The next morning came early and breakfast was served at 9 AM. The Kirk House is famous for its award-winning granola. This was served in a parfait glass topped with vanilla yogurt and strawberries – quite yummy. We were also served coffee, orange juice, apple strudel French toast, and a sausage patty. Our tablemates were a nice couple from Portland, both professors at Portland State University. John isn’t as familiar with the B&B experience as I am (I having stayed at many B&Bs in the UK and Ireland and the last time being in Savannah) and have always enjoyed it. He's preferred boutique hotels and renting cabins but now I think he's coming around to B&Bs with this experience and all the amenities.
After breakfast we were off to some sight-seeing toward the southern end of the island. Our first stop was a very lovely little flower farm called New Day Flower Farm where we found some very sweet little gift items. Then we traveled on to American Camp, a place I remembered from my Washington State History classes over 40 years ago and the famous “Pig War”. We stopped several places along the way to take pictures. At one pull out I saw what appeared to be several whale watching boats, having been a passenger several time I know that when you see the boats in a group, you are likely to see whales. I got out the binoculars. Sure enough, there they were, the magnificent animals – the Orcas. There weren’t a large number of them in this pod, not like two years ago when Quinn and I took PS Express out of Port Townsend and were fortunate to run into a “Superpod” of 3-4 pods and over 30 whales. We found out later that we were very lucky to see whales this day as most of them were out to sea, very few people on land having spotted them.
We traveled on down to Cattle Point, enjoying the lovely day, drove around the island a bit enjoying the luxury of having our car on the island and plenty of time to drive at our leisure without a ferry to catch today. We then drove back into town for a light lunch before embarking on our real adventure, a hike to the McMillin Mausoleum. Yes, the very one that Les had photographed in her blog a few months ago. After seeing her pictures I knew this once a place we just had to see. Despite having visiting the San Juans for over 40 years, I was unaware of this amazing piece of architecture hidden in the woods. No one I have talked to since has ever heard about it either. I was very excited to see it. and it was more amazing than I had ever imagined. The mile round trip hike took us past an century-old cemetery then through the woods on a narrow trail that dropped down to a service road leading to the mausoleum called Afterglow Vista. I wasn’t prepared for the magnificent structure in the middle of nowhere. It was sad to see that it has never been kept up, but that just added to the mystique. John and I had the place all to ourselves for the half an hour or so we spent taking pictures from all sorts of angles. It was unbelievable to me that there weren’t scores of people visiting this structure! In fact, our car was the only one in the parking lot. We only met one man as we were walking to the mausoleum and a couple as we were walking back – and this in the middle of the afternoon on a lovely Saturday summer day.
After our adventure it was time to go back to the B&B to prepare for our dinner. This time we had made reservations at arguably the best restaurant on San Juan Island, Duck Soup Inn. We had heard so much about this restaurant out in the woods, about its chef who uses local food and food from her own garden, sort of the Chez Panisse of the Pacific Northwest, that we made reservations several weeks before our arrival. The rustic décor belied the magnificent gourmet meal we were about to experience. We knew we had chosen the right place when they had free “Peace” bumperstickers to give out to their customers. Again, John had the lamb (he says to compare to the night before) and he said it was even better than the previous night. In fact, the best lamb he has ever had. This is really something coming from him as lamb is his favorite food. It was a difficult decision for me, I almost ordered the scallops again, but decided to have the prawns. I am still in heaven over their wonderful flavor, sautéed as they were in wild blackberries! We had wine, an appetizer (twice baked corn soufflé with goat cheese), soup, salad, and desert. It was a true epicurean experience that took two hours to slowly appreciate. It was almost an orgasmic experience. It is worth a special trip to the San Juans just to go to this restaurant. Be warned though, they are closed for most of the winter, and one needs to make reservations. We saw one couple turned away as we waited for our table. The service was as good as the meal. This was indeed a very special dining experience and we almost hated to leave.
After breakfast we were off to some sight-seeing toward the southern end of the island. Our first stop was a very lovely little flower farm called New Day Flower Farm where we found some very sweet little gift items. Then we traveled on to American Camp, a place I remembered from my Washington State History classes over 40 years ago and the famous “Pig War”. We stopped several places along the way to take pictures. At one pull out I saw what appeared to be several whale watching boats, having been a passenger several time I know that when you see the boats in a group, you are likely to see whales. I got out the binoculars. Sure enough, there they were, the magnificent animals – the Orcas. There weren’t a large number of them in this pod, not like two years ago when Quinn and I took PS Express out of Port Townsend and were fortunate to run into a “Superpod” of 3-4 pods and over 30 whales. We found out later that we were very lucky to see whales this day as most of them were out to sea, very few people on land having spotted them.
We traveled on down to Cattle Point, enjoying the lovely day, drove around the island a bit enjoying the luxury of having our car on the island and plenty of time to drive at our leisure without a ferry to catch today. We then drove back into town for a light lunch before embarking on our real adventure, a hike to the McMillin Mausoleum. Yes, the very one that Les had photographed in her blog a few months ago. After seeing her pictures I knew this once a place we just had to see. Despite having visiting the San Juans for over 40 years, I was unaware of this amazing piece of architecture hidden in the woods. No one I have talked to since has ever heard about it either. I was very excited to see it. and it was more amazing than I had ever imagined. The mile round trip hike took us past an century-old cemetery then through the woods on a narrow trail that dropped down to a service road leading to the mausoleum called Afterglow Vista. I wasn’t prepared for the magnificent structure in the middle of nowhere. It was sad to see that it has never been kept up, but that just added to the mystique. John and I had the place all to ourselves for the half an hour or so we spent taking pictures from all sorts of angles. It was unbelievable to me that there weren’t scores of people visiting this structure! In fact, our car was the only one in the parking lot. We only met one man as we were walking to the mausoleum and a couple as we were walking back – and this in the middle of the afternoon on a lovely Saturday summer day.
After our adventure it was time to go back to the B&B to prepare for our dinner. This time we had made reservations at arguably the best restaurant on San Juan Island, Duck Soup Inn. We had heard so much about this restaurant out in the woods, about its chef who uses local food and food from her own garden, sort of the Chez Panisse of the Pacific Northwest, that we made reservations several weeks before our arrival. The rustic décor belied the magnificent gourmet meal we were about to experience. We knew we had chosen the right place when they had free “Peace” bumperstickers to give out to their customers. Again, John had the lamb (he says to compare to the night before) and he said it was even better than the previous night. In fact, the best lamb he has ever had. This is really something coming from him as lamb is his favorite food. It was a difficult decision for me, I almost ordered the scallops again, but decided to have the prawns. I am still in heaven over their wonderful flavor, sautéed as they were in wild blackberries! We had wine, an appetizer (twice baked corn soufflé with goat cheese), soup, salad, and desert. It was a true epicurean experience that took two hours to slowly appreciate. It was almost an orgasmic experience. It is worth a special trip to the San Juans just to go to this restaurant. Be warned though, they are closed for most of the winter, and one needs to make reservations. We saw one couple turned away as we waited for our table. The service was as good as the meal. This was indeed a very special dining experience and we almost hated to leave.
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