I realized I never posted Park #7 from 2016, a visit to San Juan Island National Historic Park on San Juan Island in WA last Sept. This was the final unique park I visited in 2016, but if I count repeat visits to Golden Gate National Recreation Area and NPS-affiliated sites (such as the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience in Seattle where we saw a temporary Bruce Lee exhibit on this same trip), I think I could claim to have met my goal of 12 parks last year 🙂
After visiting some friends in the Seattle area and visiting the local volcanoes, we hopped a ferry to the San Juan Islands. The ferry rides alone provided awesome scenery, and we arrived in Friday Harbor on a picturesque day — and were greeted by a friendly harbor seal, who I suspect makes a regular appearance near the fish market.
The historic park commemorates a mid 19th century stand-off between British and American garrisons on the island involving the matter of a pig. The two sections of the park encompass the English Camp on the north end of the island, and the American Camp further South. We first stopped at the English Camp on a drizzly afternoon. We walked up the officer’s hill, checked out the recreated English garden, and watched some more adventurous hikers head off around the point.
We next drove down to American Camp, of course spotting a bald eagle along the way. Spent some time checking out a red fox foraging on the side of the road as well. Our little dude fell asleep in the car and it was still raining, so I popped into the visitor center to get my passport cancellations and watch the video about the incident of the pig. We decided to come back the next day to explore the rolling hillsides and reconstructed camp, a lovely walk with some great views.
I had read that nearby Salt Point State Park is a good place to spot orcas from shore, so we decided to head there before returning to American Camp. We noticed a few cars stopped at a pullout on our way into the park, and sure enough, there were several orcas active in the water, just offshore, close enough that we could hear the snorts and splashes as the surfaced! Don’t tell little guy, who slept through the whole thing.
After that, it was appropriately time to hop the ferry to Orcas Island, where we made a brief stop in Moran State Park, before heading back to the mainland. We had great views of Mt. Baker from the ferry.
This site had several passport stamps, including some bonus stamps which are cool except when you’re rapidly using up all the extra space in your passport book!
but guess which ones we could hear playing drinking games and being generally loud late into the night? It’s never a good sign when you pull into camp to hear your neighbors blasting Spice Girls and attempting to play the game Catchphrase but only “succeeding” by frantically spelling out the answers (i.e. cheating)… I guess avoiding this is why I need to give backpacking another try in the future. As far as I’m concerned, there’s only one type of campout at which flipcup is appropriate, and it’s one where you leave with Duke basketball tickets in hand!
The Visitor’s Center has a museum and is the base for the U.S.S. Arizona, Utah, and Oklahoma memorials, honoring those ships and the people who perished in the attacks. The museum gives the details of the events of Dec. 7, 1941, including the military details of the attack and the day as it played out for the people of Pearl Harbor. There are some interesting artifacts, including a marked up draft copy of FDR’s famous “a date that will live in infamy” speech. The exhibits definitely freshened my memory from that report I wrote in 3rd grade…
“centerpiece” of the monument. The memorial is only accessible by boat with a ticket from the Visitor’s Center. The short boat ride across the harbor is preceded by a film, and then visitors are given time for observation at the memorial, which is built immediately over the ship. Almost 1800 men were lost when the ship sunk and are still entombed there. The names of all those lost in the Arizona are engraved onto a wall at the far end of the memorial. 
Interestingly, a side panel also lists the names of U.S.S. Arizona survivors who later requested to be interred there. From the observation deck, you can see fish darting in and out of the corroded metal of the Arizona and oil slicks that to this day still rise to the surface.
In addition to the U.S.S. Arizona memorial, there is a small, separately managed naval museum including a small sub available for tour at the site of the visitor’s center. I believe a shuttle will also take you over the U.S.S. Oklahoma Memorial, but the Utah is not open to the public as it is on the active military base.
