Miss Carol Takes Me To Skagit County Fair & Linda Lou's Blue Ribbons

The photo documentation you are seeing showed up this Friday morning of the 8th day of the 2025 version of August, from Burlington, Washington's Miss Carol BD.

The text with the photo said, "Look what our classmate entered at the Fair!".

I had to zoom in to the photo to figure out to which classmate Miss Carol was referring.

Linda Lou was the answer.

The fair we are talking about is the Skagit County Fair, which takes place at the fairgrounds in the Skagit Valley town, Mount Vernon, in which I lived prior to moving to Texas.

Via zooming in on the photo I was able to learn that Linda Lou won herself two blue ribbons. One for her renowned Iced Oatmeal Bars. The other for her equally renowned Blackberry Hand Pies.

It has been a few years since I enjoyed participating in Linda Lou's kitchen skills. That would have been back in October of 2018, at my mom's, in Sun Lake, Arizona, when Linda Lou and I cooperated in making Beef Stroganoff.

It has been a few decades since I have been to the Skagit County Fair.

Miss Carol BD included additional text in which she explained how she came to find Linda Lou's Iced Oatmeal Bars and Blackberry Hand Pies.

"I was at the Skagit County Fair part of the day as two of my grandsons have 4-H pigs and one steer so Grandma needed to be there watching them. I also went and looked at the quilts, flowers and photo entries and saw Linda's entry."

Items like this tend to make me a bit homesick....

Microsoft Memory Takes Me To Washington Hiking Mount Baker With Nephew Joey

My email this 4th Thursday morning of the 2025 version of July delivered me a Microsoft OneDrive Memories from this Day which made me a tad homesick.

I am not sure if any of these memories happened on this particular date, but I do know these memories happened in July or August, many years ago.

In the first photo we are heading north on Interstate 5, at the south outskirts of Mount Vernon, in Washington's Skagit Valley.

The big white thing you see between a couple foothills is the Mount Baker volcano.

I used to be able to see the Mount Baker volcano when I looked out my Mount Vernon kitchen windows. I do not see any such thing when I look out my current Texas kitchen windows.

I do not remember which of my times, this century, up north in Washington, that I took this photo.

The next two photos take us closer to Mount Baker, and my Favorite Nephew Joey.

This time with Joey may be the last time I hiked up Mount Baker. This would have been some point in time in the 1990s. And the month likely would have been August. 

I do not remember how far up Mount Baker Joey and I hiked that day. I do remember we hiked far enough to see the steam coming from the volcano's vent and smell the sulphur from the steam.

I think Joey was 13 or 14 when we hiked up Mount Baker. I have not seen Joey in person since October of 2015, when Joey was in Dallas on a work project and met up with me in Grapevine. Grapevine is a town in the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex, at the north end of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

Prior to seeing Joey in 2015, the most recent time I'd seen Joey was when he and his brother and their girlfriends had a short layover at DFW, on their way back to Washington, after having gone on a Caribbean cruise.

I think this was in summer of 2005. 

I talked the kids into leaving the airport, drove them to Lake Grapevine. At some point between the airport and Lake Grapevine I was told that Jason had proposed to Jenny.

I recollect flying up for the wedding, in, I think, April of 2006. And two years after that I flew up to Washington, for some other reason, and met Jason and Jenny's Spencer Jack for the first time, at Bay View State Park.

Seeing these photos and remembering these memories has me freshly annoyed at how quickly time flies by. And how much I miss by not still living in Washington....

Tomorrow It Will Be 45 Years Since Mount St. Helens Erupted

Tomorrow it will be 45 years since a big, loud bang boomed all over the Pacific Northwest, when Mount St. Helens erupted after week after week after week of rumbling and spewing steam.

I was soaking in a bathtub that morning, at my abode in Mount Vernon, about 160 miles north of the volcano, as a bird flies, when I heard three loud, concussive booms. Minutes later the next-door neighbor came over to inform us that the mountain had blown. 

That news that the mountain had blown was the start of a long day of non-stop news, on TV, on the radio, followed by many days of worry about possible ash issues.

By the time the mountain calmed down the Skagit Valley had not been showered with any significant ash, while other locations in Washington, mostly Eastern Washington, as in the east side of the Cascade Mountain range, got covered with a thick layer of volcanic ash.

