Looking At Deception Pass Bridge Takes Me Back To Fort Worth Again

Saw this that you see here, this Thursday morning, on Facebook. A look at a location I frequented frequently when I lived nearby.

Deception Pass State Park.

In this view we are looking east at the Deception Pass Bridge from the Rosario side of the state park. My favorite hiking venues were the Rosario trails, and the Goose Rock trails. Goose Rock is that which you see rising from the right side of the bridge.

Deception Pass Bridge was built in less than one year in the early 1930s. The bridge connects two islands, Fidalgo and Whidbey, crossing over another island between the two bigger islands, as in passing over Pass Island.

Whenever I see a photo of Deception Pass Bridge it puts me in mind of goofy Fort Worth, Texas. A town which has spent most of this century trying to see something called the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

A vision which took seven years to build three simple little bridges over dry land to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island.

Apparently, Fort Worth schools do not teach students what an island actually is.

One day it is hoped a cement lined ditch will be added under Fort Worth's infamous bridges to nowhere, with Trinity River water diverted into the ditch, thus creating the imaginary island, which would never be called an island, in locations in the world grounded in sanity...

Passing Deception About Terrifying Bridges In The U.S. & Beyond

The Windows Edge browser has this Microsoft Start page which is a sort of aggregator of all sorts of information. With many various scroll through galleries on various subjects.

Such as what you see screen capped above.

"25 Terrifying Bridges in the US and Beyond"

I saw that which you see above and thought that this looked like Deception Pass Bridge in my old home zone of Washington.

I thought, this must be a Deception Pass Bridge look-alike, that Deception Pass Bridge can't be one of 25 terrifying bridges in the US and beyond.

So, I scrolled through the gallery, and, sure enough, I got to #23 and saw it was Deception Pass Bridge which was supposedly terrifying.

The text explaining why Deception Pass Bridge is supposedly terrifying....

23. Deception Pass Bridge — Oak Harbor, Washington

This gem of the Pacific Northwest looks like a pretty standard commuter bridge but it’s like something out of a horror movie. First off, there’s the name, which brings to mind urban legends about the ghosts of reckless drivers who may have plunged over its railings. 

Then, there’s the constant barrage of fog and mist that cover your windshield and make the crossing a white-knuckle experience for many. Deception Pass Bridge just gives off an eerie vibe all the way around.

____________________

Deception Pass Bridge connects Fidalgo Island to Whidbey Island. The bridge is way closer to the Fidalgo Island town of Anacortes than it is to the Whidbey Island town of Oak Harbor.

Over the course of my time on planet Earth, I have driven, and walked across Deception Pass Bridge dozens upon dozens of times. I have never experienced the bridge barraged in fog and mist, making the crossing a white-knuckle experience. 

As for the Deception Pass name bringing to mind urban legends of ghosts of reckless drivers plunging off the bridge. I do not recollect such ever happening. Yes, there has been a suicide jump a time or two or three. 

The actual reason for the name is explorer George Vancouver gave it the name "Deception" because it had misled him into thinking Whidbey Island was a peninsula. 

The only time Deception Pass might be thought to be scary is when there is a big tide differential causing the water in the Pass to look like extreme rapids. That is a sight to behold.

My Daily Deception Pass Bridge Reminder Of Fort Worth's Embarrassing Bridge Boondoggle

Seems rarely a day goes by that I do not see at least one photo of the Deception Pass Bridge, on Facebook.

Every time I see a Deception Pass Bridge photo Fort Worth, Texas comes to mind.

Fort Worth is a location where I watched in amazement as the city took over seven years to build three freeway overpass type bridges.

Over dry land.

With the hope that one day a cement lined ditch filled with diverted Trinity River water, will flow below the bridges, creating an imaginary island which the town already calls Panther Island. 

Panther Island, where there is no island, and never will be a real island, confusing the town's few tourists, in much the same way the town confused its few tourists with signs pointing the way to Sundance Square, where there was no square.

But, after a few decades of confusing the town's few tourists a small square was built and named Sundance Square Plaza.

Deception Pass Bridge was built almost a century ago, In the early 1930s. Built over swift moving actual water. Built in slightly less than a year.

Deception Pass Bridge is actually two bridges, with an actual island, not an imaginary island, between the two spans over Deception Pass.

Actually, if my memory is serving me correctly, the bridge you see above is above Deception Pass. The bridge on the other side of the real island crosses above Canoe Pass.

I wonder if Canoe Pass is so named because during a wild tide change, the water is more navigable vis Canoe Pass, than is the case with Deception Pass.

I have seen a strong tide change a time or two whilst at Deception Pass State Park. Such is a wonder of nature to behold. The water in the pass looks like powerful river rapids, too strong for any boat to make headway heading into the current.

If I am in Washington next summer it would be a mighty fine thing to visit Deception Pass State Park and hike up Goose Rock...

