Island hopping in western Washington - KING 5 Evening | Full Episode
[Music] tonight on a special edition of evening from the San Juans to the South Sound Come Aboard as we explore the islands of Western Washington visitors are completely odd we'll show you where to go when you hit the shore it's magnificent it's worth the trip as evening goes island hopping [Music] hey I'm Jim deor welcome to a special island hopping edition of evening you know the Waters of Western Washington are home to more than 400 islands and every one of them has its own story and unique charm tonight we're going to some of the places that make our own backyard such a great place to explore we're coming to you tonight from the Washington State Ferry chimicum more than 19 million people ride these fairies every year and most of the islands you'll see tonight be reached by catch and arve our first stop is Banbridge Island home to a unique Garden that is ranked as one of the most scenic spots in the world we call this place a sort of a secret gem we are actually one of the 10 best and most renowned public gardens in the United States blell reserved open to the public in the late 80s it was a private residence a private estate and The Apprentice in Virginia bodell lived here with their children for 30 years he hired different Landscape Architects and Landscape designers to help him and uh his wife sculpt this land which is 140 Acres of native Forest here on Bainbridge Island into a created series of gardens that flow through the property when you visit the reserve you'll experience an incredible layering of native forest and cultivated Gardens the beauty of that is you're able to more deeply understand the Pacific Northwest and its plantings as well as see some extremely exotic species the Japanese garden is modeled after a traditional Japanese strolling Garden there's a pond there's a sand and stone garden and the structure there which we call the Japanese guest house was originally the bodell's guest house for their friends when they came to visit and the Sand and Stone Garden was originally a swimming pool the reflection pool is probably the most formal of our Gardens here at the reserve was designed to feel like you're in a room so it's a long rectangular space it's surrounded by a very formal u h headge and then the pool itself reflects the sky visitors are completely ODed by blell Reserve something happens between the time where they arrive uh pass through all these beautiful landscapes it's a rarity to have this amount of land 140 Acres reserved and set aside for anybody to come visit [Music] it badell Reserve is open year round but if you want to visit you have to get timed tickets you can do that online our next stop is wonderful Whidby Island a treasure Trove just waiting to be explored St takes us there [Music] now it's been a part of Whidby Island history for well over a century so this is the green Bank Farm on whbe Island we're right in the middle of the island in the skinniest point this whole Farm started at the pretty much the turn of the century 1904 and um it was started as a dairy farm then new ownership took over and they decided to plant Logan berries just on a whim to see how they would do and they thrived so by the ' 50s it was the largest Loganberry Farm in the United States by the 70s they say in the [Music] world today Green Bank Farm has become a must stop for both locals and visitors alike so there's 5 kilm of hiking trails that are cut up into the hillside the Washington State Master Gardeners do a professional job volunteering to take care of the gardens here at Greenbank Farm we've got an art gallery that's really great called fire of the heart Art Gallery we've got a couple of food options there's the old spots beastro which is a sit down um soups sandwiches salads we've got the cheese shop and you can pair Those cheese with wines at Holly's wine shop CH people come back every year even if they don't live here on Woody Island they make a trip back every year we get to see the same customers year after year it's really really beautiful if you believe breakfast is a good time any time of the day we know just the place for you this is Freeland Cafe we serve what a lot of people call comfort food family food a lot of family dining the original owners started in the middle 197 we haven't made a lot of changes because the cafe has a pretty big local following one of those unchanged items is their version of Loco Moco it's a rice dish with a beef patty served on top with two eggs the way you like them with a housemade brown gravy spread Over the Top chicken fried steak that's hand breaded here with homemade you know gravy from scratch that's really really popular and after 50 years Freeland Cafe is still popular too we get people in saying you know my grandfather used to bring my dad here and I bring my son here a lot of weekenders and we're a regular spot on their list looking for a place to stay then look no further than Captain whbn it was originally made as an inn Jud still was the original bought the land created the Inn that you see behind us [Music] here inside guests are immediately taken back in time with many of its original features Still Standing we have different cabins from philson uh edit cabins and they're all done uniquely by themselves our Lodge rooms are the historical rooms with shared bathrooms in the hallways and kind of just that more historical 1907 feel to it outside there's plenty of places where guests can relax or just explore the grounds we get a lot of people from Seattle that just are looking for a place to get out of the city that they can get away unwind relax history and Hospitality two things that keep guests at Captain Whidby in wanting to come back again and again