It's Sunday, ten days till the Solstice, a brilliant blue sky sunny day on San Juan Island. Half the town of Friday Harbor is in shade, the other half in full sun. It's three pm, just less than two hours till sundown. Question: why? Time for a Sunday drive.
I hop in my car and Fergie comes with. Starting in the shade near the library, we drive down Guard toward the sun. I can see it down by Tucker street, turning the corner onto Second Street. Why is it there, and not where I live? Where I live must be in the shadow of something this time of day.
We drive through town, looking at shadows, and at the sunny places. The sunny places are warm and happy, the shady places downright cold. Quite the contrast. We head up Spring Street and find the sun is shining on Spring Street. The sun shines in the window and Fergie lays on the front seat smiling.
So we drive on out of town on Spring, take a left onto Douglas Road to follow the sun. Douglas turns into Bailor Hill Road. Soon we're approaching the westside of San Juan Island, and guess what? It's still sunny! So We drove up the west side, coming back to town on Beaverton Valley Road.
This is what we learned. San Juan Island is very sunny, even in winter, if you go to the right places.