Mount St. Helens came back to my attention this morning, via emails from my Favorite Nephew Jason, the first of which only consisted of the infamous video about the Mount St. Helens eruption, with the video featuring Harry Truman, who became famous in the Northwest due to his refusal to leave his Spirit Lake location in the shadow of the volcano.

Jason was only 11 months old when the mountain exploded. I replied to Jason's email with a link to one of my blog posts about Mount St. Helens, which included the Harry Truman video.

That blog post was titled Today's 34th Anniversary Of The Mount St. Helens Eruption Has Me Feeling Homesick.

I have flown over Mount St. Helens a few times flying back and forth from Texas to Washington.

I drove to the restricted zone weeks before the eruption. I could not get close enough to see the mountain.

It was not til the early 1990s that I drove back to the volcano. At that point in time one could access the blast zone from the north, via logging roads. It was so eerie, suddenly being in the blast zone with the forest of trees all knocked down, with the landscape void of any green vegetation of any sort. Eventually you got to a sort of overlook, looking down at the log choked remains of Spirit Lake.

The log choked remains of Spirit Lake is what we are looking down on in the photo documentation. I do not recollect if we got a good look at the actual volcano from this location.

The photo at the top was taken shortly before the move to Texas, late Summer of 1998, if I am remembering correctly. By then the Spirit Lake Memorial Highway had been built, with multiple visitor centers to visit on the way to the final visitor center, a large complex with an up-close look at the volcano.

I remember it as being closer than it looks in the photo documentation. I remember there was a well-done film telling the story of the eruption, with the finale of the film having the screen disappear revealing a huge window looking right at the crater. 

At least that is how I remember it. I really do not trust my memory, at times. I remember that as being a tiring day, a day which started at Seaside, Oregon.

Happy Birthday 92 To My Favorite Mom

The Skagit Valley entity known as Linda Lou called this morning. During the conversation's course I made mention of the fact that today is my mom's birthday.

How old would Shirley be today, asked Linda Lou?

I replied I don't know for sure, but I shall consult the family history book once I am off the phone.

And so, I did.

To learn my mom's precise birthdate of January 30, 1933.

I used my phone's calculator to subtract 1933 from 2025 to get a calculation of 92.

Difficult math problems are not one of my many fortes, but, I think 92 is the correct answer to my mom's age question.

In the photo documentation above we are at my mom and dad's 50th Wedding Anniversary Party. With mom and dad opening presents.

I was a surprise appearance at this party.

This was on August 11 of 2001. My birthday, five days after mom and dad's actual anniversary date of August 6. 

This roadtrip back to Washington was the last time I drove from Texas back to Washington. 

Solo.

It was a great roadtrip. One month before the infamous events of 9/11 changed our world.

Earlier today I blogged about a New Zealand family crossing the I-90 floating bridge. And making note of seeing Mount Rainier hovering to the south of Lake Washington.

On that 2001 roadtrip back to Washington I'd been in Texas long enough to have my senses altered. As in, I so clearly remember how weird it was crossing Snoqualmie Pass over the Cascade Mountains, on Interstate 90, with the air smelling so strongly of Evergreen fir trees. I never made note of this, to that noticeable a level, whilst living in the Evergreen State.

And then heading west across the I-90 floating bridge over Lake Washington. I had never so greatly enjoyed being slowed by heavy traffic. The air seemed so crystal clear, everything looked so shiny and bright, as if it had just been washed and polished.

Talking to Linda Lou this morning made me feel a bit homesick. Linda Lou made mention of the Skagit Valley Food Co-Op, in Mount Vernon. No such thing exists at my current location. I've seen no such thing anywhere I have been in Texas.

Linda Lou also made mention of a new thing in Mount Vernon. A Mexican market, located on Riverside Drive, selling crafts and other Mexican type goods. I would hope maybe tamales. There used to be a Mexican market, of sorts, in the Texas town I am currently in, Wichita Falls, but it got itself turned into one of those ubiquitous Dollar General type joints.

One would think there would be many Mexican markets in Texas, what with the source nation being so close, that and there are many of Mexican descent in Texas.

Anyway.

Happy Birthday, mom. I hope you and dad are having yourselves a mighty fine time today!

