Anacortes, WA

We found Anacortes by using by using Google Earth's capabilities to show lodging. There were several motels in the downtown area of Anacortes but we noticed Ship Harbor Inn was located close to the Washington State Ferry terminal that serves the San Juan Islands and Washington State Park, and it fit our need at the time for a quiet place to take our elderly dog. We've stayed at Ship Harbor Inn twice now and recommend it.

Anacortes proper has many restaurants, grocery stores, bookstores, at least one independent bakery, and all the other resources that one would expect from a community of 17,000. There are scores of murals painted on the sides of buildings along the main thoroughfare (Commerce St) that can make the stroll through town entertaining.

Washington Park is about a mile from Ship Harbor Inn and has a beach as well as a loop road/trail that overlooks Guemes Channel and some of the San Juan Islands. The road to Whidbey Island is just before the entrance to the park so you can visit the park on your way out of town if you decide to return to Seattle using an alternate route.

A side note on alternate return routes. We try to avoid coming and going on the same roads so we like to get where we're going as quickly as we can and then prolong the return home by finding different ways to get back. I like to use paper maps for this way-finding part of our trip because I can sit on the bed in the motel with one of the local 'What's Happening' publications and find the really fun things that are not on the main roads or even in the town in which we're staying. Our trips are not over until we open the front door to our apartment.