Early Summer (Or Late Spring) In Seattle – Part 4

This was our last day in Seattle (boo). We drove from Whidbey through Deception Pass, Anacortes, and then on to the Ballard Locks to view the fish ladder because I’m a dork and the prospect of watching dinner run upstream was wildly exciting to me.

Deception Pass

According to Wiki, Deception Pass is a straight that separates Whidbey Island from Fidalgo Island and connects Skagit Bay and the Puget Sound with the Straight of Juan de Fuca. The bridge spanning the pass is surrounded by Washington’s most popular state park; the 4,134-acre Deception Pass State Park, with 77,000 feet of saltwater shoreline, 33,900 feet of freshwater shoreline, rugged cliffs, old growth forests and plenty of wildlife that sees over 2 million visitors per year.

Anacortes

Anacortes is a small (15,960) town historically known as a fishing and lumber center, but more recently as an oil refinery, technology, retirement and tourism community. We visited on the suggestion of the barista at our morning coffee stop. She said it had great views and a cute little downtown – she was not wrong. We found great vistas and a good little brewery/grill – the Rockfish Grill/Anacortes Brewery in downtown. Apparently this place is bumping at night with live music – too bad we couldn’t stay later.

These pictures were taken from Cap Sante Park – the best place to get an overview of the marina, City of Anacortes, March Point, Fidalgo Bay and the Cascade Mountains.

Ballard Locks

The Ballard Locks (aka the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks) link the Puget Sound to Lakes Union and Washington and feature a fish ladder and botanical garden. Boats as large as 760 feet long travel this lock, which takes 10-15 minutes to switch over and can fill with 26 feet of water to bring boats even on both sides. The fish ladder is a critical link for salmon and steelhead heading upstream to spawn and for young fish (aka smolts) to return to the sound.

Can’t get enough Pacific Northwest? View the rest of the trip here, here, here and here.