Lopez: Getting There and Getting Around

Hi guys! We've been getting questions about getting to Lopez Island and getting around once there. Here's some general info. (Again, if you have questions or concerns, please send us an email!)

Lopez Island is well north of Seattle: a 40 minute ferry trip following an hour-forty-minute drive to Anacortes, Washington.

 

Important information for day-of-wedding arrivals:

 

If you are planning to arrive the day of the wedding, there are three ferries that will “get you to the church on time” – departures from Anacortes at 6:20AM, 10:35AM and 12:35PM. (See ferry schedule here.) 

If you want to drive onto the island, get to the ferry at least two hours early. The 10:35 and 12:35 sailings are typically very full on Saturdays!  (See link about vehicle traffic conditions here.)  

To avoid the wait, you can park at the Anacortes Ferry Terminal, and we'll pick you up at the Lopez terminal. This is cheaper, requires much less waiting, and reduces parking issues at the wedding. There are three lots at the terminal. Parking costs $10 for 24 hours, and $25 for 72 hours. (If you plan to walk on, get there an hour early: give yourself time to find a spot, pay, buy a coffee etc.) We will have shuttles meet any ferry which we know will have car-less guests!

How about getting back home, you ask? If you want to leave the island on Saturday after the wedding, the last ferry back to the mainland leaves at 8:25 pm. We'll have a shuttle for walk-ons, leaving Kay and George's house for the ferry at 7:45 pm. If you drove onto the island, we recommend that you find a hotel or campsite on the island rather than try to drive off the same day-- the wait times are too tough to predict. (Get in touch if this puts you in a bind.)

Getting There Without a Car:

Wedding Express Shuttle. We are working on getting someone to shuttle our guests between Seatac/Seattle and Anacortes Ferry terminal on June 10, June 11 and June 12.  Cost would be about $25 each way.  Please let us know if you are interested in this option and we will keep you posted…

Bellair Airport Shuttle. (This also makes a stop in downtown Seattle!) From Seatac airport you can take an airporter to Anacortes. The airporter takes 2½ hours to get to Anacortes. Insanely, the shuttle arrives about fifteen minutes AFTER the ferries leave, so you will have to arrive early and wait awhile for the next ferry.

Other carpools. We'll also have groups of friends driving up. Get in touch if you need a lift, or if you have an extra spot in your car.

Public Transit. Not for the faint of heart, but doable Monday to Friday only. From downtown Seattle, you can take the Sound Transit 510 bus north to the Everett Station. From the Everett Station, you can catch the Skagit Transit "County Connector" bus 90X north to the Mount Vernon Station. From the Mount Vernon Station, you can catch the Skagit Transit Route 615 to the March Point Park & Ride, and from there, the Skagit Transit Route 410 to the Anacortes Ferry Terminal. Lord have mercy!

Victoria Clipper. This is a speedy boat that leaves from Seattle Ferry terminal at 7:45 on Saturday AM and goes to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.  You would then catch the ferry to Lopez which leaves 20 minutes after the Clipper arrives – VERY doable, but if you miss the ferry to Lopez you miss the wedding!  Costs around $65 round trip plus ferry to Lopez. See website here.

Seaplane to Lopez. Kenmore Air has scheduled flights to Lopez with shuttle to/from airport included. The scheduled flight for Saturday June 11 leaves the airport at 10:30 and gets you to Lopez by 12:30.  Cost is near $200.  Kenmore Air website here.  

OR if a group of you are going together you can charter a 6-seater seaplane from Kenmore Air to leave at a time of your choosing at the cost of about $163/person. We meet you at the seaplane port.

OR Kenmore Air also flies to the lovely town of Friday Harbor. This is also Kenmore Air; it would require a ferrytrip from Friday Harbor to Lopez. See Kenmore Air wheeled plane schedules here. There might be options to charter a wheeled plane to land at the Lopez Airport, which is right next door to the wedding site!

Directions:

Directions by Car to Anacortes Ferry: From Seattle you take I-5 north toward Anacortes. Take exit 226 to Rt 536 west, and follow it to Rt 20 west for about 10 miles, to a right turn on Commercial, and a left onto 12th which becomes Oakes. From there, follow signs to ferry terminal. Take the ferry to Lopez Island.

