37 years ago. A part of that was spending the night in a sort of B&B at Olga - a tugboat with bunkbeds. We pulled both mattresses down and squeezed them together on the floor, and biked up to the summit the next day. Reply to this comment 2 weeks ago
Today we ride to Rosario Village on Orcas Island, a short but hilly ride, as Orcas is known for it’s undulating roads. The ferry only takes about 40 minutes and we arrive before we know it. I leave the Garmin on to show the whole route, but actual bike miles are about 17. Leaving the port, the road goes straight up, a taste of what’s to come.
We wind up and down and around, through wooded roads. Often, to our right are wide valleys with golden-green grass growing, ponds, and various slices of heaven. The cedars and pines are tall, the vegetation lush. It’s obvious this island gets a lot of rainfall.
When we ride through Eastsound, we figure we should stop for lunch. Jim finds a little pub, where everyone else enjoys burgers and I have a pita-chicken-Caesar-salad taco (for lack of a better description), and sweet potato fries. The fries are very good. Everything else is adequate (our new word for just better than so-so).
Where we stopped for lunch in East Sound. Jim said his burger was “adequate.”
Rosario Village is only a few miles on from Eastsound. There’s a large mansion on the property, which is currently closed. Wikipedia informs me that “Rosario is the former estate of Seattle mayor and shipbuilder Robert Moran and is located on Orcas Island, Washington in the San Juan archipelago. Portions of the estate became part of Moran State Park in the early 1920s and the site has been of use as the Rosario Resort and Spa since 1960.”
After we unload our luggage and take showers, Rich and I take a quick walk around the grounds. Then the 4 of us ride back to Eastsound in the truck to a grocery story to purchase food for dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow, since there is nowhere close by to eat.
After all of that, we take the truck up the steep and long and winding road to Constitution Mountain to climb the tower and see the views of the islands from there. Rich and I climbed this tower in 2020 when we were here, but because of the many fires in the Pacific Northwest at the time, there was nothing but a wall of white smoke to see. I have always wanted to return to look out from the top of the tower once again. And here I am.
Our room at Rosario Village. Nice and large, with plenty of room for bikes, a nice little deck, and a lovely view.
View from the tower. The islands in front are Barnes and Clark islands; in the distance you can see Bellingham, and in the background, Mt. Baker and the Twin Sisters.
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