Another cool must see besides the lighthouse. The Stuart Island State Park school. It is closed…read moredown but has an old school that allows you to check out your own books and bring them back on the honor system. Everything on this remote island is in the honor system. Just look at the pictures and captions. This is another bucket list. Get good directions so you do not get lost. Remember private property so don't trespass.

Take the long switchback road to the top of Mt Constitution. This alone is a beautiful sight. at…read morethe top, there's a parking lot and a nice restroom and visitor center. you can buy a year long discovery pass inside, or a daily ten dollar parking pass. You can also pay in the honesty box. the short hike to the top is steep.But very short and easy. the views are incredible and even more so if you do all the stairs up to the top of the tower. worth it!

Mount Constitution was a fun place to visit. It is the Highest point in the San Juan Islands and…read morethe views were stunning! It was closed on the day we went so we just piddled around and enjoyed the beautiful view. Gift shop was closed so no souvenirs!

This historic school house is beautifully restored. The volunteers, who offer personalized tours,…read moreare so knowledgeable and friendly. You can see items donated by previous students who came to this school once upon a time, and standing inside feels like you've traveled back in time. There are also many original items such as the oil cloth lesson board, the original chalk board, wall lanterns and more. In the summer they also feature a spooky story telling. Touring the museum is a must-see if you're staying on the island!

We stopped by the Crow Valley School on orcas Island and were delighted with how well preserved the…read moreschool was with original lesson plans and account books available to peruse, a headmaster's black dress displayed, some original school desks, and several enlarged old photographs of students. We received a personal tour of the school from Rebecca and were delighted to visit this historical spot on Orcas.

There's something very special about a post office in a faraway place. It's a link to someone else;…read morean unseen string that connects you to them with nothing more than a few strokes of the pen, and a stamp. It also seems like a connection to a different time; a bygone era when we chose paper over pixels, cute cards over keyboards, and real connection over virtual reality. Perhaps today, as our society currently sits in isolation, a post office feels a little less distant in the past. Yes, a post office is a place where you send and pick up greetings from afar, and for a just a moment, that stamp connects your minds and hearts. Maybe you send a postcard from a trip. Maybe it's a letter from an overseas assignment. Or maybe it's a birthday card, painted with beautiful daffodils, or daisies, or dahlias; just to tell someone that you're thinking of them, you're glad they're doing well, and to wish them the very happiest of everythings. Yes, this post office has all of that charm. Located on "20 Jack and Jill Place," you couldn't ask for a more picturesque place. Perched on the incline headed out of Deer Harbor on Orcas Island, it houses just a few PO Boxes for this tiny community. There are three post offices on the island, actually, and it says something about my affinity for snail mail that I've been into two of them, and been by the third. I actually use the one right up the road from the ferry most often, as I sometimes send cards to friends on my way off the island. Especially today, I'm thinking about this post office and that connection it makes between two people.

The San Juan islands are really a special treat in the heart of north west Washington. I took a…read moreferry, as you must, to get to Deer Harbor. After a slow and winding drive through the hills and valleys, I ended up at the post office. This office sits up on a hill overlooking the street below. It is across the street from which appeared to be a market or maybe a tavern. There really isn't any parking here and the hill is quite steep. The post office itself is really cute and well maintained and the workers are really friendly. They kind if give off a small town feel but it's to be expected from the people that live on the island. Really friendly.

Every tiny island should have a tiny little library. This one isn't as tiny as you would suspect,…read morebut it's just oozing with charm. I think my favorite part, truthfully, is the grounds. There's a flower-filled park and walkway from the road to the west, and a delightfully landscaped upper area surrounding the library itself. They also have a magazine dropoff so you can get rid of your old magazines here, which is kinda handy as well. It looks like there's a really good kid's section of books and plenty of books to fill the needs of the island, and I rather like the architecture of the building. Note that COVID has caused quite the commotion in the world of libraries, so you should probably call ahead to see if they have reopened, and what the protocol might be to get a book if you want one. I also am not sure about the requirements to check out books and get a membership.

The Orcas Island Library is amazing! It has a great selection for such a little library and I have…read morespent countless hours here reading since I was 10. They also sell blue Orcas Island Library mugs which are handmade exclusively for the library and are microwave and dishwasher safe. I own three.

I spent the day in Friday Harbor and loved it. Its a tourist town loaded with lots of fun shops and…read morea good variety of restaurants to choose from. We drove about two hours from downtown Seattle to Amacortes and took the Washington State ferry to the island. Everybody on the island was very nice. After poking around the shops in the morning and grabbing lunch at the deli my daughter and I took a whale watching tour. When we returned we enjoyed a delicious dinner while over looking the water before taking the ferry back to Anacortes.

This is one of my favorite islands to stop, enjoy and hike. It's one of the most visited islands in…read morethe San Juans because of its beautiful beaches, bays, and resources (bathrooms, fresh water, camping sites, dock, mooring balls, and small event spaces). Hiking is easy and the rain forest is lush, filtering the light and the rain. We were lucky and saw an otter here--i haven't seen any in my previous trips here and in the other islands. Lots of eagles, osprey, and buzzards too. There are illustrated placards that offer history and note special geographical features of the island. The weather has mostly been calm when we've visited here (May-Oct), but the winds do rip through here, making camping and boating challenging.

I know what you're thinking: there's nothing interesting here. Why would I want to go out of my…read moreway to check out the park manager's residence? Well, I felt the same way until I actually took the (easy) hike over there from the main dock. Yes, it's brown like the usual ranger station. And technically, you can't go inside as it's not open to the public. But the reason to visit this special little cove on beautiful Sucia Island is its history and grounds. Built by the original family to settle on Sucia, the now publicly-owned residence sits amidst a grove of fruit trees planted by that original family, and there's also a huge marshy area that was cleared out for fields and so that the family's livestock would have a place to graze. Near the beach, rusty relics of old farming equipment are on display near a picnic table (which, by the way, is a great place to stop for a drink or a snack before you continue on your hike). Keep your eyes open for buried bricks under the trail. Yep, that pioneering family even laid their own road here, brick by brick. I wish the State Park would do more to illustrate and teach the history of this special spot. Because you can almost hear the children of those settlers playing in the orchard or on the beach, and wonder how magical it must have been to have been raised on that island.

Miss the days of yesteryear when a post office really meant something? When it wasn't an industrial…read morebuilding made for efficiency instead of a quaint fixture in a small town? Well, there are still thousands of adorable little buildings that dot the landscape and remind us of a simpler time when the mail was such a form of entertainment and interest. And one of them is right here on Orcas Island. Have a card to send? A postcard to make people jealous? This is your stop. I wanted to send some cards from the island and so I popped them in the box here before boarding the ferry. You can walk while you're waiting for the ferry to dock; it's just outside the normal Orcas Village development. This building was also the first one I saw when I arrived. It was dark, and as I exited the dock my headlights registered Post Office. It seems a lovely sentinel to a simpler way of life and a slower time--the things that island life represent. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to go into the building, but I they drive up box is convenient. They have a few parking places there as well, if you're driving in. Cute, and perfect.