Girl Weekend

My friend Rita and her family moved up to San Juan Island several years ago and we have been wanting to take a trip up there to visit ever since, however with the two little guys that is easier said than done...  My friend Tasha and I decided to plan a girls trip and have a relaxing, kid free weekend in Friday Harbor with Rita and her family!!!  YES PLEASE!
My parents picked up the boys on Thursday afternoon and Tasha & I hit the highway (thank you Nonnie & Papa)!!!  Friday Harbor is not a quick trip, it is about 2 1/2 hours North of Seattle and has the added bonus of an hour long ferry ride to get to the island.  So, we decided to have a night out in Seattle and then finish the drive on Friday morning.  We found a fun/interesting restaurant called Poquitos downtown, had some awesome Mexican food and possibly the strongest margarita I have ever had in my life (strong but delicious :)!  After dinner I decided  I needed to have some kind of yummy dessert so we headed over to a less interesting part of town to have some AMAZING desserts and maybe another drink!

A little silly but of all the places we checked out in Seattle this is the
only picture I took from the evening...
I heart Tiramisu!!!

After our long night of possibly a little too much to drink and definitely way too much to eat we hit the highway at 7:30 a.m. (had to leave enough time for Starbucks stops) and headed for the ferry!

Ferry self portrait!

Pulling into Friday Harbor on the Ferry, seriously beautiful!

We had a whirlwind weekend with lots of catching up and trying to see as much of the island as we could in the short time we were there.  It is so funny how the three of us can somehow revert back to our 13 year old selves after all these years, needless to say there was a lot of gabbing, laughter and goofiness...  I can't wait to go back with the whole family, the boys are seriously going to love it there!

The Girls

Checking out English Camp

They were having a special reenactment of what
life was like at English Camp in the mid 1800's complete
with a cook out, soldiers, music and lots of folks
dressed up in Little House on the Prairie garb!

The beautiful English Gardens

These nice young soldiers spent quite a while telling us
how their giant guns work so of course I had
to ask for a picture!

View of the Olympic Mountains from our spot on the beach!

The beaches are slightly different than ours...
Madison had a blast playing in the tide pools and
climbing all the rocks, I know the boys would
absolutely love it here!

Looks like a good picnic to me :)

Rita and sweet Natalie!

Apparently it is whale time around San Juan Island right now.  They swim up
 and down the coastline feeding on the salmon near the shore.  We had a
 last minute change of plans and ended up at the beach for a
 picnic instead of hiking one of the mountains and I am so glad we did.
As we were enjoying our lunch and the beautiful view a huge
pod of whales swam by.  It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen.
They were so close we could actually hear them breathing or snorting or
whatever it is  they do out there when they come out of the water!
I have it on video and will try to upload that one of these days!
I know I keep saying this but AMAZING!!!

Beautiful sunset at Rita's!
LOVE the island!
Thanks for such a fun trip ladies (& Justin for putting up with us :)