Won't Make It To Mount Baker Ski Season Open Whilst in Texas

I saw that which you see here, this morning, via the online version of the Seattle Times. I had a multi-reaction. One was, well, this is yet one more thing I see in news from my old Washington home zone which I would never, could never, see in a Texas newspaper about a similar scene in Texas.

I think the Ruidoso zone of New Mexico is the closest location from my current location, where I would find a ski area. Maybe Colorado is closer, but, I suspect, without checking a map, that New Mexico's ski areas are closer.

Seeing mention made of Mount Baker, and ski season, also triggered that usually dormant homesick feeling. I used to look out my living room windows and see Mount Baker in the distance.

That actually is not Mount Baker you see in the photo. It is called the Mount Baker ski area, but Mount Shuksan is the mountain you are near whilst skiing the Mount Baker ski area. The actual Mount Baker volcano is a short distance to the south, or to the right, in the photo.

I do not remember when last I was at the Mount Baker ski area. It may have been the time, in the 1990s, when nephews Christopher and Jeremy took me hiking up Tabletop Mountain, a hiking venue south of the Mount Baker ski area, north of Mount Baker.

I brought my cross country skis with me to Texas. I recollect only skiing on them once, in Texas. A time when sufficient snow accumulated enabling skiing on the slopes in Arlington's Veterans Park. Doing such drew some attention from kids who had never seen skis skiing in person before.

I stored my cross country skis in an outdoor storage closet, which was not air-conditioned. At some point I discovered that the extreme heat of summer had caused the skis to delaminate, rendering them worthless.

Almost every winter since I have been in Wichita Falls there has been a short period with sufficient snow on the ground which would have made cross country skiing the Circle Trail a fun thing to do. Particularly the Circle Trail in the Wichita Bluff Nature Area section, which has some good up and down grades.

I wonder if ever again I will slide on skis, roll on roller blades, or pedal a bike? I suspect, of those three, pedaling a bike is the most likely...

Amazon Prime Delivers New Air Fryer But No Herfy's Hefty Burger

A week ago my air fryer died. This was my second air fryer to die. I had grown used to using the air fryer frequently.

The same week my air fryer died, the latest iteration of Amazon Prime came to be. And among the Prime bargains was an air fryer.

That new air fryer arrived at my doorstep, via UPS, yesterday.

I did not get around to un-boxing the new air fryer til this morning.

Now that I am borderline elderly I no longer enjoy figuring out new things. Just unpacking something like an air fryer is a tad daunting.

But I did so. Read the instructions. Did as instructed.

But, when I touched the touch screen the only items to react were the rotate function, the light function, the start function and the cancel function.

I tasked an assistant with contacting Amazon to make the product return arrangements, whilst I continued to try and see if the problem was human error, and not the fault of the air fryer.

After perusing the manual which came with the air fryer I found the troubleshooting section to be of no use.

Then, looking closely at the control panel it looked like there might be a film of some sort covering the control panel. After a few attempts at getting a fingernail under the edge of the control panel, I quickly realized my fingernail was under the edge of a plastic film covering the control panel. I pulled it completely off to find the control panel now brightly shining, such as you see above.

Below is the plastic film which was making me think I had a malfunctioning air fryer.

Now, would you not think that in the set up instructions that mention would be made of this plastic film which needed to be removed before the air fryer could function properly?

Today in the air fryer I am frying fish, in order to make a replica of my all time fish burger, that I used to get, decades ago, at Herfy's.

Herfy's Hefty Burger and Herfy's Fish Burger were the best of that type delicacy I have ever had.

When my cousin Scott was in the army, stationed in Vietnam, his unit became homesick for a Herfy's Hefty Burger. Somehow it was arranged to put some Hefty Burgers on dry ice and ship them to Vietnam. I do not recollect being told the Hefty Burgers were edible upon arrival.

But, I am sure the effort was greatly appreciated...

Looking For Texas Rainforest Whilst Looking At Hoh Rainforest In Olympic National Park

With rather regular frequency I see something somewhere, like Facebook, which triggers what I guess is a bit of a homesick feeling.

I saw that which you see here, yesterday, on Facebook. A scene from the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park in my old home state of Washington.

The Hoh Rainforest is the most well-known of the Washington rainforests. But, it is not the only one. It is not even the only rainforest in Olympic National Park.

Upriver in the Skagit Valley, the location where I lived in Washington before moving to Texas, there are rainforest zones.