A View Of Deception Pass Takes Us To Fort Worth's Boondoggle

I saw that which you see here, this morning, on Facebook. A bird's eye view of Deception Pass in my former home zone of Washington state.

That straight line you see connecting the land mass on the right with the land mass on the left is Deception Pass Bridge. 

Deception Pass Bridge was built almost a century ago, in less than one year, over deep, swift moving saltwater.

All the land masses you see above are islands. The large land mass on the right is Fidalgo Island, connected to Whidbey Island by the Deception Pass Bridge.

I think being familiar with the concept of actual islands may be why I have long found Fort Worth's imaginary island to be so idiotically annoying. For years now a desolate chunk of land north of Fort Worth's downtown has been referred to as Panther Island.

Where there is no island.

This chunk of desolate land is referred to as Panther Island because of a ridiculous slow motion project which has been limping along since the current century began, known as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

Referred to by many Fort Worth locals as The Boondoggle.

Many years ago Fort Worth had itself a TNT explosion celebrating the start of construction of three simple freeway overpass type bridges, over dry land, connecting the Fort Worth mainland to the imaginary island.

It took over seven years for Fort Worth to build those three simple little bridges. Over dry land.

The Trinity River Vision hopes to one day see a cement lined ditch under those three bridges. Ditches in which Trinity River water will be diverted, thus creating that imaginary island, which will never be an actual island in the rational meaning of the island word.

Fort Worth has a long history of this type of hyperbole. Starting with the town's name. There is no fort in Fort Worth. There once was a Camp Worth, back in the early days when the native population was still in the neighborhood.

When I first moved to the D/FW zone, myself and my fellow transplants, were perplexed by directional signage in downtown Fort Worth pointing to Sundance Square. There was no square in Sundance Square, confusing the town's few tourists.

And then, after confusing those few tourists for a few decades, an actual square was added to Sundance Square, called Sundance Square Plaza.

And now, in 2023, Fort Worth's few tourists are confused by signage pointing to Panther Island, where there is no island... 

Deception Pass Ship Sailing Not Something Seen In Texas

No. That which you see here is not an artist's rendering of what it might one day look like seeing a ship sail under one of Fort Worth's pitiful little bridges which took seven years to build, and which are now waiting for a cement lined ditch to deliver Trinity River water under them.

What you are looking at here is what is known as the Deception Pass bridge, which would make that Deception Pass that the ship is sailing on.

The Deception Pass bridge was built in less than one year, almost a century ago, during the Great Depression.

Built over actual water. Deep fast moving water.

My abode in Mount Vernon in Washington was a short distance from Deception Pass. There is nothing remotely like Deception Pass a short distance from my current Texas abode...

New Look At Deception Pass Bridge Built Over Actual Water

 

I seem to regularly see things on Facebook's You Know You Are From Anacortes When page which trigger that dreaded homesick feeling that has become sort of epidemic during the pandemic.

I have never seen a photo of the Deception Pass bridge from this perspective before. The photo was taken by Oak Harbor's Gary Skiff. Oak Harbor is the biggest town on Whidbey Island. Whidbey Island is what the bridge connects to from Fidalgo Island. We are on Fidalgo Island in the photo, looking across the bridge at Deception Pass State Park.

The part of the bridge we are closest to is the Canoe Pass section. It connects to a small island, and then continues across Deception Pass to Whidbey Island. There is a parking lot on the small island, if one feels the urge to explore the rocky island.

I have blogged about the Deception Pass bridge a number of times on my Washington blog, and a time or two on the blog you are reading right now, including Washington's Deception Pass Bridge Took A Deceptively Short Time To Build.

A deceptively short time to build refers to the fact that the Deception Pass bridge was built in less than a year. Over water. Deep fast moving, at times, saltwater. 

In Texas I have eye witnessed the bizarre building of three bridges.

Over dry land.

Taking 7 years to build. Small freeway overpass looking bridges.

Over dry land.

Hoping one day to dig a cement lined ditch under the three bridges, then divert Trinity River water into that ditch, creating an imaginary island.

The Fort Worth grifters responsible for the slow motion construction of those pitiful little bridges touted repeatedly that they would be iconic signature bridges.

And people wonder why I have fun making fun of Fort Worth so frequently...

Seeing Underside Of Deception Pass Bridge Takes Us To The Underside Of Fort Worth's New Bridges

Saw that which you see above this morning on Facebook. Instantly knew what I was looking at, as would most anyone who has lived in the Skagit and Island County area of the Puget Sound region of Western Washington.

I walked by this scene dozens of times when I lived in the neighborhood, passing under the Deception Pass Bridge on the way to hike up adjacent Goose Rock.

The water below is known as Deception Pass, so named because it is a connecting passage between two different tidal zones. When the differential between the two tidal zones is at an extreme it causes the water to pass through Deception Pass with great force, so much so that it is virtually impossible for a boat to go against the tide.

Literally.

Looking at this photo it appears that a tide change is underway, but not quite of the extreme sort. I have seen the extreme sort a time or two, and it is something you do not forget.

