Monday, August 26, 2013

Mt. Constitution on Orcas Island

Today I got a special treat. I got taken to Mt. Constitution on Orcas Island! Only having a bike, I wasn't looking forward to braving the mountain (still kinda out of shape here!), but my friend with a car took me on quite a ride.

We went over to Orcas Island via ferry. It was quite picturesque (Orcas Island is in the far off horizon in the center). I didn't quite grasp how many islands there are in the San Juans. There are more than quite a few, and that's not including the little half-rock islands.

The front of the ferry. The ground is the loading docks for the cars--there's several layers of garages where people can park and transport their cars
 One thing we saw but I didn't (gasp!) photograph was this little island with a house on it. That's all it was, a house in a grove of trees and (I'm guessing) a dock on the other side. On one hand, so pretty! On the other hand, I can't ever imagine living there. Maybe as a summer home, but living on an island alone means that you'd have to constantly be checking up on it. What a hassle for a summer home. What a lonely existence for a residential home. If I ever get rich, I will not be buying an island, that's for sure!

The first thing I noticed was how big the trees were. I'm not kidding--these things were HUGE. And everything was so green. I think some of it is the lichen and some of it is because this is a deep, primordial forest and I kept expecting to see dinosaurs come out of it or something, but this was the most beautiful forest I have ever seen. I was awestruck, though that didn't stop me from taking pictures.

Huge, I tell you!
 Our first stop in State Moran park was this look out. How gorgeous!







Can you tell how thrilled I am?



At the top of the mountain (2,409 feet) is an observatory looking tower that has a panoramic view of the islands, Washington, and Canada. So, obviously I had to go take pictures.


It's so steep to get up!


but the view is FANTASTIC
On our way down, I could not stop marveling at the trees and I had us stop for a bit of posing. These are seriously big. I almost can't conceive how big they are. Just take a look...





I am fascinated by this. Like I can't even begin to comprehend how big this tree is
On our way out, we saw this mother and faun couple. Aren't they cute?




And you can't go to Orcas Island without seeing the giant metal orca. You just can't!




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