But, the best, by far, is the Hoh Rainforest. Walking the trails in the Hoh Rainforest is a sort of otherworldly experience.

I do not know if there are any rainforests in Texas. I suspect not, though the vegetation can get a bit lush in Texas, in some locations, I've seen nothing which comes close to looking like a rainforest.

My most recent time walking in the Hoh Rainforest was in the middle of winter, back late in the previous century. Rain dripped, with fog making the rainforest look even more eerie than it usually does. Raincoats and umbrellas made the rain tolerable.

Ranking Blogger Has Me Comparing Oregon & Washington & Texas

The Microsoft Start page in the Window's Edge browser is a treasure trove of information tidbits. Some a bit dubious, like ranking the best frozen pizzas, or fast food fries.

Or, like the All 50 states ranked from worst to best, according to a 45-year-old blogger who has been to each one multiple times you see screen capped above.

I did a good guess at which states would be in the Top 10 best. I've been to all of them, except Hawaii.

The state I am currently in did not rank nearly as well as the state I was born in, Oregon, or the state I was living in before moving to Texas, Washington.

24. Texas

Abbamonte wasn't charmed by any of Texas' major cities and especially disliked the traffic in Houston.

But he said he loves Big Bend National Park near the border with Mexico.

The Abbamonte blogger did not have a lot to say about Texas. Did he visit Hill Country? Visit in wildflower season? Visit Galveston and the rest of the Gulf Coast? San Antonio and its Riverwalk? Did not like any of the Texas major cities? Dallas has a lot going for it. I liked Dallas upon first meeting the town. Now, if Fort Worth was the only major Texas city the blogger visited, I would get the not being charmed comment.

And then we get to my old home state, which the Abbamonte blogger seems to have liked a lot.

 8. Washington

Abbamonte said Seattle is the "most beautiful city, surely in America and maybe anywhere." In the summer, he added, Mount Rainier can be visible from the city, which is "a stunner."

Besides Seattle, Abbamonte loves how Washington state reminds him of Canada. "You feel like you're in Canada, but you're in America," he said.

How often it rains is the only downside of the state, in Abbamonte's view.

Seattle is a beautiful city, but the most beautiful anywhere? And yes, it does rain a lot in Western Washington, but even in Western Washington there are areas which are in the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains, hence way less rain. And all you have to do, to be rain-free, is drive over one of the Cascade Mountain passes to Eastern Washington and you are in a sort of desert environment, with a lot of orchards and vineyards.

The blogger liked California best. Also in the top ten where states like Utah, Arizona, Alaska, Colorado, Montana, Nevada.

And Oregon. The blogger like Oregon more than Washington.

I've long liked Oregon, but Washington has way more going for it.

The states share the Columbia Gorge.

Oregon has only one active volcano. Washington has five.

Oregon has only one national park. Washington has three.

Oregon has Portland. Washington has Seattle.

Washington has a much longer coastline, and a much less accessible Pacific coastline than Oregon's scenic coast.

Eastern Washington grows a large percentage of America's apples, cherries, apricots, peaches, grapes and stuff I'm likely not remembering. Eastern Oregon is not an agricultural wonderland like Eastern Washington. Likely due to no big rivers providing irrigation.

Washington has one of the world's largest ferry fleets, taking people across Puget Sound, or to the San Juan Islands. Oregon has no islands in need of a ferry. There is even a ferry in Eastern Washington, to ferry you across Lake Roosevelt, you know, the reservoir formed by Grand Coulee Dam. Oregon has zero dams of the Grand Coulee sort.

The blogger made mention of Canada. Washington shares a border with Canada. It used to be so easy to cross the border and spend the day in Vancouver, or elsewhere. I understand that, post 9/11, that is no longer the case, with cross border traffic not what it used to be. That needs to be fixed.

All this Washington and Oregon talk is making me homesick...

Homesick For Washington Mountains, Flats & Swans

Saw this, this Saturday afternoon, on the second day of December 2023. The Facebook page is titled Life in Northwest Washington.

The caption says, "I think this pretty much sums up Skagit Valley farmland".

Photos like this always seem to make me a bit homesick.

That is the Mount Baker volcano hovering above the Skagit Valley.

I think those are trumpeter swans in the foreground. A lot of those big birds arrive in the valley this time of year.