On my Washington blog I have blogged about the Deception Pass Bridge several times...

Deception Pass Bridge Connecting Whidbey Island with Fidalgo Island

and

Deception Pass & the Washington State Parks

and
July 31 Deception Pass Bridge 75th Anniversary Celebration Picnic

The Deception Pass Bridge was built in less than a year, way back in the early 1930s. Built over that deep, at times fast moving water of Puget Sound. 

Such may be among the many reasons I have found it to be bizarre to witness slow motion bridge building in the Texas town called Fort Worth.

Seven years to build three simple freeway overpass like bridges over dry land.

Touted by local politicians, and those building the bridges, that the bridges were being built over dry land to save time and money. As if it were an option to dig the cement lined ditch first, then fill it with water, then take even longer than seven years to build the bridges over the ditch.

Because, if it took seven years to build these bridges, in time saving mode, how long would have taken if a water filled ditch was in the way? 

And how is it that these propaganda spewers have gotten away with that "built over dry land to save time and money" nonsense for so long?

Either the propaganda spewers know the population to whom they spew the nonsense is too gullible and stupid to figure out the claim is idiotic.

Or it is the propaganda spewers who are idiotically stupid and actually believe their bridge building over dry land to save time and money nonsense is factual.

Due to all the dumb stuff I have read the propaganda spewers spew I opt to believe it is the latter explanation. That they are so idiotically stupid they don't understand that which they spew is idiotically stupid. We have seen plenty of evidence of this.

As in, have you watched or read a J.D. Granger interview?

So, now that those bridges are open and carrying traffic, is the ditch digging underway?

It must be, because, way back when this century began, what was then simply called the Trinity River Vision was touted as being a vitally needed flood control and economic development scheme, developed in an area which has not flooded for well over a half century due to flood control levees already in place.

Surely if this is such a vitally needed plan a local funding mechanism must have been in place before the project began, you know, with the public voting to support a bond issue to pay for the alleged vitally needed flood control and economic development scheme.

Surely no town wearing its big city pants would rely on hoping to secure federal funding for such a vitally needed project...

Madame McNutty Strikes Again With Deception

Saw that which you see above Sunday morning on Facebook. Once again Madame M has shared an image from our old home zone of Washington which triggers, in me, a mild bout of homesickness.

Madame M's brother, Roger, has become a renowned artist due to his paintings of the scenic wonderland of Western Washington, mostly scenes in the Skagit Valley, judging from the paintings I have seen.
 
The painting above is called Deception Pass Sunset. Which would seem to indicate we are looking west past the longer of the two spans of the Deception Pass Bridge, which connects Fidalgo Island to Whidbey Island. 

It has been way too many years since I last was at Deception Pass, but from my memory the above view is looking east at a sunrise, not a sunset. I say that because I do not remember any little islands like you see above, when you look west under the bridge, but I do remember little islands when you look east under the bridge.

But, we have to keep in mind that I am borderline elderly, and my memory may not be reliable.

Possible point of interest to anyone reading this who lives in the Fort Worth area. The Deception Pass Bridge was built way back in the 1930s. It took less than a year to build the bridge. Over water. Deep water which turns into fast moving rapids when there is an extreme tide. 

And the Deception Pass Bridge is an actual iconic signature bridge, though it was not touted as such when it was being built.

And Deception Pass Bridge actually connects to a real island, well, actually two real islands, Fidalgo and Whidbey.

No cement lined ditch had to be dug to turn those two land masses into imaginary islands...

Miss Tessie Takes Us To Washington's Deception Pass Bridge Over Actual Water

 

I saw that which you see above last night on Facebook, via Miss Tessie, she being the well known Dancing Queen of Northern California, formerly of my old home zone of the Skagit Valley, where she helped grow the valley's best strawberries.

I have made mention of that bridge you see above, previously, when verbalizing amazement regarding the Texas town of Fort Worth's difficulty in building three simple little bridges over dry land. Construction of which began way back in 2014, with a then astonishing four year project timeline. Still unfinished in 2021.

The Deception Pass Bridge was not built over dry land. It was built over deep saltwater, two passes connecting two tidal zones. Thus when there is a big differential in tides this can create swift moving water of a sort so treacherous boats can not power through it.

Deception Pass Bridge construction began in August 1934, and the completed bridge was dedicated at noon on July 31, 1935. Unlike those hapless, pitiful Fort Worth bridges, being built to connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island, the Deception Pass Bridge was built to connect an actual island (Fidalgo Island) to another island (Whidbey Island), with a third island (Pass Island), between the two bigger islands, which makes Deception Pass Bridge two separate spans, with one span crossing Canoe Pass from Fidalgo Island to Pass Island, with the second span crossing Deception Pass to connect Pass Island to Whidbey Island.

