We were able to get our favorite space here this time. We love this incredible view from our window!

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We were so glad that we were going to get to hear Amy, a folk singer from this area, sing again here at the campground. We were thrilled to hear that she was going to be spending the winter in the Southern California desert so that we will be able to listen to her songs again at home. Welcome to our world Amy.

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Not all sunsets have to be colorful to be pretty. As Amy was singing the sun began to set behind some ominous clouds giving me this opportunity to photograph lone tree.

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Al scored another crab from our friend Dean who has been having pretty good luck this crab season. You know that Al just can't turn down a fresh cooked crab when it's offered!

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As you can see, not only do we have an incredible view of the water from our coach, but we're also surrounded by blackberry bushes that are keeping us supplied in enough berries to make plenty of jam as well as cobbler after cobbler.

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This evening we experienced what I guess might be called a Pacific Northwest storm complete with driving rain and strong enough winds to cause us to close our slides on one side. While we were experiencing this, across the water on Whidbey Island, there was a beautiful sunset. Being a wimp and not wanting to get soaked, I took this picture out our window!

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Today found us at Washington Park which sits on a peninsula at the west end of Fidalgo Island in Anacortes. The 220-acre city park has camping, a boat launch, day use picnic sites as well as a scenic 2-mile loop road that winds through the park's forested hills and meadows with views of the San Juan Islands and Olympic Mountains. It was so clear today, we really got to see it all!

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This maple sits at the entrance to the Thousand Trails park in La Conner and always seems to be the first tree in the area to start showing signs of fall and this year is no different!

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I never tire of the sunsets we get to see here. As the sun sets behind Whidbey Island, we get to see wonderful colors reflected on Skagit Bay. Because I'm a water and sunset person, I always take the liberty to post lots of both here.

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We finally got a good day for a boat adventure with our friends the Decks who we met on our China trip and who live on Whidbey Island. This year Rudy decided we'd take a ride among the archipelago of the San Juan Islands in the Puget Sound. An archipelago is a chain, cluster or collection of islands - this archipelago has some 400 islands of which 128 are named. The islands encompass about 478 miles.

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We docked at the Friday Harbor Marina. Friday Harbor is on San Juan Island and is the county seat for the archipelago. After finding a good place for lunch we walked around a bit and then boarded the boat for the return trip.

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Because it was such a clear day, we got to see Mount Baker towering over the Puget Sound. It was really fun being by the big ferries in a small boat.

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Skagit County Historical Museum and the Washington State Department of Archeology and Historic Preservation have teamed up in an effort to preserve heritage barns that represent the incredible agricultural history of this area. Some of the barns were difficult to see since they are all on private property and many still being used. The Michael Sullivan Barn was originally built in 1885 in the Dutch style with cupolas. The barn is still in the family today.

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I love seeing not only the working barns but also those that seem to have served their purpose and then abandoned like this one. It is not a registered heritage barn but I felt it worthy of a photograph.

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Our quest to find as many barns as we could took us on a road in La Conner we had never traveled before. We followed it down to the Swinomish Channel to a view of Rainbow Bridge from below. Funny how you can always find new roads to explore.

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Tonight found us joining some new friends for a fire, sunset and uke music by Al.

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We have been spending our afternoons outside enjoying the water. There is a covey of quail that seem to enjoy feeding in the area and don't seem to afraid of us. There are an adult male and female and then five older chicks and five much younger ones.

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We were about to leave the coach when we spotted the female quail up on top of the blackberry bushes right by our door. She was evidently keeping an eye out for any danger that might befall her family. Al was very surprised to see her this high up! So we have quail...

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...blue heron feeding close by at low tide,...

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...cute little chickadees at our birdfeeder outside the coach window...

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...as well as beautifully colored spotted towhees.

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The town of Anacortes has some of the most beautiful parks we've ever seen. Earlier we went to Cap Sante, and Washington Park and today we drove to the top of Mount Erie (1250 feet) for a panoramic view of the San Juans, the town of Anacortes with it's beautiful marinas and part of Fidalgo Island with beautiful Campbell Lake. We love to point out that Campbell Lake has an island - in a lake - on an island! From here we could also see lone tree on the island in our campground!

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