Anacortes, WA

This quaint little seaside town of Anacortes is located on Fidalgo Island and is part of the San Juan Islands.  It is connected to the mainland by a bridge.  It has a population of approximately 16,000 people and is surrounded by the north Puget Sound.  The weather is milder than other areas of the Pacific Northwest because it lies within the Olympic Mountain rain shadow.  Fidalgo Island gets 21 inches of rain per year, only half as much as Seattle.  In the 1950's  oil companies built big refineries near town.  Two of the five refineries in Washington are located near the town.  Refining remains the area's largest industry, but the economic base now includes yacht construction/ship building, tourism and residential services for nearby Whidbey Island Naval Air Station.
During our week on the island, we became familiar with the town and the surrounding areas.  We were always amazed at the beauty of the island and the friendly people.  These are some of the places we visited on the island as well as some of the scenery.

A beautiful entrance to the downtown area.  Flowers hung on all the street lights.

We had a great view of the bay from our spot at the campground.  

These Canadian geese swam by each morning.  In the afternoon there was a Harbor Seal that would come by but it was hard to get a picture of him.

These little coffee huts were located all over town. 

  

We drove out to Washington Park located a few miles northwest of downtown.  As we approached the entrance to the park, we immediately had to stop for several deer that were walking through the area.  

There was an area for picnicking and a boat launch area.  We drove up the winding road to the top of an overlook that had a great view of the bay.  The small one-way road was used for cars as well as people walking or biking.

The cherries, raspberries, and blueberries are all coming in this time of year. There are little stands along the main drag in town selling them.

MURALS:

As we drove or walked around town, we kept seeing these murals of people in old modes of transportation, or on a steam roller, etc.  Some were just standing...like a picture of a mailman on the wall outside the post office or a Judge at the courthouse.   Some had a name beside the picture, so we realized that some of these murals were of townspeople current and/or past.  We did some research and discovered that the artist was a man by the name of Bill Mitchell. He has painted nearly 120 murals since 1984.  Many are located in their proper location such as the mailman.  There are too many pictures to post, so I have selected a few to share.  The first is a picture of the wheelchair bound artist.  He gets around town in this little cart.

The artist.

ALAN!!!

This was only a fraction of the murals around town.  It was fun to turn a corner and see another fun mural.  

The picture above was the view from our motorhome.  We kept noticing cars parked on the top of this big rock across the way.  We found out that it's a park called Mount Erie Park that is popular for hiking, biking and rock climbing.  It is 1,258 feet to the top.  You can drive up to the top for breathtaking views.  Here are few of the pictures we took on the top of the rock.

There were several of these old clocks along the sidewalk in town.  Different styles and colors.  We also saw the same type clocks in several other small towns in the area.



This is the oil refinery that is located across the bay from the RV park.  It is quiet and clean and very pretty at night with all the lights.

When is the last time you saw one of these?  We spotted this "working" phone by at the marina.

There were large watering cans at each corner of this building designed to disguise the downspouts for the gutter system.  Each one was a different color.   See the mural next to the door? They were everywhere!

This was a house and garden that we passed each day on our way to town.  I finally got a picture of the beautiful garden.  Many of the houses had large beautiful gardens.  This is their spring.

Driving down by the harbor, we saw the Sally Ride and Neil Armstrong ships being built.  The Sally Ride ship will be based in San Diego, CA when it is completed.  It is a research ship. 

Gorgeous sunset.....however, it was nearly 10 pm!

We really enjoyed our visit here, but it is time to move on down the road.  Our next stop will be on the Kitsap Peninsula in another seaside town named Poulsbo.  

But first we have to get the Motorhome and car over the next island.