One thing we didn’t do a lot of: eat at fancy restaurants. Given the time constraints caused in part by the pre-concert talks and the length of the operas, we actually ate quite sporadically during the concert days (4 of them.) We did have several sit-down meals, including
Dinner at Slanted Door at the Ferry Building. This is a well-known Asian fusion restaurant with humble beginnings started by a refugee Vietnamese family. It is now a large restaurant and packed with customers. The entrees were not particularly expensive. However, the food was just so-so. For example, I like the way I cook a rack of lamb (one of the more expensive dishes) better. Many of their dishes sound better than they taste. Cost for the five of us (including Jessica, Joe and Ellie) was about $210.
B Star in San Francisco. The more famous Burma Star had a 90-minute wait, so we went to their sister restaurant which was crowded but not impossible to get a seat. The food was good, and quite inexpensive. Four of us (Ellie & Kuau) ate for about $100.
Japan Town Restaurant. We just picked one where we could find immediate seating. Kuau and Ellie paid for the meal (5 people, including May) which cost $120. Regular Japanese fare.
Friday Harbor Restaurants. Lunch at Outriggers right by the Harbor (good fish and chips), dinner at China Pearl on the main street (Spring), and breakfast at the coffee shop by the Ferry holding lot.
Ivar’s Mukilteo. A famous chain. The clam chowder was a bit on the cool side.
Five of us outside The Slanted Door.
Mount Rainier National Park. We decided to give it a try on Monday, but didn't get going early enough to make it to Paradise. Some interesting scenery along the way. Mount Rainier was not visible because of the clouds, though.
This glacier was visible a few years ago. It's now a small stream.
Mt. Rainier in the clouds. Taken at the National Park Inn in Longmire.
Friday Harbor. We left at about 8:30 am Thursday to drive to Anacortes to catch the ferry to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. We managed to get on the 11 am ferry which can carry 120 or so cars. We got to the city in a bit over an hour after a pleasant ferry ride (most ferry rides are pleasant as far as I am concerned.) We booked ourselves on the whale watch tour, and drove around the small island before the tour began at 6 pm. The Lime Kiln State Park on the west side of the island has a good view of the water. Quite a few kayakers were enjoying themselves on the water. The whale watch was a bit expensive (costing $160 for the two of us) and was a bit disappointing. We did see 4 orcas, but because of regulations we couldn’t get too close to them. We learned that there are transient orcas that eat seals and other sea mammals, and resident orcas that eat fish. We passed by the privately owned Spieden Island and saw rams, cattle, and several bald eagles. Someone introduced game onto the island hoping to conduct hunting safaris on it, that practice stopped: I guess many in the area found it repulsive.
Quiet Town, Friday Harbor, even during the summer.
Orcas at a distance. They do make a loud snorting noise, though.
Whidbey Island. We took the scenic route from Anacortes to Seattle by driving the length of Whidbey Island. It is quite sparsely populated for the most part, and we probably would have explored a bit more of it had we had more time. We just missed the ferry by five or so cars, but they ran every 30 minutes.
Angel Island. A short ferry ride from the Ferry Building ($15 roundtrip) took us to Angel Island which processed many Chinese (and other Asian) immigrants in the early 1900s. As opposed to its sister facility on Ellis Island, Angel Island was set up to make it difficult for Chinese to enter the country. During their detention there, many scribbled poems on the walls of their rooms. Some of them are quite interesting, even though they may not be great literature. It was a pleasant 1-mile or so walk from the ferry terminal to the main buildings. Kuau, Ellie and May were on the trip also.
Ferry to Angel Island. We went with May.
Some of the poems written on the walls.
Flights. All five of them (EWR-SEA-SFO-SEA-SFO-EWR) were full. Since we had aisle, exit, and economy plus seats, they were bearable.
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