La Conner WA

La Conner is a small beautiful town located East of Mount Vernon on the Skagit Bay.

If you want to spend half a day strolling the main drag in down town parallel to the Swinomish Channel and watch the yachts go by then this is the place.

The First Street  is loaded with boutiques,resturants , bars and old remodeled buildings , parking is not a problem and place "feels" like a Holiday.

The two side of the city is connected by a Rainbow Bridge with a Waterfront Park, picnic tables and great views.

Walking down the First Street we unrented a fascinating Italian shop and meet a great couple running it, the guy is an young Italian and we got very soon talking about Italy as we remembered from the time we lived there, it felt like we are having a glass of wine and hearing Italian songs in down town Rome...

It is time to leave the West Coast and start our way East along the North Cascades.

Fidalgo & Whidbey Islands WA

Fidalgo & Whidbey Islands are located in North West Washington and are connected to the mainland with a huge bridge on HWY 20 West.

Anacortes is located on Fidalgo Island , the town has a great downtown , Marina and a beautiful Washington S.P. that provides outstanding views to the West .

Old piano's are scattered all over the downtown and marina they are not all tuned  but still are used  by people that just pass by.

The murals are painted on wooden boards and then attached to the walls what gives an allusion of 3D picture and a very special sight.

These two Island are connected by a high Deception Bridge , on both sides of the bridge there is a parking place and it is possible to walk down and along the bridge to see the beautiful views from every angle.

On Whidbey Island we stopped to visit Oak Harbor and have lunch at a Thai Restaurant, it was almost the only place where we could get a vegetarian meal .

Flixton park along the waterfront is a place to go with the family for a picnic with great views , people fly kits and play Frisbee and can go swimming ,all this 2 minutes from downtown and easy parking places.

On the way back to our C.G in Anacortes we took the West Route that included a loop in Washington S.P located at the North Western tip of the city, a great place to watch boats , ferries ,hike or paint .

It is also a great place to see the sunsets ,but it was 2 hours before the sun will dive into the Ocean and we did not wait till then.

It was another great relaxing day for us ,no hikes, no waterfalls and no picnic...totally a change we needed from time to time, it is so good to do what you want ,when you want -try it....

Mount Baker WA

The drive from Lynden to Mount Baker is a 60 Miles beautiful drive if you take the back roads like we did, on the way we stopped to see a beautiful Nooksack waterfall just a short walk from the parking and this time there was a sign from the HWY ...

The whole area was fenced and limited the view from different angles ,all this to prevent someone getting hurt, but we caught a glimpse of a rainbow...

There are numerous hikes in the Mount Baker area , but any hike taken will revile unusual beautiful vistas ,sometimes 360 degrees, at this altitude we found snow and glaciers not only at the top but on the trails as well.

There was ONE problem, smoke from fires coming from the East acted as filters and blocked clear views , as we could not change this we enjoyed hiking ,picnicking and playing in the snow.

On the way back I stopped as I saw some old trucks in a back yard of someone's house , there is something in these old trucks that attracts....

In spite of the "smoky" filter we could not complain about the weather so far, I mean we are in the outdoors already for 3 Months and had NO rain what so ever , not good for the farmers but good for us, in any case we do not spend any energy on the issue as it is totally out of our hands, I hope it will hold as we go along the North Cascades...