With those three simple little bridges stuck in slow motion construction in Fort Worth there is no water spanned. Like was already mentioned these are being built over dry land. Basically unneeded bridges to nowhere which for some reason has those behind the ridiculous scheme totally perplexed as to why Fort Worth can not seem to secure federal funding for their ill begotten Boondoggle.  

Eventually, if the bridges are ever finished, and if funding can be found, a cement lined ditch will be dug under the three bridges, with water diverted from the Trinity River into the ditch, thus creating the afore referenced imaginary island.

The Fort Worth locals seem numb to the dumb ridiculousness, apparently due to having seen so much such stuff during their years of being Fort Worth locals. So numb to the ridiculousness they can not comprehend how absurd the island making scheme seems to anyone who has lived in a more modern area of America, or Texas. 

Could something as absurd as the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision happen in Austin? In Houston? In San Antonio? In El Paso?

Dallas has its own Trinity River Vision, which has at least managed to build two actual cool looking, skyline changing bridges over the actual water of the Trinity River.

So perplexing. And again, I repeat, the Deception Pass Bridge was built in less than a year, almost a century ago, over actual deep, swift moving water...

No Artist Rendering Fort Worth's Pitiful Panther Island Bridges

No, what you are seeing here is not an artist's rendering of what one of Fort Worth's Panther Island bridges will look like if they ever become something someone can see, some distant day in the future.

What you see here is one of the spans of the Deception Pass Bridge, connecting two actual islands, crossing a small island, between the two larger islands, with those three islands being Fidalgo Island, Pass Island and Whidbey Island.

This photo appeared to me in Facebook, via former Skagit Valley Girl, Tess Sakuma, with the photo captioned "Tonight's moon and Venus over Deception Pass Bridge." With the photo credit going to Rakan AlDuaij Photography.

The Deception Pass Bridge is an actual iconic, signature bridge, as described in the Wikipedia article about Deception Pass Bridge "The bridge is a commonly photographed landmark of the Puget Sound region."

As you can see, unlike Fort Worth's pitiful little bridges being built over dry land (low bridges which, according to artist's renderings, look like freeway overpasses, yet promoted as somehow being unique signature bridges of the becoming iconic Fort Worth images) Deception Pass Bridge was built over actual water.

Actual water which is deep and which during extreme tidal ebbs flows so strongly ships are not able to navigate against the rushing tide.

Ironically, those Fort Worth bridges are in the process of becoming an iconic ironic signature symbol representing what a messed up, corruptly run town Fort Worth has become.

I almost forgot to mention. Fort Worth's pitiful Panther Island bridges began construction way back in 2014, with a four year construction timeline. That construction timeline has now been stretched into the next decade.

While construction of Deception Pass Bridge began in August of 1934 and was completed in less than a year, on July 31, 1935.

I have blogged about the Deception Pass Bridge a few times on my Washington blog...

Deception Pass Bridge Connecting Whidbey Island with Fidalgo Island

Washington's Deception Pass Bridge Took A Deceptively Short Time To Build

July 31 Deception Pass Bridge 75th Anniversary Celebration Picnic

Can you imagine, at some point in time in the next century, the 75th Anniversary Celebration of Fort Worth's pitiful Panther Island Bridges?

No?

Me either.

When will the sheep of Fort Worth stampede and demand the shut down of the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision, more commonly known as America's Biggest Boondoggle?

How much longer can this embarrassing mess continue blighting what could be a reasonably okay town if responsible adults with common sense somehow took over and booted the crooks and charlatans, including one local congresswoman's ineptly unqualified son?

One would think just the bizarre inability to build three simple little bridges part of what has become America's Biggest Boondoggle would put a stop to the nonsense before more money gets flushed down the river....

Spencer Jack's Dad Takes Me Across Two Of The World's Most Dangerous Bridges

A couple days ago Spencer Jack's dad, my Favorite Nephew Jason, emailed me with the subject line asking the puzzling question "Washington Bridges Dangerous?"

Other than the subject line the only other item in the email was a link to a YouTube video which you can watch below.

This YouTube video purports to show you the Ten Most Dangerous Bridges in the World.

Well.

Two of these supposedly dangerous bridges are in my old home state. I've crossed both these bridges innumerable times, never realizing I was in extreme danger.

One of the dangerous bridges in Washington is that which you see above. The Evergreen Point Floating Bridge. Also  known as the SR 520 Floating Bridge. Also known as the Albert D. Rosellini Floating Bridge.

This particular dangerous bridge is no longer dangerous due to the fact that it has been replaced by a much bigger floating bridge which opened to traffic a short time ago.

The video's narration describing why this particular floating bridge was dangerous seemed way off. As in not factual. This bridge lasted for over 50 years before needing to be replaced for a variety of reasons, mainly the need to be able to handle more traffic and light rail.

The second allegedly dangerous bridge, in Washington, is even more perplexing. That being the Deception Pass Bridge.

The Deception Pass Bridge was a short drive from my home location in the Skagit Valley. I have probably walked across this bridge more than any other bridge in the world.

