Fidalgo Island is one of many island in Puget Sound and is located in the northern most part of the Sound and north of Seattle by road some sixty miles. The eastern part of the island is separated by the mainland by Padilla Bay and Swinomish Channel. On the south, it is separated from Whidbey Island by Deception Pass. To the west, Fidalgo is separated from the San Juan Islands by Rosario Straight and to the north Fidalgo is separated from Guemes Island by Guemes channel.

Ferries leave daily from Anacortes, Washington to both the San Juan Islands and Sidney, British Columbia. There are free bridges from the mainland and from Whidbey Island.

Fidalgo Island was originally inhabited by the Samish and Swinomish peoples but now is home to 20,700 Washington residents, with about 15,800 living in the city of Anacortes.

Awake, drive to the Mexican ff-mart for coffee and a breakfast burrito. Then, I drive to the w-mart to check my com and some key pounding. At eleven this morning, I pack out, see an old Madrona tree and stop for a photo of the interesting bark color.

Then, I drive north on SH 20. When driving across Dugualla Bay, I espy Mount Baker hanging out in the clouds to the northeast. Soon after, I see that the spring flowers are in full bloom along the side of the road.

Next, I cross Deception Pass bridge and drive into the Bowman Bay area of the state park for a hot shower. From what I am able to discern, this is the only shower house that deposit not required park tokens.

When I am done with my hot water time, I leave the park, continue to drive north on SH 20 to Mount Vernon, Washington where I have an appointment with a doctor in the VA clinic. This is not much of a visit because it is just an annual checkup and only amounts to a lot of talk between me and the doctor, whose name is Stephanie Ho.

However, like any VA clinic visit, the time involved is always great with all the excessive waiting time.

After the visit with the doctor, I leave Mount Vernon, drive back across the bridge

I continue across Canoe Pass then Deception Pass and the south on SH 20. I stop briefly at Joann′s home to help here move the boards that she is painting, after which, I resume my drive back to Oak Harbor, where I find a shady spot to park and take a nap.

Awake, drive to the w-mart for coffee and then drive north on SH 20, cross Deception Pass bridge, turn left into the state park campground at Bowman Bay and drive up to the shower house for a hot shower. I am alone here at the shower house this morning and once I have finished my shower, I return to the jammer and drive out of the state park, back onto SH 20 and continue north until arriving at IH 5. Here, I turn south and drive towards Seattle, which takes a couple of hours, continue south to Olympia and then further south to Centrailia, then Vancouver, Washington.

Awake, dress, drive to the w-mart for coffee, com and computer for another day in the rainshadow. I then leave to go for breakfast at the Island Cafe after which, I go to the Oak Harbor House to finish the pressure washing by cleaning the front porch and deck. After several hours there, I then drive north on SH 20 to return the pressure washer to Joann and after putting it back into the shed, we sit on her porch and talk for a short time. Leaving Joann's home, I drive further north on SR 20, cross the bridge and stop at Bowman Bay to get into the hot water for a long soak.

At eight-thirty, I pack out and drive back north on SR 20, this time to Mount Erie in search of a dark sky where I can view the comet. I stop at the first view point, park and wait to see if the comet will show itself.

When it becomes dark enough to locate Ursa Major, I find that the place where the comet would be is behind a large evergreen tree, so I leave off Mount Erie, drive south on SR 20, back across the bridge, into Oak Harbor and take up my space to park and sleep. I will have to search elsewhere for a dark sky.

Awake early, dress in my fall blues, drive to the w-mart for coffee, com and computer. Not only does this day bring on my Journal Part Eight of Chapter 52, today also begins the rest and recuperation phase of my sojourn here on the island, which will most likely take me a week or more. Furthermore, I have not decided as yet where my next destination will be but I know that it will most likely be in an area of higher elevation, however the precise location has not come to me as yet.

In the early afternoon, I drive to Deception Pass state park, across the bridge, into Bowman Bay and get into the hot water, after which I take a few photos of the dock, shore and structures built by the CCC.

Deception Island can be seen easily her from the picnic areas as well as several boats which have anchored in the bay, a common practice for private ships cruising the northwest coast. I also see several kayacks in the bay as well as a couple stand up paddleboards.

This is how I describe this sceen: These so called Campers load up all their expensive specialized Camping Gear into every conceivable place in every single vehicle, drive to the Campground, unload all of their stuff in and around the campsite, and then proceede to begin what they would call Camping.

I do not care what the masses of today′s outdoor going people call what they are doing, if it has wheels and doors, it is not camping, but is overnighting in a vehicle.

On my way out of Oak Harbor, I stop at Bowman Bay for one last hot shower and find the bay at low tide, and this is the lowest that I have seen at this location. So, since I currently do not have photos of low tide here, I get out my camera and in a short time, now, I have the photos.

I then move closer to the shore and climb up on one of the picnic tables to get a better view of Deception Island and from this vantage take a photo of the bay, the island and a great blue heron in the shallow water.

Albeit so, I drive back to the w-mart, walk inside and resume pounding keys, make a post to the social media and when the sun begins to drop to the treeline, I decide to drive north on SR 20 to Deception Pass to photograph the sunset. When I arrive at the pass, I see that all the parking areas near the bridge are filled with construction equipment and there is nowhere to park except north of the bridge along the approach section of SR 20.

After taking a few photo here, I then drive further north on SR 20 and turn west on Lake Campbell road directly under Mount Erie.

Mount Erie is one of the three best places to drive to for the view and especially is this one of the best for the sunset. The other two are the north side of Hurricane ridge in the Olympics and Mount Constitution on Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands

After a short drive around the south side of the mountain, I begin the evergreen road towards the top and stop first at the west viewpoint. I then get out of the jammer and walk up the stairs to the viewpoint only to find that I have just made in in time for the sunset, the sunset being already in suntouch.

I continue here on the west side viewpoint into the sunglow and keep taking photos