Winter projects and the island

Well its still a bit chilly outside, but still a perfect time to visit the island, especially with trying to keep some extra money in your wallet it is always less costly to travel in the winter months - great specials at inns, lower ferry costs, and still plenty to do as long as you don't mind wearing a jacket. Harbor seals and other wildlife are still around - along with our friend Popeye! This harbor seal has a statue in his honor down by the harbor and still comes to visit us down on the docks by the fish market (trying to snag a few treats from visitors). We have luckily through the cold weather had the sun shining for the past week! The sun has been a sign that spring is coming soon, and the sights are still as beautiful as always.

At the inn we are renovating a few rooms’ new paint, floors, and furniture; we will have many new pictures soon! The rooms are coming along nicely and I think that they are much more enjoyable to stay in along with the full hearty breakfast each morning I wish I could stay here in the rooms to enjoy all that relaxing at the inn has to offer, oh yeah currently I do stay here and it has been great, San Juan Island is a great place for visiting and living no matter what your interest - hiking, biking, scenery, water, boating, whale watching, kayaking, picnics and food galore! Many great places for dining and shopping. However if you do decide to do some shopping here and visit our awesome hot sauce shop be careful if you buy one of their commemorative grenade hot sauces (do not take this on a plane in your carry-on) my mom did that for a friend. She got drilled at the check station as the bomb squad came out and asked her if she had a bomb in her bag. She had quite a blast, and has quite a story for everyone back home now.

Friday Harbor Lodging Tucker House Inn

We made it through the Holiday snow storms and are in the middle of our winter projects around the Inns and restaurant. It seems every year a few rooms and suites get a little loving face lift and this year is no exception. Once we're done we will put some new pics on the web site. See if you can find the rooms that changed from last year.

Winter News at the Tucker House

Winter wouldn't be complete without a post about our lastest projects around the Inn. This winter we are focusing on two of the cottages - Log Cabin and Jennie's. We started with Log and are having fun with the color choices. This is the second phase of renovations. Last year we did the bathroom and kitchen floor and exterior deck. This year, its the kitchen countertop and great room floor and fire place. Renovations always gives us the opportunity to paint. We picked out a great color scheme with some bold but soothing colors that should go perfectly with the rustic 'moose' bedding.

Jennie's is going to be the polar opposite - a bit whimiscal and hip. The bedspread has blue and brown circles and poka dots. We will put in a hardwood floor and tile in the bath. We envisioning a hip uptown studio. We'll post pictures soon. I have a new computer so the picture thing is so much easier.

Happy 2009! from the Tucker House, San Juan Island

Wow it is the second week of the year already! The last 2 weeks of December were a blur as the Pacific Northwest was covered with an unusally deep blanket of snow. While the Island enjoyed a white Christmas for the first time in several years, it made getting to and around the Island very difficult for the last few weeks. Since we normally do not get snowfalls of any consequence, we do not have the proper equipment to clear the roads.

We happened to be on vacation during the storm. We returned to a winter wonderland. We were lucky to find a small break in the weather and made the hair raising drive from Seatac to Anacortes to catch the ferry back to Friday Harbor. (With this kind of welcome, we were ready to turn back and head back to our Carribean vacation). We eventually made it to Anacortes in a bit over 3 hours - normally a 1 1/2 - 2 hour drive. I know Shay (our innkeeper) was really glad we made it back. She did an amazing job holding down the fort, taking care of guests while shoveling all the white stuff when we were gone.

The Christmas holiday around the Inns was a bit more quiet than usual. We had many guests stranded in airports around the country who couldn't make it to the Island to spend the holidays with families. Locals who were driving to the Island from Washington, Oregon and northern California were unable to get here due to the icy road conditions. We did have a houseful(Innful) for New Year's weekend. We were happy that our guests who had been snow bound and were suffering from cabin fever decided to escape to Friday Harbor to ring in 2009!