Deception Pass: Watch for Crocs

It was the day after Memorial Day, so the hordes had departed.

Ahhhhhhhhh.

Good thing, too, because this made it easier to hear the roofers. There is nothing like the smell of bacon cooking over an open camp stove, with the sun glistening through dew-laden cedar needles, and the staccato of hammers, mercilessly attacking roofing nails, to complete the scene.

Even with roofing noise, cooking outside can be fun. Just pretend it’s a woodpecker!

What to do? Enjoy breakfast and depart for other environs. We piled into TinMan and made for the park’s West Beach area, which promised an American Disabilities Act-compliant trail gentle enough to accommodate Wally’s stroller. Yes, Wally has a stroller — he was born with a neuro-muscular problem that precludes long walks for him, and I was born with a laziness problem that precludes me carrying him for long distances.

We enjoyed a picnic lunch — and an air show put on by jet fighters from the nearby Whidbey Naval Air Station — at a weathered picnic table right on the white sand. Then, we took off — all of us on foot, at first.

Wally always leads. Tyler always crosses under Wally’s leash. They are trying to tell us something, but what?

Our walk took us first past a small swimming beach on freshwater Cranberry Lake. There plenty of birds about — we heard kingfishers and spotted some killdeer — and this fellow was there, with plenty of siblings and a parent or two.

Ryan the Gosling. Sorry.

Toward the end of our stroll, a tree was presented for our inspection and edification. A placard informed us that the tree is more than 800 years old (or some big number like that). I swear it doesn’t look a day over 575. But in front of the tree, wait, what’s that?

When we saw this off to the side of our trail, we both thought “crocodile.” Or maybe it was alligator.

By now, both of the boys were gassed.

Wally is in here, but you can’t see him, because Tyler’s in front. Tyler doesn’t really like the idea of Wally riding while he walks. The humanoids bow their heads in despair.

Back at Bowman Bay, the roofers had finished for the day and we poked around. We saw this:

Paddlers, rowers and other drivers of human-powered boats can camp at dozens of sites all over Puget Sound, collectively called the Cascadia Marine Trail. It involves sleeping on the ground, so we don’t do it any more. But it was fun, back in the day.

… and this:

This guy is not, and was not, a real person. He is an imagined person, created by the sculptor to represent the Civilian Conservation Corps workers who built many of the roads and structures in the park. Sooz did not say that I don’t seem to be in this kind of shape any more. But she was thinking it.

If you don’t know about the Civilian Conservation Corps, and I’m not suggesting that you should, you can learn more here.

The next day there was hiking, reading, napping and being puzzled. There was also significant experimentation with our Wilson Electronics Sleek Cellphone Signal Booster, with some further puzzling results. Stay tuned for details.