Snohomish/Skagit

I made a trip up north. Tuesday I drove to Lynnwood and stayed the night at the Embassy. The following morning I drove my Mother to a medical conference and from there I drove to Snohomish via Lake Forest Park/Kenmore/Bothel/etc...There was snow on the sides of the road through highway 9. To be completely honest I am not sure I have ever been on this stretch of road going into Snohomish. It was lovely, as was the Snohomish valley and farmland. I intended to leave a link at the bottom of this post with more pictures from this trip...I guess I am not tech savvy enough for that.

Downtown Snohomish:

I found a nice trail that follows the river through town.

 On the way out of Snohomish I saw this old Presbyterian Church.

Snohomish has a good feel. It is sort of like Roslyn or Cle Elum but perhaps a tad larger. I think the big box stuff is on the north end of town and is really quite separate. Everett is only 15/20 minutes away...which brings me to my next stop: Everett.
I drove the old road through Lowell instead of HWY 2. In all honestly it might be the quickest route if working in south Everett. The road also follows picturesque farmland and the river. Moooo

It had been years since I had been in Everett and I had forgotten most of the town. A building in the historic district had recently burned and I caught sight of the naval port:

From Everett I made a hard dash up north to Anacortes with a brief stop in Stanwood <east>.
This tree was 970 years old. Consider the historical aspects 970 years ago...

I had never been to Anacortes. I had seen pictures and it looked nice but I suppose it took me slightly off guard. It really is gorgeous. I found my way out towards the edge of town (not overly difficult) and made my way through a series of trails up to an overlook with nice sea rocks.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mj8v6jbnsn0bk3u/pano.jpg  <that is a panorama of Anacortes

 While on this overlook I made friends with a bald eagle. The wingspan on this bird was ca. 4.5'. It was incredible. It was hovering on the air and seemed quite interested in what I was all about. At one time the bird was ~15' from me. This was probably the best picture I could get of it:

From Anacortes I drove to Deception pass. I had not been here either and was impressed.

I spent a good amount of time around the park in what areas were open. Apparently they like to close some parts of the camping area during "winter"...if that is what this is called, haha. I found a lovely beach to have lunch and did so. Crystal clear water of course.

From here I went to Oak harbor and slightly south of there. My camera was pretty well out of battery power by this point so I did not take many shots. It was a great trip but plenty of driving. Aiding me in my drive was a slew of Canadian radio stations. I think my fav was probably the ridiculous Indian channel, the wipers were even more or less in sync LOL. I drove from the south part of Whidbey Island to Shoreline, retrieved the female parental unit, battled traffic, and made it into Olympia by 7.30 in the evening. Not bad :)