Fidalgo Island Crossings

Happy Thanksgiving Ah lichtige Chanukah

Photo:   Wikimedia Commons

On Fidalgo Island, we can actually drive to the sky over a steep, narrow and winding road.  At 1,273 feet/388 meters Mount Erie is the highest point on the island.  This is where the sky begins for us.  The harrowing drive is worth the effort, but don't try it in ice and snow.  The views up here are spectacular making this Anacortes City Park a favorite spot for photographers.  These photos were taken November 19, 2013. Southeast:  The body of water in the foreground is Campbell Lake and beyond is Skagit Bay.  This is the same view as most of my other Skywatch photos , seen from a different vantage point.  The best time of day for this shot is late afternoon when the sun has moved over to the left.  The islands in Skagit Bay as viewed are as follows:                                                                                  Goat                                                                         Hope-----------]                                                  

Last Friday, a classic November wind and rain storm passed through the area.  It rained fairly steadily all day.  My weather station measured 0.67 inch (17 mm).  All in all, it was a pretty miserable day.  On Saturday, however, the clouds parted to give us a nice sunny morning.  I headed over to Deception Pass State Park.  I have been watching the big rock near the West Beach parking lot .  It seems to be a favorite roosting spot for sea birds.  If the rock has an official name, I wish I knew what it was.  In the meantime, I have dubbed it Fraggle Rock after the Jim Henson/HBO TV series from the 1980's.  It's a little world apart where different creatures live in a complicated ecosystem and are  dependent upon each other for survival.  Beyond is Lopez Island in the San Juans on the horizon. The aftermath of the storm from the previous day was still apparent.  West Beach faces the Strait of Juan de Fuca and it was quite windy here with lots of surf rolling in.  If you

Holy crap!  That's what I said.  I was upstairs in my study working on the computer.  I came downstairs and literally thought the house was on fire.  The living room was glowing orange. Even though the view is southeast, this is sunset over Skagit Bay off South Fidalgo Island about 4:30 PM today.  I normally don't see sunsets because they are way over to the left hidden behind trees.  But on rare occasions I get front-lit sunsets like this.  That orange cloud formed a glowing band over my head from south to north.  This event lasted less than five minutes before it was completly gone.  Luckily, the camera was ready to go.