Passing Through Anacortes

Last summer I passed through Anacortes coming and going on several trips between Ferndale and Friday Harbor, but usually I just had time enough for lunch and a walk up and down the main drag in town, before hopping back on my bike to ride three short miles to the ferry terminal. A year ago the city was paving and adding bike lanes to Commercial Avenue, making the ride smoother and safer for bike tourists this year. This summer the timing to catch the ferry to Sidney BC was a little different, allowing me to spend a little more time walking and biking around town. Usually I come in to town by way of Fidalgo Bay Road and R Avenue, which runs through a working waterfront area. The street bends to become Q Avenue, which continues along side a more scenic recreational marina area with views of the rocky bluff of Cap Sante Park.

Cap Sante from Seafarers Memorial Park in Anacortes, with an oil refinery in the distance

There are foot and bike trails up to the top of the bluff, but I only rode out to the tip of the point, where I watched hummingbirds buzzing up and down above the manzanitas on the steep slope. I stopped to chat with an older couple of retirees who seemed concerned that I was a transient planning to set up camp in the park, but I was able to convince them that I was only a harmless flake. I generally try to keep my gear nice and dress up-scale enough to look like an Adventure Tourist, not a bum, but sometimes these class distinctions are hard to maintain.

Sculptures and poems printed on plaques are on exhibit beside the landscaped walkways by the water, including a poem titled "What the Fisherman Knows" by Samuel Green, a former poet laureate of Washington state. I found it moving and mysterious, my main requirement for poetry.

Causland Park

After a hearty sandwich and coffee at one of the many lunch spots on Commercial Ave., I biked around at random on neighborhood streets, until I happened on Causland Park, a one square block garden spot at the intersection of 8th Street and M Avenue. The walls, paths and stairways, the bandstand and memorials in the park are mosaics made of various colors and textures of local stone. The stone works were designed and built in about 1920, by a former French-Canadian named Jean Baptiste LePage, apparently a mostly self-taught artist and architect, who was influenced by the Spanish architect Antonio Gaudi. The park was later re-named for Harry Causland, as a memorial to soldiers from World War I. The place is a curious and fascinating retreat in an out-of-the way little town, worth looking for if you have time to kill while waiting for the Anacortes ferry.

Bandstand at Causland Park

Some second thoughts . . .

Rethinking my previous posts from the summer past: of course, the world is full of men who were traumatized by childhood outdoor experiences, when they were terrified by noises in the night or creepy, slimy creatures, or were ridiculed and made to feel incompetent by a Dad, uncle or Scout troop leader, or were led astray and endangered by an incompetent Dad, uncle or Scout troop leader. But girls/women mostly don't encounter those bad experiences until we begin to push our limits as adults, after spending our younger years avoiding outdoor hardships, risks and creepy slimy things.

That's OK, it makes us feel young and fresh to challenge ourselves and discover new things.

I finished off my summer by returning to Vancouver Island to ride the Galloping Goose again. This time I brought a better camera, packed a lunch for the trail, and rode almost to the Sooke Potholes, but not quite as far as I had hoped to go. I am writing a supplemental post with lots of photos, but keep running out of high-speed wifi. Soon I will finish.

It's the rainy season now, but for anyone thinking of a holiday trip to the San Juan Islands or Vancouver Island, at least three of Washington State Ferries' boats have been out of service and under repair, and ferry runs have been severely cut back. All service between Anacortes and Sidney BC was cancelled in mid-October through mid-November, and last I heard there were only two runs a day from Anacortes to the San Juan Islands. Check the Washington State Ferries website to plan your travel.