Friday Harbor is the only incorporated city on any of the 172 islands that make up the San Juan archipelago. It is located on San Juan, the second largest and the most populated of all of the islands. There are various ferries that take you and your car or semi truck from Anacortes to the islands. As a walk-on passenger, it is really straightforward to take the ferry. They seem to leave a few minutes passed the scheduled sail time, so you can basically get there with no time to spare, buy your tickets, and still have time to spare. (So I guess that means you gain time when you take the ferry?)
A salmon curing station was built on Friday Harbor in 1850. This was before the San Juan Islands became a part of the United States. Britain had their eyes on the archipelago as well, but after a little confrontation called the Pig War, the Canada-United States border skirts around the San Juan islands to the left instead of to the right.
Friday Harbor is full of architecture from the late 1800s to early 1900s, as well great restaurants, shops, and interesting art (inside galleries and antique stores and outside on the street). It is convenient to explore sans car since the ferry terminal drops you right off in town. We will be back in two days to see more of the island with a car. Which meant staking out the website at 7:00am two days before the sail date, spending a little more money on fares, and getting to the terminal sixty minutes before it departs instead of sixty seconds.
Such an extra interesting blog…learned things I never knew- like 172 islands making up the San Juan Archepelago! It also looks windy & chilly on the ferry – even in July! How wonderful that you are going back in a couple days!! Enjoy! ⛴🤗🌊
Some of the islands are VERY small. Like, ‘that number may fluctuate with the tide’ kind of small.
Again, we were there years ago and didn’t have your eye. We need to go back and look at it closer, with your blog at hand for guidance.
It is a very interesting town, but I am really looking forward to seeing the rest of the island.