The location where those birds are roosting looks to be in what are known as the Skagit Flats. I think my Favorite Nephews, Jason and Joey, and Grand Nephew Hank Frank's orchard and houses are to the right of the view here.

Jason does not live in the house he bought next door to Joey's. Jason lives in Mount Vernon, up that slight hill you see in the lower middle of the photo.

Hank Frank's Grandpa Jake is currently living in the house Jason bought next to Joey's. Hank Frank drives his electric tractor over to Grandpa Jake's every morning to watch cartoons. A mini-road was made for Hank Frank's transit purposes.

It is the flood plain of the Skagit River which is known as the Skagit Flats.

Most of Western Washington is not flat.

Where I currently live, in North Texas, the landscape is pretty much flat. But, I've never heard it referred to as the Texas Flats. Or the Red River Flats. Or the Wichita Flats.

Which seems odd, since it is really super flat for miles and miles in any direction...

Fort Worth's Bridgey McBridgeface Bridge Name Nonsense Boondoggle

Yesterday a blog comment from Fort Worth's renowned Stenotrophomonas which pointed me to some fresh Fort Worth embarrassing nonsense I had not previously known about...

Stenotrophomonas has left a new comment on your post "Mark K's Make Me Homesick Mount Baker Photo":

Meanwhile, in the wannabe city

Fort Worth appears ready to move ahead on naming Panther Island bridges. White Settlement Road, though, still stalled.

Not much imagination here.

______________________

Excerpt from the article about the stalled bridge naming...

From the names of notable Fort Worthians to the classic “Bridgey McBridgeface,” Fort Worth residents submitted over 1,700 suggestions to rename the three bridges connected to the Panther Island Project.

Henderson Street bridge, North Main Street bridge and White Settlement bridge are all unofficial names. The city solicited suggestions to rename the bridges in February 2022. Submissions closed in March.

Residents submit over 1,700 suggestions to rename three Panther Island bridges

The renaming on Panther Island bridges presents an opportunity to elevate notable figures of Fort Worth’s past, said Peter Martínez, a history professor at Tarrant County College. 

“I think that would be huge,” Martínez said. 

_____________________

For those not familiar with Fort Worth's multi-year bridge building embarrassment. Fort Worth has had an ongoing pseudo public works project limping in slow motion for most of this century. Originally called the Trinity River Vision, eventually to be referred by most as The Boondoggle, whilst adding names to the original official name til it became the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

Part of that myopic vision was the building of three simple little bridges, over dry land. The building of these three little bridges took over seven years, way longer than it took to build the Golden Gate Bridge over actual deep, swift moving water.

One day it is hoped that cement lined ditches will be dug under the three bridges, with Trinity River water diverted into the ditch, creating an imaginary island, already named Panther Island.

Nope, not making this up. Google "Panther Island" and you will find a lot of documentation about Fort Worth's ongoing embarrassment. 

Why would any sane city waste time and money on soliciting name suggestions for something like these three simple bridges, currently crossing dry land, connecting the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island?

Here is a look at one of the simple little bridges, and the dry land under it, awaiting a cement lined ditch...

Isn't that a stunning feat of bridge engineering you are looking at here? Those buildings you see in the background make up the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

Yeah, it is easy to see why naming these bridges would be huge, just like that Tarrant County College professor suggested...

Mark K's Make Me Homesick Mount Baker Photo

The make me homesick photo you see here I saw on Facebook, this morning of the second Wednesday of 2023.

Skagit Valley photographer, Mark K, took the photo after he saw multiple looky-loos parked roadside gawking east at the extremely colorful sunset.

Below is one of the Mark K sunset photos.

For those reading this in Fort Worth, those bumps on the horizon are actual islands, surrounded by real water of the saltwater sort, not imaginary islands of the Fort Worth sort, where there is no surrounding water of any sort, but one day may be sort of surrounded by water, if a cement lined ditch ever gets dug, with dirty river water diverted into the ditch.

In the Mark K photo at the top, that big white bump is a volcano, known as Mount Baker. Washington has five active volcanos. In addition to Mount Baker there is Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, Mount St. Helens and Glacier Peak.

I have been invited to a birthday party taking place next summer at the Mark K estate on the Skagit Flats.

I have been told if I make it to the Mark K birthday party there will be blackberry pie and strawberry shortcake. I think it was Miss Carol BD who promised me blackberry pie and strawberry shortcake if I showed up.

