Nephew Jason Takes Us To Frigid Padilla Bay

Incoming email from my Favorite Jason Nephew, with two photos, subject line: Frigid Padilla Bay.

Text in the email: Took this from March’s Point this morning.

Marsh's Point is a small peninsula one drives by between Mount Vernon and Anacortes. On March's Point Padilla Bay is to the east, Fidalgo Bay to the west. There are a couple oil refineries on March's Point, refining oil which arrives from Alaska in big super tankers.

I do not recollect seeing Western Washington's saltwater in frozen mode, prior to seeing Jason's photo documentation of such.

I am just returned from a frigid walk around Mount Wichita. The strong wind had the 32 degrees feeling way colder. 

I think that bump on the horizon, above Jason's car's hood, is the Mount Baker volcano.

 Another look at frosty Padilla Bay. And that is definitely Mount Baker on the horizon.

The promised Arctic Blast has arrived. Strong wind from the north. So far, no clouds. 

Soon it will be colder at my North Texas location than it currently is at my old Washington home location...

Spencer Jack Drives His Pickup To Frozen Padilla Bay

At some point in time between the morning hour of eleven and noon I layered on the outerwear to venture out to go to ALDI to stock up on vittles in anticipation of being icebound due to the incoming blast of cold from the Arctic.

Heading north on Taft Boulevard my phone made its incoming text message noise.

Eventually I  found myself stopped at a long red light at the intersection of  Maplewood and Kemp. So I took the phone out of its pocket location to quickly see, before the light turned green, that the incoming text message was from Spencer Jack and his dad.

Two photos were included with the one line of text which said...

Brutally cold, with ice, on Padilla Bay.

Ice on Padilla Bay? Padilla Bay is saltwater. The temperature has to get mighty cold to freeze saltwater.

Above Spencer Jack is waving at us from his new pickup, with the aforementioned icy Padilla Bay behind him.

Below is the second photo, one which shows the ice forming on the shore of Padilla Bay.

That smoke  you see rising on the other side of Padilla Bay is rising from the oil refineries on Marsh's Point.

Washington has no oil wells.

However, these big boats called Supertankers haul Alaskan oil to Marsh's Point, where it is turned into usable  products, like gasoline. Currently coal is also being brought to Marsh's Point, but not by Supertankers. The coal arrives via trains. Many of the locals in Western Washington have not been happy about those coal trains.

Spencer Jack waving at us from Padilla Bay reminds me of the fact that it was at Padilla Bay I first met Spencer Jack. At Bay View State Park, in early August of 2008. Bay View State Park is on the east side of Padilla Bay.

Below is the YouTube video I made of the day I met Spencer Jack for the first time. I suspect Spencer Jack does not remember this....

Spencer Jack Rockin' The Water With Happy Hour Floating In Padilla Bay

No, that is not my great nephew, Spencer Jack in the polluted Trinity River floating in a Rockin' the River Happy Hour Inner Tube Float.

Spencer Jack is floating in crystal clear unpolluted saltwater.

This morning, in my incoming email, there were two emails each from Spencer Jack's dad and favorite uncle, my favorite nephews, Jason and Joey.

Both nephews sent  me one photo and one video. With no explanation as to what I was looking at.

Looking at the photo you see here I guessed that maybe the boys were at Bay View State Park, swimming in Padilla Bay.

The audio on the video below confirms I was correct in my guess.

Landlocked Texans, such as those at my current location, not familiar with saltwater beaches, might wonder how anyone could possibly tolerate being in water that must be terribly cold.

Well, I will explain.

Many of the saltwater bays of Western Washington are shallow. When the tide goes out on a shallow bay it exposes a large expanse of sand. If the sun is available the sun heats up the sand. Then when the tide slowly returns the water, that water gets heated. The best location that I've ever experienced this phenomenon is at Birch Bay in Whatcom County, up near the Canadian border.

One summer during my teen years I was at Bay View State Park. I had a snorkel and goggles. I was in the water as the tide came in. Very warm. Peacefully floating along with my head in the water, watching the sand flow below me as the tide moved me along, breathing through the snorkel tube. About a half hour later I surfaced to find that I had traveled quite a distance. This required returning to Bay View State Park via walking barefoot alongside the road to the park. That was likely the last time I ever snorkeled.

Below we see  Spencer Jack doing something I have never done......