Spencer Jack's Deceptive Howdy To FUD & Fort Worth's Bridge Boondoggle

Four photos from Spencer Jack and his dad, who is also my Favorite Nephew Jason, arrived last night in my email inbox, with no explanatory text.

I assume there was no explanatory text because no explanatory text was needed once I got past the first photo you see here.

In that photo Spencer Jack is on what appears to be a sandy beach on which the message "HOWDY FUD" has been etched.

FUD is a short way of saying Favorite Uncle D, with me being the Favorite Uncle D.

After perusing all four photos it was obvious Spencer Jack had driven his dad a few miles from their home location in Mount Vernon to Deception Pass State Park.

Deception Pass State Park is the biggest state park in the state of Washington.

The description of Deception Pass State Park from the state's state park website...

Deception Pass is Washington's most-visited state park for a reason. Mysterious coves, rugged cliffs, jaw-dropping sunsets, and a stomach-dropping high bridge make this park a go-to for locals and international travelers alike.

Families can fish and swim in Cranberry Lake. Beach explorers look for shells along miles of Puget Sound beachfront. Hikers can trek through forests and out along bluffs. And birdwatchers fill their field guides with notes. You may see a whale or a family of seals as you gaze on the wild waters that once challenged early explorers.

Your inner explorer will delight in learning Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) history at Bowman Bay. The CCC was Franklin D. Roosevelt's Depression-era "Tree Army;" it employed nearly 3 million men and built many of America's state and national parks. An extended stay at Deception Pass will have you peering into tide pools at Rosario Beach, boating at Cornet Bay, strolling on North and West beaches and gaping up at Hoypus Forest, one of Washington's largest remaining old-growth stands.

For most of my existence on the planet I was one of those locals referred to in the first paragraph from the state park article. With Deception Pass being such a short distance from where I lived it was my year round go to place for hiking, or just communing with nature. Hiking to the summit of Goose Rock is a hike I have probably done more than any other.

Now let's look at the other photos sent last night by Spencer Jack and his dad.

Above Spencer Jack is on the Fidalgo Island side of Deception Pass, looking down on Bowman's Bay. To the left of Spencer, if the photo extended that far, we would see the cliffs of Rosario.

About a month before I moved to Texas I was at Rosario Beach where we were startled to suddenly witness a HUGE whale, of what variety I do not know. We speculated a Great White, but all we knew for sure was it was HUGE and it was slowly moving along the shoreline, only about ten feet out.

This hike from Rosario to Bowman's Bay and then to where Spencer is, was one of my favorites. Trails take one all around a large tree covered rock, with views such as the one seen by Jason and Spencer below.

That is the Deception Pass Bridge you see in the background. This bridge was completed in about a year's time, opening on July 31, 1935, built over deep, swift moving actual water, connecting two actual islands, Fidalgo and Whidbey, with a third, Pass Island, being the go-between between the two bigger islands.

What a concept! A real bridge connecting real islands over real water!

Above Spencer Jack is on the Whidbey Island side of Deception Pass State Park. If I remember right this location is known as North Beach. West Beach is to the left of Spencer, on the other side of a bluff with steep cliffs. On a hot summer day West Beach is packed with a lot of people.

Mehinks it is growing up knowing of things like the Deception Pass Bridge, actual islands, and real waterfronts, why I react so annoyed when I see a town like Fort Worth, unable to build three simple little bridges over dry land, with those responsible conning the clueless locals that the reason it is taking is so is because those bridges are real difficult feats of engineering.

While anyone with a lick of common sense knows how ridiculous such a claim is. Particularly when you add in the fact that these simple bridges are being built over dry land, with those same sorts who are responsible adding to the con by claiming this was done to save time and money, when there never was an option to build over water until a cement lined ditch was dug under the bridges, with polluted river water added to the ditch.

Save time? It has been over four years and those bridges are still mostly giant seesaws further blighting the already blighted landscape.

And then we have a bridge like the one across Deception Pass, built in a fraction of the time Fort Worth has been boondoggling in dawdle mode.

The photo you see below coincidentally also showed up last night, on Facebook, showing the Deception Pass Bridge under construction. This feat of engineering does look a bit more complicated, doesn't it, than those Fort Worth bridges which look like freeway overpasses?

Let's take a look at what Wikipedia had to say about Deception Pass and that actual water this actual signature bridge was built over...

Deception Pass is a dramatic seascape where the tidal flow and whirlpools beneath the twin bridges connecting Fidalgo Island to Whidbey Island move quickly. During ebb and flood tide current speed reaches about 8 knots (9.2 mph), flowing in opposite directions between ebb and flood.  This swift current can lead to standing waves, large whirlpools, and roiling eddies. This swift current phenomenon can be viewed from the twin bridges' pedestrian walkways or from the trail leading below the larger south bridge from the parking lot on the Whidbey Island side. Boats can be seen waiting on either side of the pass for the current to stop or change direction before going through. Thrill-seeking kayakers go there during large tide changes to surf the standing waves and brave the class 2 and 3 rapid conditions.

I have multiple times eye witnessed the tidal change at Deception Pass, joining a lot of others also marveling at the dramatic spectacle.

I wonder how many decades, or centuries, it would take a town like Fort Worth to build a bridge over actual swift moving water, like Deception Pass?

Likely no one would have the vision to do so, even with the unqualified help of a local congressperson's son....