Currently I would say there is less than a 50/50 chance I will make it to the Skagit Valley this coming July.

I think I have mentioned previously that from the living room of my abode in Mount Vernon, when the leaves were not on the trees, I could see the Mount Baker volcano. 

From my current living room, no matter what window I look out, I see pretty much nothing...

Miss Chris Shares Close Look At Mount Rainier Which Takes Us To Cabela's

One of my favorite Washingtonians, Miss Chris, currently located in Lacey, previously located in Kent, with both locations providing closeup views of Mount Rainier, when clouds are not blocking the view, shared that which you see above, on Facebook this morning.

With explanatory text saying, "Mount Rainier was so clear today. Got a shot as we were heading south on 167."

Lacey is a town west of Tacoma, east of Olympia. Lacey has one of the three Cabela's locations in Washington. 

People in Fort Worth, who are subjected to Fort Worth Star-Telegram propaganda, may remember when Cabela's courted Fort Worth for a Cabela's location, conning the local politicians with the false claim the Cabela's sporting goods store would be the #1 tourist attraction in Texas.

That #1 con was used to convince those local politicians to give Cabela's tax breaks and other perks. No one seemed to realize it was rather insulting to Texas to think a sporting goods store would be the state's #1 tourist attraction. 

It was not long after the Fort Worth Cabela's opened that another Texas Cabela's came to be, competing for that coveted #1 tourist attraction spot. That second Cabela's is south of Fort Worth, in Buda, near Austin. And then a third Cabela's opened, on the east side of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, in Allen.

When Cabela's proposed opening a store in Lacey, they tried to get tax breaks and other perks. They did not try that #1 tourist attraction con, obviously being a ridiculous thing to claim in the shadow of Mount Rainier. Cabela's was told if it was not economically viable to open a store in Lacey, without tax breaks and perks, then don't open a store there.

Cabela's went ahead with the Lacey store without tax breaks and other perks. And soon thereafter, just like Texas, Washington has three Cabela's. The one in Lacey, one in Tulalip and one in Union Gap.

Tulalip is about 20 miles north of Seattle, close to Marysville and Everett. Union Gap is in Eastern Washington, by Yakima.

Thank you, Miss Chris, for providing the make me homesick photo of the day...

Linda Lou's Making Me Homesick

 For at least two years, maybe longer, there has been an ongoing effort by more than one individual attempting to make my homesick for my old home zone of the Pacific Northwest State of Washington.

The most concentrated of these homesick campaign efforts has been a series of vintage postcards featuring Birch Bay.

Yesterday, New Year's Day, the above showed up on my phone, from Mount Vernon's Linda Lou. No text, just a photo of what looks to be a road aiming at Mount Rainier. Yes, it really does look like that.

I have a friend here in Wichita Falls, originally from Dallas, a lifelong Texan. A couple years ago she flew to the west coast for the first time, to Seattle. She had never been to a location before where no matter which direction you looked you see mountains.

And then the friends she was visiting took her their cabin, near Enumclaw, close to Mount Rainier. They arrived at the cabin after dark. The next morning she walked outside and found herself startled by seeing Mount Rainier, so close, looking so big. She described it as mesmerizing.

Above is another Washington mountain scene. This one is the view from Artist's Point by Mount Baker. That is not Mount Baker we see in this view. I think Mount Baker would be to the right.

Artist's Point is near the Mount Baker ski area. In winter I do not think it is possible to get a direct look at Mount Baker from this location. Well, maybe one could cross country ski to the location of the parking lot that opens in summer when the snow has withered away.

Okay, now that I am homesick it is time to go do something else....

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....

Madame McNutty Wants Me To Drive Somewhere Scenic

What you see here is a screen cap from the online front page of the Sunday 9/11 Seattle Times. 

This definitely fits into the category of things I see in the Seattle Times about something in Washington, that I could never see in the Texas online newspapers I read, showing a similar scene in Texas.

Well, that is not totally accurate. There are frequent wildfires in Texas, but not in scenery of the sort you see above.

I had a dialog on Facebook yesterday regarding Washington scenery. The dialog was between myself and the entity known as Madame McNutty, or MM.

Following are three lines from that dialog...

MM---What are you up to today?  You should get out of town, go for a drive or something.

