Pacific Northwest 5

On our way home from Whidbey Island we took the road north, avoiding the ferry and crossing to the mainland via some spectacular bridges. En route, we passed through some pleasant rural scenery and visited the Cranberry Lake area with its lovely beach scenery that we explored.

But before I start on those themes, I'd like to observe that one object loomed large over the scenery, albeit some way off. It's Mount Baker, yet another snow, ice and glacier encrusted volcano some 3286 m (10781 ft) high. I think you'll agree with me that it's a lovely spectacle taken from two different angles in these pictures.

We spent quite a while exploring the beach in Deception Pass State Park near lake Cranberry. A lot of timber had washed up on the shore-line and we clambered over both the logs and rocky promontories.

And round the corner we spotted the Deception Pass bridge that would carry us home.

On reaching the bridge a little later, we disembarked the car and set off to explore both it and its surrounding scenery, like a large number of other visitors. Once again, Mount Baker appeared on the horizon, but it was the structure that created excitement:

On top of that we witnessed a variety of great views: coastal and wildlife:

A pod (or heard) of seals.

AS

Pacific Northwest 4

A little to the north of Fort Casey lies another, but much smaller, military relic, Fort Ebey, and we had a quick visit there amidst lovely coastal scenery.

AS

Pacific Northwest 3

During our stay at Lagoon Point, we visited the nearby Fort Casey Historical State Park, a former military base dating from the second world war. I presume its objective was to defend Seattle from enemy (i.e. Japanese) attack, but no such move was ever made and as far I know no shot was ever fired in anger. These days it's a kind of military museum that's fascinating to explore on foot - covering some distance in the process as the site is large. I don't think these images require explanation. Just browse them at your convenience.

Hiding away in a corner!

Navigating some steep steps.

AS

Sporting Prowess

Flynn and Ella might only be very young, but they're into a variety of sports as my blog has already testified several time. Our visit this time gave further credence to this observation, with Flynn especially enjoying his soccer training and swimming lessons, while Ella's gymnastics comes on apace. The soccer training and match was held indoors at a special arena.

And the swimming lessons took place at an indoor pool run by a local school, which leased out its facilities to an organisation comprising swimming coaches. Flynn's a little bit nervous about swimming right now, but seems to enjoy playing in the water. And, of course, he's only just turned 5.

Alas, I have no pictures of Ella's achievements in the gym - they seem to have gone missing!

AS

Pacific Northwest 2

Our airbnb accommodation was set high above the little township of Lagoon Point, which surrounded an attractive little harbour full of yachts and motor-boats. And as you'll see, it offered a grand perspective of the snow-covered Olympic range across the water. Sometimes enshrouded in cloud we were occasionally greeted by clear weather as these pictures show.

You might just make out a sea-otter in this view.

And we awoke from on one morning to a thin snow dump that occurred overnight. In fact, it continued 'snowing' over breakfast, as the last picture attempts to show!

How are these for a gorgeous view of the Olympics?

And here's Flynn just before his 5th birthday ready to play his banjo! He proved quite an accomplished musician.

AS

Pacific Northwest 1

I've been off air for over a month and this reflects both business on my part and the fact that Dot and I had roughly 15 days in Seattle where we attended Flynn's 5th birthday party ... but did many other things besides.

One of our great experiences, courtesy of Emily and Greg, was to spend some days travelling to and from Whidbey Island in Puget sound just to the north of Seattle. It was a lovely place to be despite it being mid-winter and therefore somewhat on the cold side ... but the temperature, and a small snow dump, seemed to place little constraint on our activities. The journeys to and from Lagoon Point, where we stayed in a very nice airbnb rented house, were also interesting and I'll start with the outbound journey. We drove north to Mukilteo near Everett (home to Boeing) to catch the car ferry shown below, which was configured to take a large number of vehicles. Alas, the queue was so long we had to await a second ferry, but the service is frequent with fairly short turnaround times.

A view across Puget sound and waterfront Mukilteo near the jetty.

Some well-known passengers awaiting the ferry.

And an inviting view across to the snow-capped Olympic range.

Here I am with Dot and Ella, all rugged up, while Greg is perhaps less so!

A view of the two-tier car deck.

And here we are approaching Clinton on Whidbey Island. I wonder what share of the vote Hillary achieved in this little town named after her ... or perhaps it's the other way around!

Our drive to Lagoon Point took us past some lovely vistas of Puget sound.

And here is our first view of Lagoon Point from our airbnb accommodation.

AS