Jetty Island

There is a sand bar island perhaps 100 yards off the mainland at the entrance to the Snohomish River estuary. It is accessible by small passenger ferry during summer, and has a very nice beach on its windward side.

Dori called to ask if we would go with her and a friend and all the kids and we said yes. We got there at lowish tide, stayed for 2.5 hours, walked, sat, took pictures, and snacked. What a nice resource it is. Emi said the water was cold.

Here's what others saw:

Here's some of what I saw:

This big boy is our white sentinel to the north, Mt. Baker, or just Koma in the lingo of the Snohomish tribes. Koma is only 10,778', but its prominence ranks fourth in the lower 48 states, behind Whitney, Shasta, and Takoma (Ranier), and just edging out SoCal's San Jacinto, of similar size and prominence.

Koma is an active stratovolcano, quite restless in the 19th century, but less so recently. Its larger eruptions a few millennia ago caused lahars that were still 25' thick 30 miles downstream from the peak.

This is the view from sea level, looking NNE from a distance of 50 miles.

Mukilteo Beach

Debby decided we needed a beach picnic. She packed us a lunch, I grabbed the camera, and off we went to Mukilteo Beach.

Being a Saturday, there were a bunch of people and dogs, but we found an open table and chowed down and enjoyed the sun for awhile. Then it was picture time.

Here's Debby posing by a nice chunk of driftwood she found.

Here's the view to the west, looking over the southern end of Whidbey Island toward the Olympia Mountains. The foreground trees are about 4 miles away. The mountains are over 50 miles.

Here's the bird of the day. I saw a large black silhouette atop a 100 foot snag up on the hills behind the beach. I think it's an immature eagle. I don't know my juvey eagles well enough to know whether it's of the golden or bald persuasion. My first thought was golden, but based on coastal location, beak size, and random white blotches, it is way more likely to be an immature baldy.