Me---Go for a drive? You really have zero clue what it is like here. NO matter what direction you go it is all the same, flat nothing, for miles and miles. 

MM---It is hard for me to understand how you could've gone from beautiful Washington to flat nothing! When I think about Washington and all the beautiful places we could drive to in a half hour or less, it makes me so homesick!!!

Madame McNutty was in Washington a couple weeks ago, for a couple weeks. She returned to Virginia, sick with COVID.

What MM says is so true. Where we lived, in the Skagit Valley, you could drive a few miles to the west and be at a saltwater beach, or drive a few miles to the east and be up in the mountains. Drive 60 miles south and you're in Seattle, 45 miles north and you are in another country, called Canada. A few miles more and you are in the beautiful city of Vancouver.

You could drive west a few miles, to Anacortes, and get onboard a ferry to go to the San Juan Islands, or Victoria on Vancouver Island. These are real islands, surrounded by real water, not imaginary islands, such as those no one has yet seen in the Texas town of Fort Worth.

North of my current location, across the Red River, to Oklahoma, one can find some scenic scenery in the Wichita Mountains. The Wichita Mountains are about 70 miles from where I am sitting at the present time.

Looking Back At North Cascades National Park

Last night something caused me to try and remember what year it was that North Cascades National Park came to be.

And so I Googled North Cascades National Park and learned, via Wikipedia, it was in October of 1968 that LBJ signed the bill that created the new national park.

The Wikipedia article contained multiple photos of North Cascades National Park scenery, including the photo above, of Mount Shuksan. 

Wikipedia insists the source of the photo must be credited, thusly--Photo by Frank Kovalchek from Anchorage, Alaska, USA - Mt. Shuksan reflected in a small tarn on the Artist Point trail.

When I saw the Mount Shuksan photo I was puzzled, because I did not think that that mountain was in the North Cascades National Park. Mount Shuksan is quite close to Mount Baker. No mention of Mount Baker being in the national park was made.

Then I saw the Wikipedia map of North Cascades National Park and saw that Mount Shuksan is in the national park, whilst Mount Baker is not.

One of my all time favorite photos has Mount Shuksan in the background.

Those are my favorite nephews, Jeremy and Christopher, sitting atop Tabletop Mountain, with Mount Shuksan behind them. Christopher is looking off to the south, at Mount Baker, looming close.

Let's leave North Cascades National Park now for a look at Mount Baker.

I was heading north on Interstate 5 when I took this photo on the way to Birch Bay on August 11, 2017. We are a mile or two south of Mount Vernon, looking northeast at Mount Baker, looming large. This gives you a clear idea of how close I lived to scenic mountain scenery when I lived in the Skagit Valley zone. My Mount Vernon house was located a short distance past that notch from which Mount Baker appears to rise.

Now, let's go back to being at North Cascades National Park locations.

Above I am taking a rest on a granite slap, looking east at Hidden Lake.

If I remember correctly, the above photo was taken on the way to the summit of Green Mountain. There is a fire lookout at the summit. I recollect taking a nap when the summit was reached.

And here we see Wally, Wanda and Big Ed on the Cascade Pass Trail. This was a route used by Native Americans to cross the Cascades. At one point it was considered to be a possible route for the North Cross State Highway, but it was deemed to be far too difficult to engineer a road via this route, That and it would compromise some of the most scenic locations in the park.

And, the final North Cascades National Park photo is also on the Cascade Pass Trail. That is Big Ed trying to decide whether or not to take another step.

Seeing these photos and remembering how close I used to live to a scenic wonderland, well, it has me a bit homesick...

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...

Moon Over Homesick Mountain With Many Real Islands

I saw these two homesick provoking photos on Facebook this morning on the You Know You're From Anacortes When page.

The one above is a bit of a hyper realistic view of the full moon rising over the Mount Baker volcano.

The one below is more accurately depicting what the view looks like when viewed only through ones eyes.

Anacortes is the second largest town, population wise, in Skagit County. Anacortes is on Fidalgo Island.

Fidalgo Island is a real island, not an imaginary island such as what some in the island-free town of Fort Worth, Texas think is an island. There are two bridges which connect Fidalgo Island to the mainland. These are real bridges over real water, one of which, the Rainbow Bridge, in La Conner, is an actual iconic signature bridge, not an imaginary iconic signature bridge of the Fort Worth type.

