San Juan Islands Part 1

Last Friday, the whole Jones/Gray/Jordan clan packed up for a weekend camping and kayaking excursion to the San Juan islands. Jones Island State Park in particular, how fitting. We left Friday afternoon after everyone got off work, and we drove 2 hours to the ferry in Anacortes. Keep in mind that there were 5 of us in Ammen's Toyota Tundra. Which, well, let's just say that it was two small for all five of our bodies and personalities. It was a relief to get to the Ferry and sail off into the sunset towards Orcas Island (the ferry sunset is the first picture.) We got there after 10 o'clock and made out way to Mt. Constitution (highest pt in SanJuan's). We set up tents and hammocks quickly and went to bed. We had a long two (or three) days ahead of us. That morning we drove to the ferry docks, loaded the kayaks and headed west to Jones Island which is reachable only by "human powered vessels". The paddle was about 5 miles and we took it pretty mellow. We all had our own agendas. I was looking for adventure. Ammen, probably a bit of the same, but he was still nursing a broken rib. Zach was looking for a relaxing good time (with tequila involved). Steph and Molly were looking for sea weed. We found an awesome place to camp just on the Northwest side of the island. The girls set out to do their kelp gathering and we all just kind of explored the island. We had a great night of camping and cooking. We made salsa out of bull kelp(picture below) and boiled another kind of kelp (Turkish Hand Cloth) to make chocolate pudding. The camping was so relaxing and it is hard to find a more beautiful place to spend time, than in the San Juan Islands. The next morning, we woke up, piddled around the Jones Island and headed back to Orcas Island. As we were loading the boats, Ammen made a interesting suggestion. He said, "why don't you stay an extra day or two and paddle around by yourself? We will come get you when you are done." I was definitely interested, so I asked my sisters what they thought (expecting everyone to say it was a bad idea). They were amazingly supportive. Meanwhile this was my second day in a seakayak and I had never navigated in open water alone. This is precisely where MY San Juan Adventure began.