LC's Cottage

Orcas Island

Posted on August 12, 2026 | Leave a comment

*Clicking on a photo will give you a closer look!

We caught a ferry out of Anacortes to Orcas Island, the largest of the San Juan Islands in Washington state. It is well known for its horseshoe shape, Mount Constitution in Moran State Park, and outdoor activities like whale watching and lots of hiking. The ferry landing is just across from Shaw Island, which you can see in the above map.

After checking in with the Kangaroo House Bed & Breakfast (We highly recommend this wonderful couple…and their breakfast is sooooo good!), we drove over to Moran State Park. Looking at the map above, you can see that this park consists of most of the right side of Orcas Island!

There is a lot to enjoy about this park, and one of the best things to do is to go to the summit of Mount Constitution, the highest point on the island. There is an observation tower to explore, and a fantastic view in every direction! You don’t have to hike all the way to the summit, you can drive and park at various points of the way.

These photos were taken from the summit looking towards the east over the Rosario Strait. We had a beautiful clear day to see Mount Baker in the distance:

Two ways to look at Mount Baker when zoomed in:

The black and white seems “moodier” to me. What do you think?

There are 38 miles of trails in the 5,200-acre park.

The Hubster and I chose to walk the trails leading to each of the falls.

This was easy and very pleasant hiking.

Two ways to see a waterfall:

Which way is your preference?

Lots of horsetail to see!

Lovin’ the “lips” on this bracket fungus!

I don’t know about you, but I find hiking relaxing and refreshing.

Hiking brings me back to God.

More to come.

See the world around you!

Part 1:

Anacortes

Posted on August 10, 2026 | 9 comments

I have been MIA (missing in action) from Blogland since the end of May. No blog sharing and no reading of my fav blogs.

The break has been nice, but I am woefully behind on what my blog friends have been up to.

The Hubster and I took a trip at the end of May/beginning of June to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary!

We drove over to the west side of our state and stayed the night at the Anacortes Ship Harbor Inn.

I stole the following photo from their website, but I don’t think they’d mind.

If ever opportunity comes around again, the Hubster and I would stay here again. We had a small cabin, and it was a very peaceful and serene stay.

The inn is less than a 15 minute walk to the Ferry Terminal. You can see the ferry terminal from the inn and enjoy watching the ferries come and go.

Washington Park is less than a 5 minute drive away, so after we checked in, we headed over to the park to explore.

The beautiful 220 acre park sits on a peninsula at the west end of Fidalgo Island. There are viewpoints to watch marine life, but we did not see any critters of the sea on our hike. We did not know to watch, for one thing. For another, we just wanted to stretch our legs and this is a great place to do just that! If you visit, bring binoculars!

*Clicking on a photo will give you a closer look!

While hiking, we came across a 15-ton granite monument to Tonjes Hinrich Havekost (1840-1911).

Turns out that Havekost owned over 400 acres of land. The German immigrant’s last wishes were “Make my tomb a park”, thus donating the land surrounding the monument that marks his grave specifically for a park.

God bless Tonjes Havekost!

In 1911, inspired by Havekost, the ladies Anacortes Improvement Club sold lemon pies for a quarter a piece in two days during the Inter-Island fair to come up with $315.50 of $1,000 they donated to the effort of preserving the northwest point overlooking Burrows Channels.

This land would eventually become Sunset Beach, a terrific addition to Washington Park (and a great testament to what saving your pennies can do)!