Jason & Spencer Jack Take Us On Whidbey Island Tour

Incoming email from my Favorite Nephew Jason, last night, photo documenting a day trip Spencer Jack took his dad on, exploring Whidbey Island.

First the email, then the other instances of photo documentation in addition to the one above...

FUD --

Thought you'd enjoy these PNW photos from the last full day of Summer.

Spencer and I drove me the entire length of Whidbey Island starting at the Mukilteo-Clinton ferry until we reached the tropical-like sandy beaches of Mutiny Bay.  I hadn't known of Mutiny Bay until unfortunate events of late, in which a float plane apparently nose-dived into Puget Sound presumably killing all 10 on board.   Looked for plane parts, but only found seashells and lots of driftwood.  Weather was in the upper 70s, so wading in the water felt refreshing.

Stopped by the Lagoon Point community--a first for me.  Spencer and I considered buying a summer beach home in this small community--similar in size to Birch Bay, but later after finding out that a tiny cabin waterfront lot sells for over a million dollars, we have since decided to save our money for other adventures.  Like getting gas for our truck.  Gas here is currently still $4.50.

We moved north to the Coupeville ferry dock.  On public boat launch dock, we met a couple locals, who appeared to be enjoying too much of our local legal weed.  After helping them secure their boat to the dock, they invited Spencer, who can easily pass for 21, and myself to the local bar for happy hour. 

We kindly declined and moved uphill to the newly refurbished Fort Casey.  Many of the closed off areas are back open, clean, and well-lit with historical placards and directional signs.   The last time I explored many of these parts was with a favorite Uncle as a kid in the 1980s or early 1990s before much of these areas we closed off.    I wish I would have taken pictures of the reopened bunkers, but I didn't think to do such.   I will be sure to put this on my 'to-do' list for you.

Hope all is well in TX and I hope someday soon you can return to the PNW and explore one of the longest islands in the United States.

I am guessing the above is the ferry about to dock at Clinton, on Whidbey Island.

Above that looks to be Spencer Jack on, maybe, what Jason describes as the tropical-like beaches of Mutiny Bay.

 And FNJ on that same beach, I think. 

Above I am fairly certain that is Spencer Jack, at Fort Casey, on an overlook looking over the upper part of Puget Sound.

Fort Casey is the remains of an actual fort, built during the era of the Spanish-American War. It is a large complex of bunkers, tunnels, big guns, catwalks, observation towers and more. More than once I took Jason and his little brother out to Fort Casey to have fun getting scared in the dark tunnels.

If I remember correctly, and sometimes I do, the last time I was at Fort Casey was with Jason's little brother, my Favorite Nephew Joey, currently the proud papa of Hank Frank.

Joey and I took our bikes on the ferry to Port Townsend, on the Olympic Peninsula, wheeled around town, barely made the last ferry back to Whidbey.

The ferry back was a rough rock and rolling float due to a strong tide. It was well past dark when we got back to my vehicle. The ranger had put a note on my windshield saying he suspected we were returning from the ferry, past the time the gates to the park were locked. Instructed us to the ranger station from whence the ranger nicely opened the gate for us.

Gas in Washington is more than a dollar more than when I last filled my tank in Texas

Seeing these photos sure does make me a bit homesick. You really appreciate a scenic wonderland when you have not seen on in way too long....

Where Do You Think David, Theo & Ruby Took Us On Their Latest Adventure?

Three incoming emails this morning, coming in from David, Theo and Ruby.

Each of the three emails had photos attached, with no explanatory text.

But, the third email did ask the following question...

"At which pic did you figure out today’s adventure?"

Well.

This first pic is the one you see here of the trio about to board a Washington State Ferry.

There is a ferry dock in Tacoma from whence one floats to Vashon Island. I figured that is not the ferry we are seeing here, due to the second photo not showing a scene one sees from the ferry to Vashon, on either the Tacoma or the island side.

With the second photo I thought the scene looked familiar. Port Townsend? Did the trio have their parental units drive up Hood Canal and the Olympic Peninsula to board the Port Townsend ferry to Whidbey Island.

And then it was the next photo which had me fairly sure I knew where the trio's most recent adventure took them.

I don't know why, for sure, but when I saw the above driftwood fort photo I thought to myself, it was Port Townsend in the second photo, and this is the beach at Fort Casey.

The photos in the second email confirmed I did correctly figure out where the trio was adventuring.

