- photo by Martin Lynn
This is the end of Waterspot1.
It's the end of a long chapter for us. I have raked up my last pinecone. We were lucky to have had this unique experience, and will treasure our happy memories.
Wild burros at Lake Pleasant.
We see a lot of these bug traps down there. These are for Spongy Moths, whatever those are. Last year it was Murder Hornets.
Back home in the park, on realizing there was no peanut forthcoming, this squirrel declined to show his face for a picture.
The new overlook was great, and afforded a much better view of Mt. Baker and Fidalgo Bay, with its oil tankers at anchor. You used to have climb up on the rocks risking your life to see anything like this.
Just so you can see where we are, here's a drone shot showing the overlook up on a very big stony bluff.
Plus this! We rarely see the gulls on the old snag anymore, for unknown reasons, but today we had a whole flock!
This turns out to be behind a local church and it is their "Children's Church." Which is a clever idea and no doubt very appealing to little people. And it definitely got our attention.
- photo by ABC15 Arizona
There is political commentary on the our busiest street corner almost daily. It used to just be on Sundays.
July 7 we went to Burlington for a haircut and some shopping. I saw "Skagit River Park" on a map so this time we took a quick side trip to see what we thought would be a scenic view of the river.
- photo from Experience Anacortes site on Facebook.
Also this crowd on the rocks! There must be something to eat around here today.
- photo by David Veatch, 2021
And the ever-present kayakers.
It is a very big, flat field with a very big, long, high dike along the river side, so zero view. We surmise that the river has behaved badly sometimes and this was the answer. We must seek a river view elsewhere.
Plus a couple palm trees and various animals!
Here is us. Since we took some photos of a couple other tourists, they insisted on taking one for us.
We often supervise the dock in the park, and we've seen the Coast Guard come in and load up their boat a couple of times. This is one group that knows how to do this so our advice is unnecessary!
Guemes (GWEE-mus) is a short 8 minute ferry ride away from Anacortes. It offers a great view of the Anacortes waterfront across the channel. The ferry landing is right next to Anchor Cover Marina. On July 11 the sun came out and it was a lovely warm day. At last, summer! We went to Guemes for an outing and excuse to go out to lunch.
Cap Sante Marina.
The original log store (I think!) survives and is behind the newer one, and the mural of Flora Mangan was easy to find. It was the first general store on Guemes and they also ran the wharf, where today's ferry lands. She raised six children alone after her husband died.
Me in my summer outfit, still waiting for warm weather, which is overdue.
From the beach on Guemes Island, looking down the channel to Fidalgo Bay.
In any case, we were headed for current Guemes Island General Store to find the mural of Flora Mangan, the first storekeeper, and lunch!
And since I look for these things, here's a "take one" bookshelf for non-island residents provided by the Guemes Public Library. The sign encourages those who live there to visit the library!
We always see some boats from the park, these two are leaving Anacortes.
I don't usually add photos that aren't from Anacortes or our own travels around the area, but this was a different kind of sundown shot taken on San Juan Island. And the US Coast Guard Eagle made a stop in Seattle and is shown here in Elliot Bay. It is the largest tall ship flying the stars and stripes. German built, it is 79 years old and came to us after WWII as part of war reparations. It is 295 feet long and makes quite a sight. And it is NOT coming to Anacortes, alas!
A visit to the Cap Sante Overlook was on our to-do list since they had built a new viewing area this winter, so we went by on our way home. The narrow road to get there meanders through a forest just above town.
Guemes Island
This is the end of Waterspot 7. Go to Waterspot 8 to continue.
You can watch all the boats coming and going from the marina from up here. It was a quiet day for that especially since it was Friday afternoon and such good weather.
- photo by Joe Hueffed
Whale boat we see from the park loaded with tourists heading out to look at Orcas. And somebody's fast little boat zipping by.
A view on our return of the two old long-vacant canneries on the waterfront, leftover from the days when this was "The Salmon Canning Capital of the World."
And this was very cool! A replica of a Viking ship was built in Skyline and launched last year, but this is a first sighting for us.
It was low tide, and here's our view of the pilings from inside the passenger seating area onboard the ferry A little like a weird art gallery.
Along the way though we encountered Noah's Ark at rest on a city street!
There are a few murals I have seen on the list that I haven't been able to find, since they are sometimes relocated and many have been taken down for repair and restoration. But I think this pretty much wraps up my collection, after 11 years of taking photos of the murals. I believe there are 150 and I am missing just a handful.
Meanwhile in Anacortes, we are still in our winter togs, waiting for summer.
That ferry terminal has this great bulletin board where you can find all kinds of events that are going on but also just about any kind of service you might need from boat repairs to housekeeping.
Here is a bright red TowBoatUS we saw from the park. He's actually towing someone's boat today, so we felt sorry for whoever and had to deal with a dead boat. These red boats are the nautical version of emergency road service; they come to the rescue of stranded boaters throughout The Islands. When we see them speeding out of port it means someone out there is having a very bad day.
This tree must have come down several years ago. The park people leave them where they fall and just clear the road.
Many cyclists make the trip over for a day of pedaling around Guemes, and a lot of bikes were outside of the store.
- Photo by Rush Linhart
It was a perfect, clear day to be up here.
We came here last summer to take photos of a few historic Bill Mitchell murals to complete our collection. There turned out to be one here I missed so we are back to get it! Just by happenstance that trip actually was on this same day a year ago! Here's our receipt for two senior tickets. I swear it was just $6 a year ago.
Waterspot7
Washington Park and Guemes Island
The store attracts big crowds for its evening concerts, but it is a great place to have lunch on a sunny day like this one!
Last year this sign was there, named for Timothy Mangan and his family who settled here in the early 1870's.They also ran the first general store.
Doggie photo of the day. We see lots of dog walkers in the park and pretty much everywhere. This guy jumped up there on his own. His person says that is one way he asks for a treat.
Here is what is there now. I don't know what brought about the change, the old sign had more charm and meaning. And there isn't anything called the Guemes Island Ferry Trail!
We saw these two recumbent bicycles in the park. They reportedly distribute the rider's weight more comfortably than a traditional bike and seem to be popular with seniors. We've never seen a two-person one before.
It wasn't long before we saw the ferry return from the Guemes shore, heading for the dock with a pretty full load of cars and trucks.
The tide pools on a windy day, lots of waves breaking ashore.
Time just seems to fly by here - where did June go? We spend time walking most days by the ocean and looking at boats on the water. I go to Yoga every Sunday and take pictures everywhere I go. That's a Seagull over there who stopped by Washington Park.
Bruce's famous shrimp cakes and a nice bottle of wine for dinner.
Some of the other passengers on the ferry ride back to Anacortes.
Well-fed tourists at the Guemes Island General Store.
And we can look back at Anacortes!
Another cool drone photo taken above Washington Park shown in the front, and Skyline and the rest of Fidalgo Island spread out behind it.
Just a short wait before they loaded us and the cars for the return trip. So much blue!
The store is surrounded by beautiful flower gardens.
We have passed this handsome Queen Anne style house with its fancy wooden trim many times. This time there was a For Sale sign out in front.
We could also look down a bright green kyack that seemed to be washed ashore where it sat in the mud. Escaped and lost kyacks aren't really unusual here, but a guy actually waded out there through the muck, dragged it to the water and padded off.
July 9 arrives in Phoenix with temperatures that broke the record for hottest July 9 ever by two degrees. Pretty toasty.
Also seen in the park - I may have mentioned there are many dog walkers there!
July 2025