Mount Erie, Anacortes

Saturday 21 September
After breakfast at the hotel, we drove to the airport to pick up Jen, Laura and Liam. Unfortunately, it took us rather longer than expected, due to roadworks, however we all met up, and drove north to our first stay in Anacortes, located on Fidalgo Island, but accessible by road. It is a popular destination for boaters, and for those traveling on to the San Juan Islands.
Our accommodation for the next three nights was in a beautiful AirBnB, with an amazing view - see extra. Having unloaded our baggage, we set out to enjoy the rest of the day. Our first stop was Mount Erie, the highest point on the island, accessible via a narrow paved road from the base. As you can see from my collage, the view was amazing! From there we continued to Rosario Bay at Deception Pass State Park in the south of the island, deception Pass being the strait of water separating Fidalgo Island from Whidbey Island. We enjoyed a lovely walk here, affording beautiful sea views -see extra. The wooden sculpture in the collage is The Maiden of Deception Pass, depicting the story of Ko-Kwal-alwoot, a culturally important story of the Salish Indian Nation. The tree in the lower center of the extra collage is the Pacific Madrone, a striking broadleaf evergreen tree, native to the western coastal areas of North America, from British Columbia to California. It has waxy foliage, a contorted growth habit and red flaky bark. A third extra shows the beautiful sunset from our AirBnB.