That is Ruby jumping high on the open plain above the Fort Casey fort.

The photo above pleased me. Theo is deep inside the Fort Casey fort. I can see some major restoration has taken place, on the floor and via paint. During all the years I had fun at Fort Casey the fort, for the most part, was left in natural ruins mode, with some improvements, but mostly left in its ruins of a fort state.

Another example of the newly polished up Fort Casey, with one of the guns and its surrounding enforcement looking all freshly restored.

There are multiple of these lookout type towers at Fort Casey. The funnest games of hide and seek I ever played were played at Fort Casey. Or was it just playing tag and chasing my siblings? I don't precisely remember, other than the fact that Fort Casey was always super fun. There are hidden scary areas, with pitch black passageways. A dropped and broken flashlight could produce trauma. Or if a brother turned off a flashlight at key times to scare his little brother

The steps you see the trio on here are one of many which took one in and out of the depths of Fort Casey.

It takes a long time to explore all of Fort Casey. There are two big gun emplacements dug into the cliff which overlooks Admiralty Inlet. These are outside the main fort. One of those is not what Theo, David and Ruby are sitting on above.

Fort Casey is an early example of America building a defense system which soon became obsolete. Way back in the 1890s the narrow entry into Puget Sound, Admiralty Inlet was considered strategic to the defense of Puget Sound. So, three forts were built. Fort Casey on Whidbey Island, Fort Worden at Port Townsend. And Fort Flagler on Marrowstone Island.

These fortresses were intended stop any incoming invasion. Construction began in 1897, completed in 1901, and then considered no longer an adequate defense soon thereafter, what with the advent of enemy battleships with improved weapons.

Fort Casey is now a state park, of the historical sort, full name Fort Casey Historical State Park. Fort Casey is located within an even larger park reserve, known as United States Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve.

Fort Ebey is north of Fort Casey, close to Oak Harbor and the current Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. Fort Ebey was built in 1942 as a World War II Puget Sound coastal defense. Fort Ebey's remains are not nearly as elaborate as Fort Casey, but the gun bunkers can still be seen and explored. And the cliffs of Fort Ebey are way higher than the cliffs of Fort Casey.

Fort Ebey State Park was a frequent go to place for me when I lived in the neighborhood. Great hiking, with adventurous trails. And being in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains, little rain, and somehow this results in something extremely odd to see growing in Western Washington.

Cactus.

I also recollect picking wild strawberries at Fort Ebey.

If I remember right the last time I was at Fort Casey was back in the 1990s. And on that visit exploring Fort Casey was not on the agenda.

On that day David, Theo and Ruby's cousin Joey and I parked at Fort Casey to ride our bikes on the ferry to Port Townsend.

Whilst at Port Townsend, Joey, who in addition to being the trio's cousin, is one of my many favorite nephews, and also the proud papa of Hank Frank, and I pedaled to Fort Worden.

If you have viewed the movie named An Officer and a Gentleman you have seen Fort Worden. After Fort Worden Joey and I explored around Port Townsend. At some point we heard the ferry whistle and made it back, barely, for the last sailing of the day.

That turned into one wild ferry ride. With Admiralty Inlet being somewhat narrow, as in less than four miles wide at its narrowest, this makes for some strong tidal action when Puget Sound is in extreme tidal change mode. When this happens the result is a rock and roll ferry boat ride where it is virtually impossible to walk the deck.

By the time we got back to Fort Casey the park was closed and there was a note from the ranger telling us he figured we were on the last ferry, to knock on his door and he'd open the locked gate for us. And so we knocked and the ranger kindly let us exit.

Last month whilst I was visiting Spencer Jack and Hank Frank's Grandpa Jake, in Arizona, we were lamenting all we missed, which we so often enjoyed, whilst living in the Skagit Valley of Washington. So close to so much good stuff that neither of us are anywhere near at the current point in time.

Some of the funnest times I have ever had were taking my four oldest nephews to various locations in Washington when they were kids.

It sure would be fun to take my two youngest nephews and my first favorite niece on some Pacific Northwest Adventures. Hiking Mount Baker and Tabletop Mountain comes to mind. As do the Ice Caves. And Washington Park in Anacortes (favorite nephews Chris and Joey used to call this Bunny Park) and then there is, well, I could go on, but I'm getting homesick...

Where In The World Are Ruby, Theo, David, Blue & Eddie?