 

Directions on Lopez Island: (See the detailed map of Lopez in earlier post.) If you are on foot, just relax and enjoy the sound of the seagulls and wait for the shuttle. If you have a car, then drive off the ferry, go 2.1 miles on Ferry Road. Continue on Fisherman Bay Road for 5 miles. Turn Right at Airport Road and go 0.4 miles. Take the first left on Shark Reef Road and go 0.7 miles. Look for signs to the wedding!

Simone's wedding wishes!

Our wonderful downstairs neighbor Simone made us a poster! It is now hanging on our wall, and it is inevitable that we will have a good wedding. Thanks, Simone!

Wedding Registry Is Live!

Hi loved ones, our wedding registry is now available through Alternative Gift Registry. Follow this link below--

http://www.alternativegiftregistry.org/view_registry_public.php?registry_uid=6742

or in the sidebar. The password is "caitandjay" (no quote marks).

Meditation Countdown!

Guest Post by Karen Taylor, Friend of the Couple  

Cait and Jay love more than anything to support their friends and family in their journeys of growth and are two of the most centered, awake, and alive people I know.  So, in the 40 days leading up to the Lopez wedding, I'll be committing to meditate 5-30 minutes a day.  Join me!  In the spirit of marriage as a community act, let's collectively re-wire our minds to the present moment. 

Have you never done daily meditation before? Are you scared you can't do it? Are you afraid that you can't do it "right"?  Me too!  Let's do it anyway!  I'll be posting helpful links for beginning meditators and other resources in the Meditation Countdown Forum.  Meditation is both an ancient spiritual practice and a scientifically proven method for making all kinds of healthy stuff happen in your brain and body.

If you'd like to participate, you can let everyone know by posting an introduction under the "I'm In!" thread on the same forum.  At any time, especially once we begin on Tuesday, May 3rd, we can share our thoughts, questions, and experiences there as a community.

On the wedding day there will be a chance for us all to sit quietly together to close the 40 days of practice.  Why 40 days?  40 is the traditional yogic number of days that it takes for a new habit to "stick."  Just as a wedding is only the beginning of a marriage, I hope this countdown can be just the beginning of a deeper commitment to mindfulness in our lives.

Camping on Lopez Island

Hi folks! Just a quick note for those of you who are interested in camping on Lopez around our ceremony on the 11th.

Here are a bunch of beautiful, sometimes bike-accessible, campgrounds on the island, listed in the San Juan Islands Directory and in the website of Odlin County Park itself. Early June isn't quite high season on the islands, but it's getting close, so we recommend that if you want to camp, call ahead soon and make a reservation!

Lodgings and How to Get There

Poulsbo: Small Family Wedding, June 4

(In 1886, Scandinavian settlers intended to name the town Paulsbo – Paul’s Place – after a Norwegian village. The authorities in Washington DC miss-transcribed the name, and it ended up with its present name, which is still pronounced as if it were Paul’s Bo.)

Location

The special family wedding will be at the home of Jeff & Amanda Cain, Jay’s cousins:

2703 NW Finn Hill Road,

Poulsbo, Washington

Places to stay

Houses (Careful - many have 3 night minimum stay!) 

http://www.vrbo.com/vacation-rentals/usa/washington/puget-sound/poulsbo

Motels

The Poulsbo Inn:  http://www.poulsboinn.com/

http://www.guesthouseintl.com/hotels/poulsbo?chebs=gl_ghi

Beds and Breakfasts

http://www.bedandbreakfast.com/poulsbo-washington.html

The Green Cat B&B:  http://www.greencatbb.com/index.html

Alta Vista Guesthouse: http://altravista.us/AltraVista/Defox.aspx

Lopez Island: The Big Ceremony, June 11

Location

The Big Wedding will be held at 241 Eagles Roost Lane, on Lopez Island, Washington. This is the home of George and Kay Keeler, who are Cait’s godparents and dear family friends. See the map below.

Getting there

If you live in Seattle, you already know how to get to Anacortes; it's about a ninety-minute drive north. Take the Ferry to Lopez Island. Check here for the Spring Schedule which will be in effect in June. There are seven delightful, restful crossings a day. Follow their guidelines for getting to the ferry early.

(If you are flying in, you’ll land in Seatac airport, and then either rent a car or take an airporter to Anacortes. The airporter takes 2½ hours to get to Anacortes. Public transit is also an option. Contact us if you want more specifics!) 

Our goal is to make coming up car-free as painless as possible. Certain hotels (see below) give you free parking in Anacortes and meet you at the Lopez Ferry; there will also be carpools. Contact us if you'd like to bring folks from Seattle, or would like a ride!

