Cruising Great Northern, Our DeFever 53, Throughout the Northwest
So What Day Are We On? Let’s see… It’s Day Three… and The Friday Harbor Farmer’s Market Beckons Us
We decided… well, really, Les decided that today we would take the chariot to the English Camp dock, walk up to the parking lot and catch the San Juan Transit bus to Friday Harbor. Why not? It was farmer’s market Saturday after all. We traipsed through the Camp and as we passed the old Royal Marine Barracks, built as a privates’ mess in 1860… we ran into this re-enactment dude:
We both loved his red pom pom decoration, and I don’t think it bothered him in the least. Quite a nice fellow posing for a snap, eh? But one has to wonder… what’s the point of the pom pom. Is it a dare. Shoot the pom pom and win a kewpie doll?
All I can say is that humans are an odd species and the Kewpie dolls that came out of the pages of an early 19th century comic strip and took the world by storm… Imagine that… kewpie doll soldiers. Well, the English are an odd lot as well and adding a red pom pom to the hat of the Royal Marine dress uniform? Who came up with that concept? Probably just a modern substitute for the large red feather they used in the mid 1800’s, eh?
We caught the San Juan Transit bus in the English Camp parking lot and were escorted by a lovely native islander tour guide and learned quite a bit about the island on our way to the “bus zone” located by the Friday Harbor ferry terminal. From there, we took to our feet and walked uptown to the Brickworks Building via the Sunshine Alley and began a walk-about in the market.
Not a whole lot of produce… it is a bit early yet and the weather has been rather cool… but what was there looked great! The collard greens and romaine… marrivillosa!There were several booths displaying baked goods. Bread, rolls of every kind cheezy, garlicky doo-dads. spinach, egg and Bree tucked between two flower tortillas… You name it, and if you can bake it, it was there.Now this is something I’ve never seen… This is the beginning of paella. Only the pan is six feet across and there were two of them going full bore. The line wound around the market… quite popular.The opening musical act. Fiddle and squeezebox. Nice.The rest of the band joined in for some great islander blue-grass.The indoor part of the marketHow to spice up baskets… spray em!Hand painted silk scarvesOur friends, Jim and Lisa who now own our last boat (small world)… and Les discussing a item of interest… uh… who knows. Lisa seems to be challenging Jim about the item to purchase, and he looks a bit dubious, eh? Farmer’s Market stuff… Hard tellin… I was way across the room.
Someone must have dropped a bit of scone. He wants it and he wants it now!
This little fellow seemed amused by the whole collection of sounds, smells, other wandering dog people and the little chihuahua straining at his leash.
Border collies looking for something to herd. Maybe the pug, maybe the chihuahua, or the little kids running about This BC was so well behaved. Ground tied in the family booth. He either lay there with his head resting on his paws or sacked out completely. Saving energy up… there were chores waiting back at the farm.
Several wines and ciders were on display… The Islands have several wineries that have been producing some fine wines… and the ciders are wonderful.
So we topped off our Farmer’s Market excursion with a visit to the San Juan Brewery. Lunch and IPA. Sauce for the goose. What will tomorrow bring?
Northwest Boating Travels With Blair, Les, and Leo 
The market looks like a lot of fun.
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Hey you two. Great to know you are still out there cruising. After some boat work in August we’ll be heading to Canada. Hope to see you…
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We are now heading south to Mexico.
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