Ferry Friday Harbor to Anacortes Looking at Mount Baker

I saw the photo you see above, on Facebook today. No credit was given as to who took the photo. What we are looking at in the photo is a Washington State Ferry, after it has left Friday Harbor, heading west through the San Juan Islands, eventually getting to the mainland, at the Anacortes ferry dock.

That is the Mount Baker volcano hovering over the scene in the background.

Friday Harbor is a town in San Juan County, Washington, United States. The population was 2,613 at the most recent census. Friday Harbor, on San Juan Island, is the commercial center of the San Juan Islands archipelago and is the county seat of San Juan County.

Washington has several towns which might be characterized as tourist towns, due to the throngs of tourists enjoying these towns. Friday Harbor is one of those towns. 

Equally touristy is La Conner, in the Skagit Valley, a short distance from where the ferry from Friday Harbor docks in Anacortes. 

Continuing east from La Conner, on Highway 20, you will eventually be driving over the North Cross State Highway Pass over the Cascades. This takes you through North Cascades National Park. After you get over the mountains you will soon come to another of Washington's themed tourist towns, Winthrop.

Take Stevens Pass over the Cascades and you will come to Washington's most touristy tourist town, Leavenworth. 

I'm likely forgetting some Washington tourist towns. Would Lynden be considered a tourist town? Lynden has a lot of Dutch theming going on...

The Fidalgo Drive-In Has The Best Hamburger In Anacortes

Last night I heard from Spencer Jack, via email, that his dad's Fidalgo Drive-In in Anacortes has been determined by the voting local population to have the BEST HAMBURGER in town.

I do not remember the last time one of my relatives made any town's BEST BURGER.

I feel like I should drop in on the Fidalgo Drive-In for lunch today and have myself a burger.

Looking at the Burger Menu I think I will opt for the Tillamook Bacon Cheddar Burger, with two all-beef patties, mayo, lettuce, tomato, pickle, melted Tillamook Cheddar Cheese and bacon.

But, I am also a great fan of Bleu Cheese, with makes the Bleu Cheese Red Onion Deluxe, with two all beef patties, blue cheese dressing, lettuce, tomato, red onion and melted blue cheese crumbles, very tempting.

In my current residential location, deep in the heart of Texas, in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, I have not found any restaurant of the Fidalgo Drive-In sort, with Pacific Northwest type seafood on the menu.

I'm thinking, in addition to having the BEST BURGER in Anacortes, I should also have something from the Seafood part of the Fidalgo Drive-In menu.

SEAFOOD BASKETS come with Steak Fries, Garlic Bread, Fresh Coleslaw and a choice of  Dungeness Crab Bisque or Clam Chowder.

I think I will try and convince Spencer Jack's dad to let me have both the Dungeness Crab Bisque and Clam Chowder, along with the Seafood Combo of Cod, Prawns, Oysters & Clam Strips. I can not remember the last time I've had Cod, Prawns, Oysters or Clam Strips.

I also don't remember the last time I had a Root Beer Float.

Or a Blackberry Milkshake.

Blackberry is my favorite milkshake flavor.

I wonder if Spencer Jack will be at the Fidalgo Drive-In today, helping make the Root Beer Floats?

I've not seen Spencer Jack since last March.

It'd be a really fine thing to have lunch today in Anacortes, with Spencer Jack and his dad at the Fidalgo Drive-In....

Spencer Jack & Your Hometown Fidalgo Drive-In Family Restaurant in Anacortes Washington

That is my great nephew (or is it grand nephew?) Spencer Jack in the picture getting ready to have a root beer float in his dad's restaurant, the Fidalgo Drive-In.

I last saw Spencer Jack's dad, my nephew Jason, in April of 2006 when I was in the Skagit Valley of Washington for Jason's wedding. The wedding reception was held at Jason's previous restaurant, Eaglemont Pavilion, in Mount Vernon.

At some point in time, after 2006, Jason opened the Fidalgo Drive-In in Anacortes. I thought I'd been told Jason's restaurant was called Jason's Grub.

This morning my sister emailed me some pictures. One picture was of Jason's brother, Joey, clam digging on Samish Island and one was of Jason at Bay View State Park, wearing a shirt that said Fidalgo Drive-In on it.

I Googled Fidalgo Drive-In to find Jason has a website for his restaurant. Unfortunately the website does not come up in the #1 position due to it being a flash based website. Those do not index well with the search engines.