Over the years a suicide jump from the bridge would make the news. But, there is no way the number of suicides is over 425.

The narrator of the video says the Deception Pass Bridge trembles scarily as vehicles pass over it, presenting a frightening experience to a person walking the narrow sidewalk on either side of the bridge deck.

I do not remember this bridge trembling.

I have blogged about Deception Pass and its Bridge several times on my Washington blog, including...

Deception Pass Bridge Connecting Whidbey Island with Fidalgo Island and July 31 Deception Pass Bridge 75th Anniversary Celebration Picnic and Deception Pass & the Washington State Parks.

And now the aforementioned YouTube video...

Texas Man Falls To Death Hiking Pass Island In Washington's Deception Pass

Latest batch of email brought that which you see here, from Spencer Jack's dad, a clip from the Skagit Valley Herald with the news that an 18 year old Texas man died Wednesday while hiking on Pass Island in Deception Pass.

Deception Pass Bridge passes from Whidbey Island to Fidalgo Island, crossing over Pass Island between the two bigger islands.

These are authentic, real islands, not imaginary islands of the sort Fort Worth builds bridges to in slow motion over dry land.

Years ago I blogged about the Deception Pass Bridge on  my Washington blog in a blogging titled Deception Pass Bridge Connecting Whidbey Island with Fidalgo Island.

More recently, on this very blog you are reading right now, the construction of the Deception Pass Bridge was the subject on one of my bloggings in the popular series of bloggings about feats of engineering which took place in less than the four years it is scheduled for America's Biggest Boondoggle to build three simple little bridges over dry land.

That blogging is titled Washington's Deception Pass Bridge Took A Deceptively Short Time To Build.

On the plus side of America's Biggest Boondoggle's three little bridges connecting the mainland to an imaginary island, no one will ever die falling from the Boondoggle's imaginary island.

Pass Island is a bit treacherous. There is limited parking, but it is easy to walk across the bridge to get to the island. You can hike trails all over the island, some with steep drop-offs.

When there is an extreme tide differential, Deception Pass is a spectacle to behold. The water moves incredibly fast, creating what looks like rapids. Few boats are powerful enough to make headway against this force of nature.

Did the Texas hiker fall in the water? The article gave no indication that that happened. But, I don't know how one would fall 50 to 70 feet on Pass Island without ending up in the water.

I can not remember which set of nephews, be it Favorite Nephews Jason and Joey, or Favorite Nephews Chris and Jeremy, but I remember taking one of the pairs to Deception Pass and they absolutely refused, at first, to walk out on to the bridge. It took a lot of coaxing to get us to Pass Island.

I suspect it was Chris and Jeremy who balked. I always had more trouble keeping Spencer Jack's dad and uncle from doing something  than getting them to do something.

Below is a postcard look at the Deception Pass Bridge when it was under construction, back in the 1930s.

Pass Island is the island you see above that the bridge is crossing over.

Every piece of land you see above is an actual island, surrounded by actual water. That tallest chunk of land you see, on the right of the postcard, is on Whidbey Island and is known as Goose Rock.

Goose Rock was a frequent hiking destination when I lived in Washington, along with all the other trails in Deception Pass State Park, all located about 5 times further from my Washington abode than the Tandy Hills is located from my current abode, and about 100 times more scenic....

A Little Mountain Hike With Spencer Jack Seeing Real Non-Fort Worth Type Islands

Yesterday Spencer Jack took me on a hike up Little Mountain in my old Mount Vernon hometown.

Little Mountain is a little mountain which is within Mount Vernon's city limits.

Little Mount Vernon has a park like Little Mountain near its downtown, whilst the little town I currently call home, Fort Worth, has a park near its downtown called the Tandy Hills Natural Area.

Having been in both town's parks I can tell you that Mount Vernon's Little Mountain Park is much more natural than Fort Worth's Tandy Hills Natural Area.

Well, there are those hang gliders who launch from the top of Little Mountain. That is not too natural.

No hang gliding was taking place on Little Mountain yesterday, due to weather related issues in the Skagit Valley and all of Western Washington, with those weather related issues causing large bodies of water to stand where usually there is not water. We shall see some of that documented in the photos which follow.

Above we are behind Spencer Jack, looking slightly northwest. That water you see in the distance is not the result of flooding. It is saltwater. Padilla Bay, I think. Near where I first met Spencer Jack, over six years ago, at Bay View State Park.

In the next picture we have zoomed in for a closer look.

In the foreground above you are looking at I-5. That straight line across the flooded land is the railroad track which on the left heads towards Seattle and on the right heads towards Canada. The land which you see on the other side of Padilla Bay is Fidalgo Island. Fidalgo Island is a real island, not an imaginary island of the sort that grows in Fort Worth. Fidalgo Island is where you will find the town of Anacortes and Spencer Jack's restaurant, the Fidalgo Drive-In. Click the link and you will soon see Spencer Jack with a root beer float.