they love it they absolutely love it all right that's the fun fact alert it's time for a fun fact did you know that Whidby Island is the largest island in the state 30 m long and 10 m wide you can turn off the fun fact sound now yeah turn thank you you know sometimes the best way to get to explore a place is to have a local play tour guide that's exactly what saint did on Bashon Island Tara Morgan a barber who makes house calls on the island is taking me on what she calls the Vashon unexpected tour this is a tour of things that I've discovered and things that are sort of unexpected our first stop is the country store and farm for nearly 60 years they've been selling homemade honey toys and clothes we really try and and carry a good brand but also something that's kind of fun Tera sizes me up for a so-called Vashon tuxedo oh you look super Snappy I like it with the Plaid apparently you need blunstone boots for the whole look I did not know that this Farm was back here until like 6 months ago back behind the store Adria McGrath cultivates an organic farm where she grows pumpkins and Instagram worthy Bean teepees in downtown Vashon we stop at Cafe Veno oio I can't wait for you to try this place it's not just coffee it's the best bagels on the island the coffee is great the egg sandwiches scrumptious but owner Jane Norton has made local art the star of the dining area people come in and eat and drink and sometimes buy our which is great looking for any from a sailfish to a suitcase our final stop is Vashon estate sales wow yeah you've hit you've basically hit the jackpot here but the true treasure is in a side room called the artist Apothecary the artist Being Mike Urban who owns the place this is a culmination of 20 years of collecting and you can see from wall to wall jars and jars of everything and you know a lot of people don't know about this place who even live on Vashon Island most people love the familiarity of the place they call home but terara Morgan loves the unexpected gems she finds on Vashon Island it's cool [Music] huh thank you Saint and there are three ways to access Vashon by ferry you can do it from Seattle Tacoma or Southworth still to come on evening's island hopping Adventure there watching Tony in figure out a way to get here explore susha island with its only resident Ranger and later visit the southernmost Island and all of Puget Sound wow local stories make a difference I want to check that out with the power to enrich lives strengthen communities and make us smile evening is made possible by pra Blue Cross pra Blue Cross always in your corner welcome back to evening from aboard the Washington State faer chimicum as we continue our island hopping Adventure we head on now to the largest of the San Juans orcus Island now whether you get there by ferry or by plane it's well worth the trip as one of the jewels of the Salish Sea orcus Island has always been a sought-out destination if you go be sure not to miss the highest point on the island Mount Constitution at almost half a mile above sea level it's the highest point in the San Juan Islands when it's open the observation tower built during the Great Depression is worth the walk up offering sweeping views of the water and surrounding Islands if hiking around has build up your appetite there's a great place down the road where you'll find food that doesn't get any fresher you are in Olga Washington which is on beautiful orcus island and the name of our farm is Buck Bay shellfish Farm buck Bay has been producing oysters and clams off and on since the 1930s one of the funnest thing that people really like to do and where we kind of all started was you could get go into our live room where we have live oysters and live plams and live crabs they took an old Boat Barn and made it part of a beastro they opened in 2019 we put the commercial kitchen on the back side of it with the hope of being able to make the best fish and chips in the whole entire world when you come into the Beast store you can get oyer a few different ways you can get them raw on the half shell or you can get them fried deep fried besides great food orcus is also home to many talented artists like the ones you'll find at orcus Island Pottery we have a lot of people that come here every year and a lot of people say it's their favorite place on Earth it was started in 1945 by a couple named Joe and marlay Sherman we sell pottery that's everything from functional dinner wear to decorative pieces most of our Pottery is the more functional dinner wear from start to finish it's usually at least a couple of weeks because the piece has to be thrown and then trimmed and dried fired glazed fired again Kim and her brothers are now a part of the four generations of Potters here keeping the ancient art alive it's one of the oldest traditions in human civilization is making pottery and I think that things just feel different in your hands when you know that it was made by a person with so much Beauty both man made and natural on orcus island leaving here with memories that will last a lifetime is almost guaranteed another classic orcus Island stop is d bay resort there are hot springs and cabins a great restaurant and a music festival every September our next stop is just North of orcus Island St takes us to susha it is a magic Place yeah you're really really in touch with nature when you're here even folks who live in the San Juan say this island special when I asked somebody who grew up around the islands which was his favorite island and he said beyond a shadow of a doubt he said oh susha so and I think it's probably ours now too here we go with its Bays beaches and Natural Beauty susha Island is the crown jewel of Washington state marine parks and it's Ranger Steve Crosby's