Directions on Lopez Island

If you are on foot, just relax and enjoy the sound of the seagulls and wait for the shuttle (either our cars or the shuttle from one of the island's hotles). If you have a car, then drive off the ferry, go 2.1 miles on Ferry Road. Continue on Fisherman Bay Road for 5 miles. Turn Right at Airport Road and go 0.4 miles. Take the first left on Shark Reef Road and go 0.7 miles. Look for signs to the wedding!

Lodging

There are many great places for visitors to stay on the island. We are recommending these two for people who want to stay in hotel-like settings. Both are convenient, and both will meet you at the ferry if you come without a car.

the Lopez Islander Bay Resort has a selection of rooms ranging from $109 to $169. They have free parking in Anacortes so you can park there, walk on to the ferry, call them from the ferry when you can see Lopez, and they will be waiting there for you in their shuttle when you get to the island. Now, that’s nice! They are holding a block of fifteen rooms for us until May 9. Please make your reservation as soon as possible, tell them it is for Cait and Jay’s wedding. 800 736 3434

The Edenwild Inn also has a few rooms available from $170 to $195. If you are reserving with them, please call them soon. 800-606-0662, 


And, Lopez Village Properties has several of houses to rent. Check them out and talk to Barbara Pickering.

But there are lots of other places available, at different prices. Almost every place that visitors can stay on the Island is listed on the Chamber of Commerce website. They have three bed & breakfasts, three camp sites, 17 “private lodgings”, and one big hotel,

Another source, that probably overlaps with the Chamber of Commerce website, is VRBO – Vacation Rentals by Owner – lists 18 houses on Lopez Island. Most rent by the day. Some are very large and can sleep a lot of people. (Don’t try to rent #158307 because that’s the house where the wedding is taking place!)

The Wedding House is about in the middle of the Island, and most of the places to stay are between it and the ferry landing. The farthest you could be away would be a fifteen-minute drive – it’s a small island. But nearer is better: if you call people, tell them you’ll be going to a home near the airport, and ask how far it is.

Information

We’ll be posting some phone numbers before the wedding for last-minute info. Please check back here.

Also, there is a free Lopez Island iPhone app that “provides information about local businesses, farm information, recreational opportunities and ferry schedules”. And, here’s a travel guide to Lopez Island: http://www.gonorthwest.com/Washington/sanjuan/Lopez/lopez_island.htm. Cool!

As always, write to jayandthecait@gmail.com if you have questions or concerns, or need more info.

Ceremony Locations

Hi folks---

Our wedding ceremony for our friends, family, and loved ones will be held on June 11, 2011 beginning in the early afternoon (more details TBD) at the home of George and Kay Keeler (241 Eagle's Roost Lane) on Lopez Island, WA. The reception for this ceremony will stretch late into the evening (dancing, champagne, hootenanying), but we'll be done with dinner by 7 pm or so.

How to get there: Lopez Island is about fifty minutes by ferry from the WSDOT Ferry Terminal at Anacortes, WA, a little town about an hour and forty minute drive north of Seattle on I-5. Here's the current (Winter 2011) ferry schedule, though crossing times and frequency will probably change by summer.

The Anacortes-Lopez car crossing can involve delays, and the Lopez-Anacortes return crossing more so (at peak time, I waited two and a half hours on Lopez for a return ferry last summer). If you're a walk-on passenger, however, you can just get on any boat that arrives. Details about transportation (we're thinking carpools at both ends, so guests will have the choice to park their cars in Anacortes and get picked up at Lopez) will be forthcoming. We will make this as sunlit and painless for our guests as can be!

* * *

Also, here's a little information about our ceremony for family on June 4, 2011. This ceremony will be hosted by Amanda and Jeff Cain, Jay's cousins, at their beautiful woodsy home in Poulsbo, WA. Here's their address: 2703 NW Finn Hill Rd., Poulsbo WA, 98370. Their house is quite accessible from Seattle: the Seattle-Bainbridge Island ferry runs every fifty minutes, and their house is about a twenty-five minute drive from Bainbridge. Rather than a formal reception, we'll be having a ceremony (around 3 pm) followed by dinner (around 5 pm) and live music. Guests are welcome to come between 1 and 2 pm, and stay until 9.

* * *

There will be information here soon about our wedding registry; detailed directions; hotel, lodging, and camping information for Lopez Island, Anacortes, and Seattle; and fun things to do if you're visiting the Northwest.

We love you and can't wait to see you!

--Jay and Cait