In the next picture we are looking at another island in the distance.

That lump in the distance is known as Lummi Island. The Lummi are a Pacific Northwest Native American Tribe. The Lummi's Tribal Lands are on the mainland north of Lummi Island. A ferry will take you from the mainland to Lummi Island. Lummi Island is also a real island, not a Fort Worth style imaginary island. In other words, no ferry will be needed to take you to any of Fort Worth's imaginary islands.

Below is a section from informational signage about Mount Vernon's Forest Reserve Little Mountain Park. There are a couple things I found interesting about the information on this sign.

One thing I thought to be interesting was the fact that the sign is bi-lingual, both in English and Spanish. Now in Texas one would expect signage to be bi-lingual, what with Texas being so close to Mexico and once having been Mexico. Mount Vernon is only about 40 miles south of the Canadian border. If a Mount Vernon sign was going to be bi-lingual one would think the information would be in both English and Canadian. Or French.

However, just like Texas, the Skagit Valley, and Mount Vernon, has a large number of former Mexican nationals and their descendants, who have long lived in the Skagit Valley. Way more Mexican-Americans live in the Skagit Valley than Canadian-Americans. I do not think I ever knew a single Canadian-American whilst growing up in the Skagit Valley. I knew many Mexican-Americans.

The other bit of information on this sign, which I found interesting, was something you would never read on a Fort Worth sign in a Fort Worth park. That which I found interesting is in the first paragraph on the sign. I will copy that paragraph in its entirety. See if you can spot that which one would never read on a Fort Worth sign.

At its founding in 1877, Mount Vernon stood in a vast forest of giant trees. The idea of saving areas for public enjoyment would have seemed crazy then. But later, when the popular Carpenter Creek area was cut, the need became clear. On January 16, 1924, citizens of Mount Vernon voted overwhelmingly for the city to buy a park site.

Did you spot the part you would never read on a Fort Worth park sign?

Citizens voting on something to improve their city. What a revolutionary concept. A real vote, not a childish make believe vote, like having voters vote on Three Propositions with those propositions being things like voting to approve charging $1 to rent a livestock stall, rather than a straight up vote on whether or not to build a small arena for almost a half billion bucks.

I wonder where Spencer Jack is going to take me hiking next? A hike to the top of Goose Rock in Deception Pass State Park used to be one of my favorite things to do. Goose Rock is also on a real island.

To get to Goose Rock one takes a short drive west, to Fidalgo Island, crossing to Fidalgo Island on a bridge which spans the Swinomish Channel. That bridge was built over water in far less than four years.

One continues on Fidalgo Island, driving by Lake Campbell, which has an island in the center of the lake. One of the world's rare instances of an island on an island. Again, real islands, not Fort Worth type imaginary islands.

A short distance past Lake Campbell one comes to another bridge, Deception Pass Bridge, it being one of the Pacific Northwest's iconic images, built in less than a year, over very deep, swift moving water, back in the early 1930s.

Deception Pass Bridge takes you to Whidbey Island. Yet one more real island. The trail which leads to the top of Goose Rock begins at the south end of Deception Pass Bridge. From the summit of Goose Rock you can look in just about any direction and spot a lot of islands, some big, some small, none imaginary....

The Fort Worth Emperor Has No Clothes On Its Imaginary Island

Stay with me as you read this, eventually I go from Skagit County to Tarrant County and Fort Worth.

Yesterday the Skagit River in my old home zone had me trying to remember the name of a wetlands slough which runs through my old hometown of Burlington. Eventually I remembered it is called Gage's Slough.

Gage's Slough used to be a channel of the Skagit River when the river ran high in flood mode. In the early 1950s massive dikes were built along the Skagit River at the point where the river enters the flat zone of the Skagit Valley.

In the 1990s there were two serious Skagit River floods, two weeks apart. Then early in this century there was a flood which was thought to have possible catastrophic potential. As in the river was running so high it was flooding into Gage's Slough, threatening a large area with flooding, including the Cascade Mall zone. I recollect seeing this on CNN, with the report saying evacuation orders had been issued for parts of Burlington.

I recollect calling my brother's house when I heard this, due to his house being in the evacuation zone. My sister-in-law answered, told me that they'd been warned that they "might" have to evacuate. But, by the next day the danger had subsided, with no evacuations needed.

After the 1990s flood, and again after the flood early this century, there was talk of reviving an old Army Corps of Engineers plan to build a flood diversion channel along the route of Gage's Slough. There were many objections to this idea, mostly due to the amount of extremely valuable farmland that would be lost.

The Skagit River Flood Diversion Channel would have diverted flood water to Padilla Bay. By the Fort Worth definition of an island, this Skagit River Flood Diversion Channel would create a big island, an island surrounded by the Skagit River, the flood diversion channel and the Swinomish Channel which runs from Padilla Bay to Skagit Bay.

Also, by Fort Worth's definition of an island, the Skagit River Vision could call this body of land an island, even though no flood diversion channel has currently been built making it a pseudo island.

