DAYTRIPPING: Excusions around home
Well, we've been somewhat of homebodies for the past few months since we got back from Montana. Trips to Franklin Falls, on Denny Creek at Snoqualmie Pass, Deception Pass on Puget Sound, our most recent trip to Diablo Lake, something our resident native, Cathy, has never done, and almost bi-monthly trips to South Vashon. I've been lax on writing but will need to catch up before we head to Bermuda in a couple weeks. I've opened this with a shot of Mt. Rainer from Vashon, and this iPad app won't let me add galleries so I'm signing off till we get home and I have time to do it up right this next weekend.
Franklin Falls is on the west side of Snoqualmie Pass, 45 miles east of here on I-90. You exit at the base of the climb to the pass at the Denny Creek offramp. There's a bit of a problem finding parking, even when doing the trip mid-week. I'd wager it's almost impossible on a weekend while school's out. The trail is easy, except for the last few yards as you go back down to the creek bed. You'll find a lot of people with dogs since they are allowed. This is not a handicap access trail. Many locations have steps and you're climbing down a wet rockwall base at the end. I was glad I had a walking stick for extra balance.
This was the opening photo when I first started this post.
Our next trip was to Deception Pass at the north end of Whidbey Island. You have 2 ways to get there. Take a ferry from Mukiltio to the island's south end or drive an hour and a half north to Anacortes and getting to Whidbey by the Deception Pass bridge. We decided to drive to the state park and bring the ferry back. That changed as soon as we neared Anacortes on SR 20. We found a huge backup from I-5 all the way to Whidbey. 2 lane road and stop and go driving. The entire route is only 2 lanes wide so we drove back rather than deal with the traffic down the island and a long wait at the ferry. Deception Pass has a very strong tidal current. Small boats, and the pass is too narrow for big ones, have to wait till slack tide to avoid the whirlpools that form. We watched a tree-sized log spin in one of the whirlpools for a long time and eventually saw it later, after it had escaped, heading out into the Sound moving about 15 mph on the out-going tide.
Western view from Deception Pass Park
Deception Pass
Our "planned" trip in this period was to Diablo Lake. This is a resevoir created early in the 20th century to provide electrical power for Seattle City Light. It's located about 2 1/2 hours from Seattle on SR20, the North Cascades Highway. City Light has a company town, Newhalem, at the site of the 3 reservoirs, Gorge, Diablo and Ross lakes. Diablo and Ross are the largest. Diablo's about 4.5 miles long and Ross is around 26 miles long, extending a mile into British Columbia's Skagit Valley and EC Manning Provincial Parks. The North Cascades Environmental Resource Center is located at Diablo. City Light runs tour boats from the Center on the lake up to the Ross Lake dam. That dam is almost 600 feet high and could go higher but BC and City Light have agreed to hold off on an increased 100+ feet that would flood a fairly large part of EC Manning Park. In exchange BC is providing reduced-rate hydro-generated electricity to City Light. The agreement took years to implement and is up for renewal in the future.
Diablo is a beautiful lake. At this time of the year the water is green due to minerals being carried down from the 54 glaciers in the North Cascades. At the end of the summer, after it starts cooling down, the water run-off lessens and fewer minerals enter the lake and the lake turns blue. There is a small island near the center called Deer Island. There used to be a small herd of white deer on the island, but, since deer can swim, they are no longer there. The deer do, however, remain in the area and are protected since it's a National Park. On our way back to the car we walked along the lakeside and as we approached the road we actually saw one and got some photos of a unique creature. The guide at the Center said the species name of the deer but we didn't get it written down and now we can't find references to them. What is especially frustratring is that the websites for the NPS and National Wildlife that came up on a Google search for North Cascades white deer are no longer operative. Sign of the new administration restricting information?
We stayed in Sedro Wooley, the last "major" town on SR20 prior to the pass, the night before our tour in order to avoid having to get up at dawn to arrive by 10:30 for the tour. On our way home we set up a dinner with Raphael, our friend from Seattle, who is now staying in Anacortes with his son and working part time at Ciao Bella until he finds investors for a new place to open in Seattle. Raffi was in Italy when we left for Sicily last November. When he returned from his 3 week vacation the owner of Picolino's fired him for pretty weak reasons. Raffi had saved the restaurant about 4-5 years ago and this is the thanks he gets. Oh well, some owners are not very good people and don't readily recognize what they have.
We arrived in Anacortes early so we did a little sight-seeing with our time. We headed down by the marina and the Seafarers Memorial Park. This is similar to the Fisherman's Terminal memorial in Seattle for those fishermen lost at sea.
Anacortes bay and Marina at Seafarers Memorial
Well, that's about it for now. I have a couple more photos to add. Our daughter attended a cooking class a couple nights ago and found these photos on the wall. The gentleman with the large mustache is Luigi. He's had about 3 restaurants here in Seattle that were very successful. Unfortunately he passed on a few months ago. What caught Rae's eye are the two guys with him. Raphael Calise and Alphonso Tucci. We met both about 17 years ago.
Ciao for now
