Varied Skies

After crossing the Cascades at Snoqualmie pass, we skirted Seattle on our way to the quaint, seaside town of Anacortes, WA.

We landed a nice camping site at Fidalgo Bay with a 3-mile biking trail into town just outside our door. We took advantage of the Tommy Thompson Trail on a couple of occasions, biking into town for lunch at Dad’s Diner and Gere-a-Deli. Both Tasty.

Anacortes seemed to have the right blend of attractions and amenities while maintaining a small-town feel.  It was one of my favorite places. Our missions while there: (1) see whales; (2) tour the North Cascades National Park; (3) L & M complete the Junior Ranger program.  Missions accomplished.

Eagerly anticipating a rendezvous with a pod of orca whales, we boarded the Island Adventurer and motored into the Salish Sea. The tour company provided a nice booklet of animals that we might see. The booklet included a dot map showing the locations of earlier whale sightings. I noticed that we were headed to a place on the map with no dots. Uh oh. Sure enough, the Captain came over the intercom and informed us that all the known orca pods were just outside our sailing range. The plan was to go through Deception Pass and along the east side of Whidbey Island, where they had never gone before, and hope that a pod just outside of range near Everett would swim toward us. That didn’t happen and after an hour of sailing in the wrong direction we turned around.

We were fortunate to have a naturalist on board that could point out and tell us about the birds and animals we encountered. Unfortunately, it became a redundant refrain. “Bird A on the starboard side, Bird B on the port, Bird C on the port, Bird D….,” ad infinitum. Still hopeful for a non-bird encounter, we motored at full steam into the Strait of Juan De Fuca. Suddenly, the Captain throttled back and the boat glided along the shores of Lopez Island. Could this be it, a mammal sighting? All movement on the boat stopped as the naturalist came over the loudspeaker. “This is a very special moment, ladies and gentleman. To the right of the boat we are fortunate to have a Tufted Puffin!” A Tufted Puffin!? What is that? Is viewing a Tufted Puffin a family appropriate activity? Perhaps, it is an orca sub-species? “The Tufted Puffin is a seabird not often seen in these waters.” Of course, it is a !@#$ bird. Here it is.

Here it is flying away.

Good, maybe we can motor on to a whale now? We did and eventually came across a couple of Minke whales before concluding our 6 hour cruise. No orcas here.

I think he mooned us.

North Cascades National Park proved more reliable than our orca-free adventure on the water.

The mountains did not move overnight, the weather was terrific, and the views outstanding.

L & M earned Junior Ranger Badge #13. This was the first time the Ranger provided hats for the ceremony, so I’ll treat you to another picture of a JR swearing-in ceremony.

On to Seattle.