I like the name Fish Town Island for the Skagit River Vision's island.  Fish Town is an old settlement near the mouth of the North Fork of the Skagit River.

I do need to point out that it sort of would seem to be totally ridiculous to have an imaginary island where actual islands exist. Looking at the map above you can see several islands, including two big islands, Fidalgo and Whidbey. Even more islands, called the San Juans, pop up to the left of the area covered in the above map.

On Fidalgo Island there is a lake, Lake Erie, which has an island, one of the world's rare instances of a legitimate island on an island. You can see the island on an island on the left side of the map above, below the green area denoting Mount Erie Park.

Unlike Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's imaginary island,  Fish Town Island comes with a successful tourist town already installed called La Conner, with an actual iconic signature bridge connecting Fish Town Island with Fidalgo Island and the Swinomish Indian Reservation.

Above, that is La Conner's Rainbow Bridge, crossing the Swinomish Channel. Isn't that something? An actual iconic, signature bridge built  over actual water in about one year. In the little tourist town of La Conner, a town which needed no special "vision" to  see a bustling waterfront. It just came natural.

In fact there are two iconic, signature bridges in the area covered in the above map, the other being the Deception Pass Bridge, built over very treacherous fast moving tidal water in a little over a year.

In the Deception Pass Bridge Postcard, made from a photo taken while the bridge was under construction, every body of land you see is an island, Whidbey Island on the right, Fidalgo Island on the left, Pass Island in the middle of the bridge. I forget the name of the other island.

So, last night whilst I was enjoying a salubrious soak in the hot tub, enjoying the balmy night air, with occasional cooling jumps in the pool, it suddenly occurred to me that I am that boy totally perplexed by everyone singing the praises of the Emperor's beautiful clothes, with me seeing quite clearly that the Emperor is totally naked.

Sometimes I feel like I am the only boy in town who is not going along with the Emperor and his new clothes, with the Fort Worth version being going along with pretending that something which is not an island, is an island. I am sure I am not the only boy in town who can see that there is no island, that even if a ditch is ever dug under the Three Bridges Over Nothing, currently supposedly under construction, making a connection from the mainland, over the ditch, that this still is not an island.

I can not be the only boy in town who is able to see that this is just embarrassing. Every time I hear one of the Emperor's toadies mention "Panther Island" I cringe.

How is it that Fort Worth failed to learn the Sundance Square lesson? Where, for decades, Fort Worth confused its few tourists by putting signs all over its downtown pointing to Sundance Square, when there was no square, til recently, when a little plaza was built on one of the parking lots most tourists assumed was Sundance Square.

And now, in 2014, how is Fort Worth going to explain to its few tourists where Panther Island is? There are so many Trinity River Vision Boondoggle signs now which point the way to Panther Island, where there is no island, and where, if that ditch ever does get dug, it still will not be an island, not by any sane person's definition of an island. Or anyone who has actually seen an actual island.

The Emperor has no clothes. This is a fact. An undeniable truth. Panther Island is not an island.

Fort Worth really needs to knock this type stuff off and quit embarrassing itself.

And once Fort Worth quits embarrassing itself someone needs to explain, coherently, how in the world the project timeline for Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Three Bridges Over Nothing can take four years? Way longer than actual complex feats of bridge engineering, including Fort Worth's own Paddock Main Street Bridge. Built over the Trinity River a century ago, in way less than four years.

I say it again, the Emperor has no clothes. There is no such thing as Panther Island.....

Washington's Deception Pass Bridge Took A Deceptively Short Time To Build

Continuing on with my extremely popular series of bloggings looking at bridges which took around four years, or less, to build, in my continuing quest to get an answer as to why it is projected to take four years for Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle to build Three Bridges Over Nothing, today we are going to take a look at one of the most iconic bridges of the Pacific Northwest, Deception Pass Bridge.

Deception Pass Bridge is a short distance from where I lived  in Washington. Deception Pass State Park has some of my all time favorite hiking trails. It is a place I frequented frequently and a bridge I've crossed countless times.

A couple blurbs from the Wikipedia Deception Pass Bridge article, along with Wikipedia's bulleted list of facts about this bridge.

In the spring of 1792, Joseph Whidbey, master of HMS Discovery and Captain Vancouver's chief navigator proved that it was not really a small bay as charted by the Spaniards (hence the name "Deception"), but a deep and turbulent channel that connects the Strait of Juan de Fuca with the Saratoga Passage, which separates the mainland from what they believed was a peninsula (actually Fidalgo Island and Whidbey Island). Thomas Coupe, a sea captain and founder of Coupeville, was the only man ever to sail a full-rigged ship through the strait discovered by Whidbey.

The bridge, one of the scenic wonders of the Pacific Northwest, is actually two spans, one over Canoe Pass to the north, and another over Deception Pass to the south. The Wallace Bridge and Structural Co. of Seattle, Washington provided 460 tons of steel for the 511-foot Canoe Pass arch and 1130 tons for the 976-foot Deception Pass span. The cost of the New Deal-era construction was $482,000, made possible through the Public Works Administration and county funds.