Checking out the Fidalgo Drive-In website I see Jason has a lot of tempting seafood. I miss Pacific Northwest seafood. I remember the first time I dropped in on Jason's Eaglemont Pavilion he made me cod and fries. Very good cod.

Several other websites have reviews of Jason's restaurant. Below is what some of the Fidalgo Drive-In diners had to say........

Terry V. said....

Great milkshakes!

Sean B. said....

Holy mother of crab, this place was delicious!

After a long, relaxing weekend in the San Juans, my boyfriend and I were dreading the drive from Anacortes to Tacoma. Thankfully, my filling experience at Fidalgo made the journey a tolerable experience.

I had the crab sandwich, which amounted to a giant lump of buttery crab, wedged between a bun. There may have been some vegetables wedged in there, but who cares? It was loaded with crab! The onion rings were also served in generous portions, and soft-serve ice cream was a-plenty in the root beer floats.

I will definitely make a point of stopping here on my next trip to the San Juans!

Chris C. said....

Cool!  A first review!  A former A&W.  Went on a Saturday at lunch with a party of seven into an almost full restaurant.  Put in a big order and it came rather fast.

The food was good and a more than you would expect from a drive-in/fast food place.  Had a selection of burgers, corn dogs, regular fries, curly fries, tater tots, soup, and root beer floats.   All was good. The root beer floats were huge!  The tater tots were crispy and probably the best I have ever had.  The soup was Ivar's, can't go wrong there.

The menu had quite a selection and enough choices to satisfy any group.  Service was friendly.  Place was clean.

Jordan B. said....

Really good burgers and amazing waffle fries. The French Dip was pretty good, but the burgers are better. Pretty big menu for such a small place. Cheese curds are awesome.

David Letterman Points Out Sedro Woolley on a Map While Almost Pronouncing the Name Correctly

When you grow up in Washington the names of places do not seem unusual or difficult to pronounce. Often it is names based on the Native American name that are a bit difficult to pronounce.

Like Puyallup. Rather than pronounce Puyallup as Pew-el-up, I have heard many bad manglings, like Pie-a-loop.

Sometimes it can be a non-Native American name that can befuddle someone.

When my mom and dad moved to Eugene, Oregon, where I was eventually born. upon arrival they were embarrassed to find they'd been mispronouncing one of the main Oregon rivers, it being the Willamette. My mom and dad were pronouncing it Will-a-meet-ee.

Mom and dad were born and raised in the Northwest. There is no excuse for them not knowing Willamette was pronounced Will-am-met. A Frenchified version of name for a Clackamas Indian Village.

This morning Betty Jo Bouvier, she known as one of the Wild Woman of Woolley, as in Sedro Woolley, with Sedro Woolley being a town in the Skagit Valley of Washington., sent me a video in which David Letterman tries to say a couple Washington place names, like Sedro Woolley and Anacortes.

Correctly pronounced See-dro Wool-lee and Anna-Cort-s.

The best part of this video is the Osama Bin Laden commercial for Vicks Vapo-Rub that runs before Dave goes into map reading mode...

Washington State Ferry Ride from Anacortes to the San Juan Islands & Sydney British Columbia

You might be able to guess, due to the Mounties, that the above photo was taken somewhere in Canada. Your guess would be correct. The Canadian Mounties have dismounted from their horses and are overlooking a crowd enjoying festivities celebrating the annual first run of the Anacortes/San Juan/Sidney Ferry.

Sidney is on Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, which is a province of Canada.

Anacortes is a port city in Skagit County in the state of Washington.

The Washington State Ferry System operates several ferries out of Anacortes, making runs to the San Juan Islands and to Sydney, B.C.

The San Juan Islands are part of an international archipelago of over 450 islands in the Salish Sea.  The Canadian part of the archipelago is called the Gulf Islands. Fifteen of the islands are connected to the mainland (and Vancouver Island) by passenger ferries. The British Columbia Ferry System connects to 9 of the Gulf Islands, while the Washington State Ferry System connects to 6 of the San Juan Islands.

You can park and ride from Anacortes, walking on board.

Trust me, if you have never ridden a ferry and you are taking a vacation to Washington, you will want ride on a Washington ferry.

The Washington State Ferry Fleet is the largest in the United States and the 3rd largest in the world.

In Anacortes you can buy an outbound ticket to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island and hop off for a visit at any of the island stops, like Orcas Island, and then catch the next outbound ferry.

Catching the last ferry of the day, in Friday Harbor, after dark, makes for a very fun ride back to Anacortes.

Below is a YouTube video of the first sailing of the year from Anacortes to Sydney...