job to help take care of it all I'm the resident park ranger here Monday through Thursday back in the 1950s half of this island was a state park and the other half was slated to become vacation homes then in 1960 yacht clubs from all over Washington State came together to stop the development and they did a fundraising drive and they raised the Magnificent sum of $25,000 and they bought the entire rest of the island today this place is priceless and it belongs to all of us the whole island is a state park visitors hike to Sandstone caves once used by Smugglers this is where the Smugglers would have hidden their Contraband in the little indents in these [Music] rocks and explore fossil Bay where Washington's only dinosaur bone was discovered in 2012 they named it now and it's called the suasa surus cuz it's the only specimen ever found moing boys anchoring spots and docks have put susha on the bucket list for boers a very beautiful spot and if your boat's not big enough to sleep aboard you're still in luck there's some magnificent camping sites our campsites are Waterfront all of them just about site 44 is Steve's favorite and that's it's a pretty good view for $15 a night you're not going to have a campsite where you don't have a view of something spectacular susha Island an excellent excuse to take up boating or make friends with somebody who owns one it's magnificent it's worth the trip every Washingtonian should figure out a way to get [Music] here thank you Saint there's water taxi service to susha from the San Juans and hotel bellweather in inham also has Boat Service in the summertime coming up our top things to do on Anderson [Music] Island welcome back to evening as we continue to Island toop around Western Washington our next stop is in the South Sound St takes us to Anderson Island it's a wonderful place here is an 8 square mile island that offers spectacular views natural beauty m of unspoiled beaches we have an eagle nest just right up the hill and residents like jeie McGoldrick who can't name a place where she'd rather live they'll have to carry me off in a box or Screaming I don't know that's the uh the feelings of an awful lot of people retired aerospace engineer Ed Stevenson says firsttime visitors should check out the Johnson Farm run by the volunteers of the Anderson Island Historical Society it says chicken Coupe on the outside right but inside all of this stuff has just kind of been put in here uh for storage at the moment because we've been building the new archival building there are rusting farm tools here an old Pilot House for one of the Island's original fairies and this antique people have to go all the way down to the ferry to make a phone call Hello Operator I would like to make a phone call person to person please we have an awful lot of history here that uh you just look around and you see all these different buildings that were built back in the 1800s there's another rusting antique in Oro Bay the Ocean City it's called yeah that was a very interesting story Tommy Palmer uh kind of collects fairies in the 1980s Palmer won the ferry in a Virginia auction and brought it through the Panama Canal hoping to win a private contract to Ferry Anderson Island passengers the county said no and it's been here ever since far as I know the only thing he's used it far I think it was his daughter that had a wedding party on it one time and that's about it we've got our own ferry to catch but there's one more place we wanted to see the Anderson Island general store that's a kind of our central point of information here you can pick up groceries videos used books and the latest news a lot of people say we're the pub of the island I'm not one that likes the gossip line of the island so we keep that as far Bay as the sun sets over the sound we head back to the mainland a 20-minute ride that's made all the difference for Anderson Island I love the ferry that's the only thing that's keeping the island as quiet as it [Music] is thank you St Anderson Island just a 20-minute ferry ride out of stillicum take a trip Tri to secluded hat Island it's a hidden secret really when evening [Music] returns welcome back to evening as we continue our island hopping Adventure now there's an island off the coast of Everett that's like its own little world tucked away from everything a great place to visit if you can figure out how to get there it's a little hard to get to by boat yep the only way the Harbor Master May chase you off I'm the Junkyard Dog but once you step foot on hat Island you may never want to step away it's a hidden sacret really 4 miles of beach up the hill is the most affordable Country Club in the Northwest there are a few golf courses where you can play in flipflops without a shirt on and your dog running around yes you do have to pack everything in the private island is by invite only unless you're a seal so we got a moat around the island for our gated community so this is a a hat Island speed bump there we go you know what shocks you when you see another car because you're used to having the road all yourself there's a community garden here created at the height of the pandemic it's just been a a healing growing thing that I think everybody needed it's a common place that we want to do the very best we can for this quirky Community also boasts a waterfowl condo where you might spot a Strang looking Lake creature the island itself is an odd duck of shorts not for everyone but the residents of hat Island wouldn't want to live anywhere else who would think 30 minutes from Big City you'd have [Music] this well this is our final destination thanks for watching and remember all the islands you saw on this show are just a fairy ride away see you next time [Music]
2025-02-23 11:52