Bridge Facts

• Height from water to roadway: about 180 feet, depending on the tide
• Roadway: two 11-foot lanes, one in each direction
• Sidewalks: 3 foot sidewalk on each side
• Width of bridge deck: 28 feet
• Total length: 1487 feet (more than a quarter mile)
• Canoe Pass: one 350-ft arch and three concrete T-beam approach spans
• Deception Pass: two 175-ft cantilever spans, one 200-ft suspended span, and four concrete T-beam approach spans
• Vehicle crossings: 20,000 per day, average
• Maximum speed of current in Deception Pass at flood/ebb tide: 9 kts
• Maximum speed of current in Canoe Pass at flood/ebb tide: 10 kts
• Suicides from jumping from the bridge total 12 in 2009 and 15 in 2010

I really do not think that suicide count can possibly be correct. Over the years there have been bridge jumpers, but 25 in a two year period? I think this would have been something I'd heard about.

A couple things from the Wikipedia article stood out to me. One was the mention made of the bridge being one of the scenic wonders of the Pacific Northwest. Do you think a Wikipedia article in the future will be referring to Fort Worth's Bridges Over Nothing as one of the scenic wonders of North Texas?

Did you notice that the Deception Pass Bridge was not built over nothing? But built high above extremely fast moving water.

When there is an extreme tide level differential the water moving through Deception Pass is an amazing display of hydraulic force.

So, you must be wondering how long it took to build this feat of bridge engineering.

Well.

Construction began in August of 1934.

And was completed and opened to traffic on July 31, 1935.

The Deception Pass Bridge took less than a year to build.

On the left you are looking at a postcard showing Deception Pass Bridge under construction.

I took this picture postcard from a blogging I blogged years ago on my Washington blog about Deception Pass Bridge.

Now I ask, yet again, how in the world can Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision Boondoggle's Three Bridges Over Nothing take four years to build?  The Bridges Over Nothing are simple, relatively small bridges. There is no feat of engineering involved in the Boondoggle's bridges.

Four years? How can it take four years to build these vitally important bridges which are key to building the un-needed flood diversion channel which may, someday, flow under the bridges, giving them, finally, a reason for being?

Up Late On A Hot 84 Texas Morning Thinking About My Nephew, Anonymous Relatives & Adult Diapers

The August 12 sun got up before I did this morning. I was up late indulging in Happy Birthday related activities suitable for a 68 year old geezer.

I think I'll be skipping swimming this morning. I believe as one slowly declines into ones Golden Years physical activity gradually slows til one barely moves at all and rides one of those electric carts when shopping in Wal-Mart.

Speaking of Wal-Mart, I was in one yesterday, in Hurst, across the street from the ALDI Food Market. I was in the Pharmacy area, looking for a bottle of Vitamin D, among other things, when I was subjected to a disturbing conversation.

This lady, maybe 70, or older, in shorts too short for one of that age, with just about the spindliest, scrawniest legs I've ever seen, and with a Texas accent as exaggerated as something you'd hear on Hank Hill, was asking a hapless Wal-Mart employee, a guy about 18, questions about adult diapers, which she was buying for her mom. The spindly legged lady was quite graphic about the extent of her mom's incontinence. Eventually I'd heard enough and walked away.

My mom guessed that my Anonymous relative who commented on my blog, yesterday, from Oak Harbor, was my eldest sister. This particular sister lives in Kent. But, over the weekend she'd been in Anacortes for the annual Anacortes Arts & Crafts Festival. Anacortes is on Fidalgo Island. Oak Harbor is on Whidbey Island. Whidbey Island and Fidalgo Island are connected by the Deception Pass Bridge. My sister owns property on Whidbey Island, near Langley, which is south of Oak Harbor.

I discounted my sister as an Anonymous possibility due to the fact that she has told me she does not read my boring blog. However, last night my sister sent me an email in which she said....

"That is good news about JR, he is way too young for health issues but sounds like is going to have them if he does't listen to the Dr........When did you skip the 60's and go straight to 70 y/o? Lol...."

The fact that my sister referenced the 68 years old thing, indicates she'd seen my blog, thus shooting her to the #1 suspect spot as my Anonymous Relative.

The good news about JR that my sister is talking about, was yesterday's best birthday present in years. Nephew Jeremy got the results of the tests on his heart and the results were good. Jeremy has a very very low resting heart beat rate. This somehow makes his heart very vulnerable to even a minor stimulant, like caffeine. Jeremy was a drinker of those awful high caffeine energy drinks that have other stimulants in them as well. Ever since the first doctor visit Jeremy has not consumed anything with a stimulant in it and he has not had any more heart incidents.

Well, I have way too much to do today and way too little time to do it. So, I must cease wasting time on this blog right now and go do something constructive.