Where: Deception Pass, WAFacilities: Good - lots of facilities, parking, bathrooms, ect. Not always clean, but they try hard and you can tell. The park entrance/office is very helpful. Provides: camping, rv parking, an outdoor amphitheatre, nice beaches, rock formations, and trails. Wildlife: I personally saw a seal, some bald eagles, and a deer.
On Sunday the sun shone bright again. The air was crisp but not cold: my favorite weather. I asked to be taken to Deception Pass. It is the closest to the ocean I can get without taking a two hour ferry ride + a cross country drive to the Peninsula (which I wouldn't have minded at all if I had more than a day to spend). My goal was to encounter a land-locked pool of sea life, described to me so many times in books as a "living bouquet". I also wanted to see some waves. They're hard to come by in the Puget Sound with all the islands in the way.
The visit turned into a day-long field trip that included waves but the tide had submerged the rocks and all the sea creatures with them. As the sun came to the pinnacle of its journey Tim and I found ourselves removing layers of sweaters much to our surprise. The first of November is usually colorless and any vestige of warmth has been strained from the air. This year has successfully has trumped all of our predictions and proved itself to be more spectacular and interesting than any of its predecessors. Our lips tell of a hard winter coming, but in our hearts I think all of Puget Sound happily anticipates snow - its the only weather capable of immobilizing the great industrial machine that calls itself Seattle.
And so, as you can imagine, all present at Deception Pass breathed deeper and gazed longer and even though the campsite posted multiple signs vowing penalties for dogs off-leash... many of the visitors ignored the park rangers and let their furry children plow fearlessly into the ocean spray like otters. Speaking of which.... I saw my first wild seal, who I thought was a chocolate Labrador for the longest minute.
Tim and I spent the day building a sand fortress and soaking in the vitamin D. It was a profit to my soul and a great relief to my skin. I don't know what it is about sand and seawater but any sores or dryness disappears when exposed to its element. I'm sure that fact alone provides the roots for my deep affection for the seaside but it will probably never eclipse my love of Idaho's portion of the Rockies.