One can take a ferry from Anacortes and Fidalgo Island to the San Juan Islands. One would think the San Juan Islands would be in Island County. But, instead the San Juan Islands are in San Juan County. There are no bridges to any of the San Juan Islands.

A blurb courtesy of Wikipedia about San Juan County...

San Juan County is a county located in the Salish Sea in the far northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2010 census, its population was 15,769. The county seat and only incorporated city is Friday Harbor, located on San Juan Island.

Fidalgo Island connects to Whidbey Island via the Deception Pass bridge. Two ferry routes also connect Whidbey Island to the mainland.

A blurb courtesy of Wikipedia about Island County...

Island County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2010 census, its population was 78,506. Its county seat is Coupeville, while its largest city is Oak Harbor. The county's name reflects the fact that it is composed entirely of islands.

I do not know why Fidalgo Island is in Skagit County instead of in Island County. Or why the San Juan Islands are not in Island County.

It's very perplexing.

But not nearly as perplexing as that town in Texas which has built three little bridges over dry land, hoping one day to put a cement lined ditch under those bridges, and then divert Trinity River water into the ditch, creating an imaginary island, which is only going to further confuse the town's few tourists...

Today's Look At Mount Baker For Thelma McNutty

 

I saw that which you see above, this morning, on Facebook, via a posting by Miss Beth of Sedro Woolley.

This view of Mount Baker is from the town of Conway, which is a few miles south of the town I moved to Texas from, Mount Vernon.

I was able to see Mount Baker from my kitchen window in Mount Vernon. I see nothing remotely resembling a mountain when I look out of my Texas kitchen window.

I remember the first time I saw the Rocky Mountains not being all that impressed. The Rocky Mountains did not seem as tall as the Washington, and other west coast, mountains. This perplexed me, because the elevation of many of the mountains in the Rocky Mountain range is higher than mountains in the Cascade Mountain range.

Then one day my simple mind realized why the Rocky Mountains did not look as tall as Washington mountains. 

Conway, and Mount Vernon, and Sedro Woolley, and Burlington, and the rest of the Skagit Valley Flats are only a few feet above sea level. Mount Baker's elevation is 10,781 feet. 

When you are in Denver you are about a mile above sea level. That cuts about 5,280 off the perceived height of the Rocky Mountains.

Mystery solved.

I hope today's Mount Baker photo activates Thelma McNutty's homesickness. A concerted effort has been underway to make Thelma homesick for Washington, so that she will return next summer after having been away from many things Washingtonian for around half a century...

The Mountain Is Out With Madame McNutty

Another in the continuing series of making her homesick Facebook posts from Madame McNutty. 

Madame McNutty comments "Fantastic photo. The Mountain is out and everything."

I think I have made mention previously of the fact that in Washington when you say "The Mountain is out" you are referring to Mount Rainier, even though it shares being a volcano mountain with four others in the state.

But, Mount Rainier is the only one of the Washington volcanoes which can be seen almost anywhere in the state you happen to be, which is why Mount Rainier is on the Washington state license plate.

Even though this is a bird's eye view of the Space Needle, which is a view most visitors to Seattle do not get to have, this is a more realistic photo of the Seattle skyline and Mount Rainier than most.

Often a photo trick is done which makes Mount Rainier look way bigger and way closer to Seattle than it actually is. This photo shows accurately how Mount Rainier actually looks from Seattle.

Now, the view of Mount Rainier from Tacoma does have The Mountain seeming way closer and way bigger.

I remember back in the last century, on a rare rainy day in Seattle, Hank Frank's dad, Joey, and Spencer Jack's dad, Jason, were riding the ferry with their favorite uncle, from Seattle to Bainbridge Island. As we were floating along a tourist asked if we were locals. Yes, we replied, we are not tourists. The tourist then asked if we could point to where Mount Rainier would be seen if the sky were clear of clouds. All three of us simultaneously pointed in the same south, slightly east, direction.

I wonder how many tourists visit Washington hoping to see The Mountain, but don't get to, due to it being socked in by clouds. I remember the first time going to San Francisco being disappointed due to not being able to see the Golden Gate Bridge, due to thick fog.

Speaking of the Space Needle. My favorite Macklemore song and video, "Can't Hold Us", ends with Macklemore landing on top of the Space Needle, looking much like the Space Needle image above...