Fall has been unusually sunny, warm, and rainfree so far. One day we decided to take advantage of the wonderful weather and go off on an island adventure. Our original plan was to go to Anacortes on Fidalgo Island, then cross over to Whidbey Island, drive the length of Whidbey and take the ferry back to the Eastside. Our plans kept changing based on what we saw and people we talked with – nice to have the flexibility to do this.
A & D = home B = Anacortes C = La Conner
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Anacortes used to be the "salmon canning capital of the world." Shipbuilding and the oil refineries now employ many people. It's a major jumping off point for trips to the San Juan Islands.
Downtown Anacortes is decorated with over 100 "murals," most of which are wood cutouts attached to buildings. They depict the history and people of Anacortes. All the murals are painted by Bill Mitchell, who learned to paint after an automobile accident left him quadraplegic and with no movement in his fingers.
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After driving up a very long, windy one lane road, we reached the top of Mount Erie. Paths from the parking lot led to these two lookouts.
Can you see much? We couldn't either. If you look really closely - through the huge trees - you can see a view of - refineries. Not the most scenic sight in the world.
Fortunately we'd done some homework and through someone's post on the Internet we read about another viewing point. This one was "near the radio tower." We found the tower and the unmarked trail. From the parking lot it looks like the trail goes to the radio tower so I'm sure most people don't explore it. That's too bad, because that's where the awesome view is.
We went back to the original "nonscenic" views and told a couple we'd spoken with about this other option. They joined us there to take in the beauty of our surroundings. Evidently on a clear day you can see the Olympic Peninsula and Mount Rainier from here. We thought it was a pretty clear day; guess it could have been even better.
Mount Erie - When I read about Mount Erie, I wondered about the name and any possible connection with Lake Erie of the Great Lakes. According to Wikipedia, the original name of Fidalgo Island was Perry Island, named for Oliver Hazard Perry, the American hero of the Battle of Lake Erie in the War of 1812 with Britain. Wilkes, the man who named Perry Island, named the highest point on the island, Mount Erie for Lake Erie and the battle fought there. In 1847 Brit Henry Kellett "reorganized the official British Admiralty charts." He changed the name of the island from Perry to Fidalgo to honor the Spaniard who explored the area in 1790. Do you think Perry's defeat of the British had something to do with the Brit's decision to rename the island?
As I type this, I think about Dad and how he would have been delighted to discover and share this little tidbit of information. Too bad he didn't live long enough to learn the fun of searching the wealth of information on the Internet.
There's also a Lake Erie on Fidalgo aka Perry Island.
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The couple we met on top of Mount Erie told us about Washington Park in Anacortes. So we changed our plans and drove back to town to see the park. It was worth it. What beauty.
Click on the pictures to see larger images
Since it was getting late in the day we decided to save Whidbey Island for another day. On our way home we drove through La Conner, on the Swinomish Channel. We stopped at a store that sold lavender. All the lavender was grown on a nearby San Juan Island. We had dinner at La Conner Seafood and Prime Rib, sitting at a table overlooking the water. We watched people on the other side of the channel (Swinomish Indian Reservation) work with crab pots - on and off the boats. Sea gulls by the dozens were very interested in the work.
Pictures of La Conner
Some tidbits
Anacortes and La Conner are both named for women. Anacortes is an attempt to make the name Anna Curtis sound Spanish. Anna Curtis was the wife of Amos Bowman, an early settler of Fidalgo Island. La Conner - The wife of an early settler was Louise Ann Conner, hence La Conner. Source
Fidalgo Island would revert to being a peninsula if the Swimonish Channel weren't frequently dredged. Read more here. The channel is the vertical blue line on the lower right of this map. The island extends to the left. La Conner is at the bottom of Swimonish Channel. The Swimonish Indian Reservation is between the Swimonish Channel and Simillk and Skagit Bays.
It was a fun day!
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