Up and Down in A'Town

Today the weather was a little fairer.  While the sky was still heavily overcast, no rain was expected, so we planned a walking visit in Anacordes, Washington.  Anacordes is a former lumber, fishing and seafood canning town nestled on Fidalgo Bay, an arm of Puget Sound north of Seattle.   The name "Anacortes" is a blending of the first and last names of Anna Curtis, who was the wife of Amos Bowman, a railroad surveyor and farmer who was the founder of the town and an early Fidalgo Island settler.  Settlement peaked in the 1850s due to the Fraser River Gold Rush and in 1890 due to speculation that the area would become a terminus of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Later the island became an important fishing and lumber center.  Fidalgo island is named after the Spanish explorer and cartographer Salvador Fidalgo who explored the area in 1790. The eastern point of Fidalgo Island, on which Anacortes rests, is known as Cap Sante (or "Cape Health").

Today, Anacortes is home to some shipbuilding, a yacht club, and a booming tourist economy. Tucked away in its neighborhoods are some very charming and well kept-up homes, an interesting mixture of Victorian houses with gingerbread touches, and modest seashore cottages remodeled into year-round homes.

We parked the truck near the marina and wandered over to look at the boats.  Our first view was looking through the docks toward Cap Sante:

It looked as though the marina would host a boat show this weekend, so we had a chance to see interesting yachts - some for sale:

We stumbled upon the W. T. Preston, an old flat-bottomed, wood-fired sternwheeler steamboat that had plied the waters of Puget Sound:

The W. T. Preston was the last sternwheeler to work in Puget Sound and is one of only two snagboats remaining in the contiguous United States. Snapboats removed navigational hazards from the bays and harbors of the Sound and from its tributary rivers.  There is a colorful little story about the W. T. Preston.  In 1951, it and two other sternwheelers, the Skagit Belle and Skagit Chief, decided to race. One of the other boats was known to be the fastest of the three ships, but despite this, the W. T. Preston surprised everyone by trouncing the other two boats.  While there was a trophy for the winner, its physical awarding had to be delayed because the trophy had already been engraved with the name of the expected winner, and the crew of the W. T. Preston had to wait to receive the trophy until it could be re-engraved with the winning boat's name.

Here's an archival photo of the three sternwheelers racing, with the W. T. Preston steaming ahead on the right:

After learning all about the sternwheeler days, we walked on around the shore of Cap Sante:

Spring has come to this area, and, everywhere we went, we smelled the rich perfumes of spring blossoms.  Here, Kathy is getting wrapped up in such thoughts:

Eventually, with some climbing, we reached the top of Cap Sante.  Here, Kathy looks out over Padilla Bay, Fidalgo Bay and the town of Anacordes - known to the locals as A'Town:

You can share a sense of what Kathy saw by watching this 360-degree video of A'Town and the Bay.

We decided this wasn't a half bad spot for a selfie and so we tried it:

We decided to walk back down to town through the neighborhoods, and at all turns we encountered beautiful spring blooms:

Residential neighborhoods merged into shipbuilding realms.  Here, the "Sally Ride" was in drydock for repairs:

We worked our way back to the center of town and stopped at Adrift, a local seafood restaurant that comes very highly rated on Yelp and otherwise:

We weren't disappointed.  Here, Kathy enjoys a Hefeweizen while waiting for her crab au gratin.  (David had a hearty cioppino).

After lunch, we did a little shopping for gifts for people we'll be visiting in the coming week or two, and drove slowly home because our tummies were too full to drive fast.