Time to start heading north.

"The only journey is the journey within."  Rainer Maria Rilke

Blog pals ~ I hope all is going well. I have left California to head up to Northwest Washington.  Today,  my journey has taken me to Whidbey Island.  I started out my adventure at Whidbey Island's Deception Pass State Park.  Canada is in the foreground (way far in the foreground but I believe it's there).

The forest is calling.   Apparently, there is a hike to the Deception Pass Bridge and then a viewpoint beyond.    

There are some great views on this hike and it's not raining too hard. 

I made it to the Deception Pass Bridge (underneath the bridge, that is).

I wonder why they call it Deception Pass.  Aha, apparently Capt. Vancouver had a team of explorers explore the area (that's what they do) and they thought this island was a peninsula and when they found it was two islands they were deceived, hence Deception Pass. 

Now that I learned about the naming of this area it's time to explore.  There are lots of hikes around here (Deception Pass is Washington's most visited park).  I think I am going to check out the summit since the weather is holding out. 

Made it to the summit.  Now I wish I had a sandwich. I am hungry.

I hear that there is a place called Fort Casey in the area that has some great views.  Let's go!

There are the old barracks in the background.  Fort Casey isn't active anymore however it's being used as a conference center for a local university. 

I better be careful.

Fort Casey was one of three forts set up as defenses to the Puget Sound area in the late 1890s.  They put these big guns at different batteries throughout the park to sink any enemy ships that might want to enter Puget Sound.  Most of the guns at Fort Casey were removed during WWI and then the rest were scrapped during WWII.  With the invention of the airplane Fort Casey was too vulnerable to be a good for so they gave the land to the Washington State Park system. 

There is a lot of history at Fort Casey.  They have an old lighthouse that gives tours, a marine exploration area, hiking trails, and camping.   

I wonder if the lighthouse serves lunch?