Anacortes Week 2

Despite the best efforts of the local weather forecasters to tell us it is going to rain every day, so far we have had mostly fine weather here. The last 2 or 3 days have been superb, with a wintery 5-6 deg C early in the morning rising to about 15 - 17 deg C in the afternoons.  So we have been getting out for more walks, and today attended an MG organised Car Rally over in Burlington as part of the Annual Tulip Festival which is currently underway. 


Deer are everywhere over here - Including in the gardens.   If you do not fence off your garden, plants, shrubs and vegetables will last only a few hours before they are munched !!  

And walks abound, with forested trails at Washington Park not half a mile from my sister's house, while today, for a change, we went to the Anacortes Community Forest Lands, which are between 5 and 15 minutes drive by car, depending which area you go to.  Trails vary from easy to difficult, and thus cater for all ability levels.  Walking around Washington Park one is always surprised when you suddenly come out of thick forest and are immediately faced with stunning views of the channels between the islands, with eagles soaring above looking for a feed, and ferries plying their way from island to island. Fidalgo Island, on which Anacortes is located, is the last island you can drive to without having to catch a ferry. From Anacortes outwards, a ferry is your only option.

The Community Forest Lands, being inland, are more located around lakes, and there are over 50 miles of trails located in 2800 acres of forest.  Once again, wildlife abounds - Today I had deer walking along the trail in front of me (much easier for them than trying to fight their way through the undergrowth!!), and squirrels and chipmunks galore.  There are supposedly coyotes in there too but I don't think I saw any today - Lots of footprints in the mud though, that I am sure were from coyotes !! Very recent ones too !!

After our walk in the forest, we went up Mt Erie - At 1273 feet, it is the highest point on Fidalgo Island, and the views from the top over the outlying islands are absolutely stunning.  And in the distance to the south are the snow capped peaks of the Olympic Mountains, while to the east are the peaks of the Cascade Mountians.

It really is a stunning area for a little R&R if one enjoys hiking and exploring a little, out to islands, into the mountains - or whatever catches your fancy.

Some scenes from these two parks are pictured here.  https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/AnacortesWeek2?authkey=Gv1sRgCO2QncHQr7HrgwE#

This morning was a bit more of a car orientated theme.  I had read on a couple of websites about the 30th Annual Tulip Rally - a lighthearted day car rally (more like a treasure hunt to answer a series of questions) that is put on every year to coincide with the massive Tulip Festival which is on right now in the Skagit Valley area. So I set off at 7 am this morning with my sister to Burlington where the organising local MG Car Club were supposedly meeting prior to departure at 9.30 am. I think we were almost the first there after a beautiful 30 minute drive in about 6 deg C on a clear sunny day, with snow capped mountains aways forming a backdrop, and we initially thought we were in the wrong place, but soon cars started arriving.......and they just kept coming until there were approximately 300 cars there.

Everything from MG's to Lotus, Maserati to Jaguar, MG 1100's, lots of minis (new and old), Mercedes SLS, 4 1/2 litre Bentleys, Corvair Monzas, a Citroen Dyane with the bumper sticker "Fast Cars Suck", Austin Healeys, and even a home built (I think) motor home powered by an air cooled Chevy Monza engine in the back !! 

Really an incredible turn out, and with the weather being so kind, a perfect day for them to put their tops down and enjoy the day.  Saw one other Elise there - a self supercharged one, and an Esprit, and there were also a couple (more !) Deloreans there.  I think the photos will tell the story.   I chose not to do the rally because I really do not feel like putting lots of extra miles on my car given that I still have a very long way to go on my trip, but it was a great morning, we chatted to lots of people, and picked up more invaluable tips about road conditions, routes, and places to go and see in Alaska.

(Added 22.4.12.  I forgot to mention that a guy called Patrick Meehan came up to me and my car in the parking lot and while everyone else was asking questions about my trip so far, or my route to Alaska, the only thing he was interested in was whether the water did actually go down the sink / toilet in the other direction in Australia !!  No interest in the car at all.  We had a good laugh about it at the time, and I said that I thought that was the best question I have been asked all trip, and that I would like to put it in my blog.   He agreed.   So here it is !!!) 
Photos are here :- https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/MGCCTulipRallyBurlington?authkey=Gv1sRgCPyqicmi4vCVaQ#

Next week is my last week in Anacortes, so I will be doing my oil and filter change, and changing the brake pads over to Green Stuff units in an endeavour to stop the incessant squealing. If anything else interesting happens next week, I will put it up here, otherwise my next blog will be when I ht the road again on the 30th April.   I am planning to go and see a dear friend in Vancouver who we knew in Nigeria back in the 1980's, and then spend a day at the Vancouver Museum of Anthropology, which I have been told by several people is excellent.  I may also meet up with some of the BC Lotus fraternity that evening, before heading North on the 2nd May.