Last night I got a text message on my phone asking...

Where in the world are your niece and nephews and poodles?

Along with the photo documentation you see here.

That would be Theo on the left, holding the poodle, Blue, David in the middle, and Ruby on the right holding the poodle Eddie.

I examined the photo documentation trying to determine the location. I was fairly certain it was not any location in Tacoma's Point Defiance Park. Goose Rock in Deception Pass State Park on Whidbey island? Seemed doubtful, as that would be a long drive from Tacoma. A location above Hood Canal on the Olympic Peninsula? Again doubtful because the body of water appeared to be too wide.

So, texted back with my guesses and soon received an answer...

Beautiful weather today, mid 60s. Kids had a day off school so we headed to Fort Worden, just outside Port Townsend. So much fun.

Well, Fort Worden would also be a long drive from Tacoma, but not as far as Goose Rock. Fort Worden is located at the northeast corner of the aforementioned Olympic Peninsula.

If I remember right the last time I was at Fort Worden and Port Townsend was with David, Theo and Ruby's cousin Joey, who is also Spencer Jack's uncle and my second oldest nephew. Joey and I took our bikes to Fort Casey, on the opposite side of Admiralty Inlet from the Fort Worden side.

We rolled our bikes on the ferry to cross over to Port Townsend and biked to Fort Worden. We were having ourselves such a mighty fine time we almost missed the last ferry crossing of the day.

By the time we got back to our vehicle parked at Fort Casey the park gates were locked with a note from the ranger telling us to come knock on his door and he'd let us out. And so that is what we did. Apparently this happened frequently, people crossing back to Whidbey Island after Fort Casey locks up for the night.

I was amused when I went to Google "Fort Worden". I typed "Fort" and got as far as "W" when Googled added "orth" making the search "Fort Worth". I backspaced and changed "Worth" to "Worden", and thought, now that is ironic.

Fort Worden was an actual fort. Fort Worth was never a fort. It was known as Camp Worth. I don't know what early local propagandist puffed up Camp to Fort. But, this may be the earliest example of Fort Worth hyping something into being something it is not.

Sundance Square where there was no square. Trinity Uptown to turn Fort Worth into the Vancouver of the South. Panther Island where there is no island. Panther Island Pavilion where there is no pavilion. An iconic downtown where there is nothing iconic. Well, you get the drift.

A town named after a fort where there has never been a fort.

From the Wikipedia article about Fort Worden we learn about three actual forts actually doing what real forts do, you know, guarding something...

In the 1890s, Admiralty Inlet was considered strategic to the defense of Puget Sound in the that three forts -- Fort Worden, Fort Flagler, and Fort Casey -- were built at the entrance with their powerful artillery creating a "Triangle of Fire" to thwart any invasion attempt by sea. Fort Worden, on the Quimper Peninsula, at the extreme northeastern tip of the Olympic Peninsula, sits on a bluff near Port Townsend, anchoring the northwest side of the triangle. The three posts were designed to prevent a hostile fleet from reaching such targets as the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and the cities of Seattle, Tacoma and Everett.

Fort Casey on Whidbey Island is the biggest of the three forts. Massive bunkers built into a bluff, with huge guns at various locations. Dark tunnels leading to underground chambers to explore. Over the years I spent many hours exploring Fort Casey, with my siblings, and later with my four oldest nephews.

I think I would have myself a mighty fine time exploring Fort Casey with nephews David and Theo and niece Ruby. However I think David might get a big concerned in some of those dark, spooky tunnels. David is very cautious...

UPDATE: Three new incoming photos with explanation text explaining "as per your blog post"...

Ruby looking spooky in one of the Fort Worden underground bunkers. I think that is Theo behind Ruby.

Ruby, Theo, David and Eddie, with Mama Kristin behind them, in one of the Fort Worth tunnels. I don't know where Blue is. Likely with photo taker, Mama Michele.

In the blog post I mentioned that it would be fun to take David, Theo and Ruby to Fort Casey to explore that fort's complex of tunnels and underground bunkers. But that David might be a bit cautious, as is his nature. Above it appears David is being a bit cautious in a Fort Worth underground bunker, worried as to what he has gotten himself into this time...

UPDATE: Reading back I see I typed "Fort Worth" when I meant to type "Fort Worden". If David were in a Fort Worth fort bunker, if such existed, I think he would have good reason to be very worried...