I'm sure that you will receive replies from Fodorites who live in the islands, but as a non-islander but occasional visitor I will tell you that they are well worth visiting. Stay on San Juan Island (Friday Harbor) and ferry-hop to Orcas and/or Lopez.

"A couple of days" works for Olympic National Park, as well, and you can get there without a ferry ride. Google is your friend.

Orcas and San Juan Island get the most visitors. We prefer San Juan. Here is a summary of a day trip we took there in 2010:

"On Tuesday, August 17, we parked our car at the Anacortes Ferry terminal ($10) and went to Friday Harbor as foot passengers on the ferry ($12.15 each, round trip).

We walked around Friday Harbor and had a good lunch on the deck of the Downrigger, overlooking the harbor ($40).

After lunch we took the bus to Roche Harbor ($10 each, round trip).

The trip to Roche Harbor included an excellent narration about the island and drop-off points on the route such as a lavender farm and the Limekiln Whale Watch Park.

Roche Harbor is a delightful up-scale resort with two restaurants and a huge yacht harbor. We enjoyed the historic buildings, the gardens, and the yachts. We bought ice cream at a kiosk and ate it at an outside table with harbor view ($7).

We took the direct bus back to Friday Harbor, purchased food at King’s Market on Spring Street ($18), and enjoyed a delicious picnic on the evening ferry back to Anacortes.

It was a delightful day—hassle free and inexpensive (about $120 for the two of us).

HTTY