Nearby Camano Island was our target for today. Peggy tells me that I have been there before but we were halfway through today’s excursion before I recognized anything. It turns out that she was correct and I was merely forgetful.

We started today’s journey with a trip to the La Conner second hand store so Peggy could reluctantly ashcan some of the stuff we have been hauling around for the last five years. She was very strong and dumped the stuff in the box without even a shudder. I was very proud of her.

Then we were off across the Skagit River Valley and massive delta toward Camano Island. It is a beautiful drive with magnificent green forest, the Cascades and farmland below the horizon and beautiful azure skies above. Over the bridge and we were onto the island. The northern end and northeastern edge of the island is pretty heavily developed with many snazzy houses, almost all of them within view of the water. And a terrific view it is! At the northern end, we pulled into a tiny park called Upsalady where we could gaze out over the sound and the single homeless guy comfy on a bench looking north. From this end, Mount Baker, the enormous volcano, can be seen; it is the horizon. We also were delighted to find an adolescent bald eagle nested in a very short tree right in the park. He made quite a few noises at us before he took to the wing and split.

Eventually we moseyed on to the west side of the island and entered a much more rural and splendid environment. Massive firs and cedars grow right down to the waterline and the views into the San Juan Islands offshore are terrific. Lots of the property is privately owned but the lot sizes are much bigger here. We passed many gravel driveways but could see few of the houses hidden in the dense forest. We stopped in at both of the state parks on the island’s west side – Cama Beach Historical State Park and Camano Island State Park – where we bought a Washington Discover Pass that allows access to all state parks for a year. The parks are very nice. We stopped for a bit at Cama and enjoyed the views of the Sound and Whidbey Island across a wide strait. Warm, cloudless, sunny days are rare in this part of the world and Washingtonians had flocked to the area to see it before Ragnarok. We even spotted a guy nearly my age wearing a skimpy pair of Speedos so we left.

We continued our circuit, wandering down to the south end of the island before heading up the east side and back to the bridge returning us to the mainland. Camano Island offers a great journey through a pretty place although the residential section at the north end is not that great unless, of course, you own one of the nice houses overlooking the water.

We took a few pictures. Click the link. https://photos.app.goo.gl/4mEMb4gRomgY5KDm6