Anna C - a Real Honest to Goodness Town

Before I dive into the topic of the post title, let me tell you all a little bit about Deception Pass State Park where we domiciled last night.

I think we may have been deceived.

We check in noonish  and, I should have been tipped off by this, the friendly ranger says, "well, go on thru and pick out a few campsites that you like, come back and I'll see if they are reserved for others or not". OK, fair enough. But, out of curiosity, how many reserved sites do you have? Oh, a couple, actually two. Well, how about marking those two sites on the map for us and we'll choose from one of the other 158 available sites. Got her to agree to this process, so off we go to find a site.
We pick out a great site and take our standard 5 minute set up, just sit down outside on a beautiful afternoon, say the ahhhsss...and then - all hell breaks loose.
Now I've been thinking all along, why is this place so deserted? Such a beautiful park situated at the entrance to Deception Pass and I then recalled driving by the Naval Air Station (NAS) Whidbey Island facility right before entering the campground.

About 500 feet above us came an F/18 Super Hornet on approach...awesome!
Now if you ask people to come out and witness an F/18 Super Hornet, 500 feet above you with twin F414/General Electric/400 turbofan power plants roaring at full throttle with afterburners deployed, I'm at the head of the line for sure. Shakes every bone in your body and leaves you marvelling at the engineering know how to generate so much thrust in such a relatively small package.
But....these Navy fly boys were doing take offs and landings and one of these flew over us each and every minute for...I kid you not...10 freaking hours! They went till 11 PM....so much for quiet time at the campground, we took advantage and cranked some loud tunes fireside.
I asked Debbie to go back to the park ranger to see if we could get a site a little closer to the airfield, like maybe a site on the runway, with full hook ups if you please.
Unreal....we laughed so hard, it was sheer madness I tell you.


Info sign at the State Park explaining how it just might get "a bit noisy at times".

Also had time this morning to hike out to see the bridges spanning Deception Pass. In my opinion, the only way to properly view or photo a bridge is from under it looking up.

Ain't she a graceful structure....striking.



Now, back to the post topic.
Before our trip I mentioned to some friends that we were going thru Anacortes, WA and they advised...not much to see there, it's OK but head to the San Juan Islands, which we are doing tomorrow morning.

View of Debbie and Anacortes in the background taken from the nearby headlands Cape Sante....



But, we found this town to be a real treat. It has all of the things we look for in a town - nice restored downtown with preservation at the heart; friendly townsfolk; industry to support the local economy and citizens that are proud of their City. Found all of this in Anacortes and then some.
In my opinion a real town needs a tablespoon of this....


And a pinch of this....

















And yes, even a dash of this....



Hey Cory, I'll bet you're thinking they named this town after you and your lovely bride - Anne Marie/Cortez, Anna Cortez? No?
Well, nice try 'Tez but here's the true dope - seems the town's name was penned by the post mistress one Anna Curtis back in the late 1800's (thanks local historian Susie Ward for this factoid!).
Took a bike ride along their excellent Thompson Trail and did my usual bicycle recon of the town. It was a lovely day and I thorougly enjoyed the ride, the sights and the friendly folks I met along the way.



You're welcome Anna Curtis and thanks for sharing your real town with us.
Well, we're off to Orcas tomorrow morning, I'll post again once we hit landfall on the Island.
Cheers everyone, thanks for reading.