Wayfaring Day 96

October 4, 2015 Saturday

This morning we got out of the hotel at a decent time and began our day. The time for arriving at our hosts home was supposed to be 4:30 pm or a little after. That would give us time to do some exploring and enjoying a sunny warm day in the northwest.

The Boeing Museum is just a short walk from the hotel so we walked over to go to the gift shop and to see the inside of the building. We had taken the tour with our boys many years ago and though we really enjoyed it we had no intention of doing the tour this trip. We spent most of our time in the large store they have and did some looking at what you can look at without buying a tour ticket. We bought a toy airplane for our grandson and a couple of shirts. David bought a B-17 shirt for himself and a B-52 shirt for our younger son. They both have an interest in World War 2 and military aircraft history.

We walked back to the car and drove a short distance to Japanese Gulch for a short walk just to explore the lush landscape. Next we headed to the ferry for the ride over to Whidbey Island. While waiting on the next ferry we grabbed some drinks and a sandwich to share on the ferry. We boarded our ferry and then walked up to the observation deck for the ride over to Whidbey.

We sat and had our sandwich while enjoying the 20 minute ride across the sound. Once on the island we drove to Fort Casey State Park which is on the west shore. Much of the fort is still intact and much as it was 80+ years ago. We walked up, down and all around the battlements, big guns and pill boxes. We commented to each other as to how dangerous this place is. One missed step, slip or trip could be deadly. We are not over exaggerating. There are many places where someone could fall from a considerable height since there are almost no railings and where there are railings someone could easily fall through. We would be worried coming here with small children.

All that said, this is an amazingly real and historic place and we not only enjoyed it but we also survived it.

The other area of the park is the lighthouse. It is just a short walk from the large parking lot but we drove over to the lighthouse and parked there. The lighthouse is a museum that is full of lighthouse history. The highlight is that you can walk up the spiral staircase to the top of the lighthouse. And although this is a small lighthouse it was still pretty cool to go to the top.

We left Fort Casey and headed to Fort Ebey. This park is located on some high cliffs and has many trails to explore though we had little time for that. We spent our time walking through the bunkers and around the cliffs. Again some interesting and preserved World War 2 era construction.

From Fort Ebey we made a stop at Deception Pass and Deception State Park. We walked a little of Discovery Trail and took some pictures of the bridge and watched the water rush to the west through the narrow canyon. We were about out of time for sightseeing and needed to begin heading to our hosts home near Snohomish.

We were at the hosts home at about 5:15 which was a little later than we had hoped. They showed us around the house and took us through all the details of taking care of their two very well trained dogs. They use multiple types of collar technology which makes things easier than using conventional methods. They have a great backyard and excellent places for the dogs to hang out, play and sleep. In the evening they treated us to a dinner with Salmon as the main dish.

The dinner was very good and afterward we sat around and talked about the house and the dogs, asked and answered questions and just got to know each other better. They walked us through the process of getting the dogs into the house for the evening. Then before bedtime they did the same with the dog’s last potty time and then having them in their room and kennels for the night. Sometime after that we all retired for the evening.