to ramble …

Deception Pass New Year Photo of Me

A rambling preamble first: As mention in my previous post, I had developed a tradition of picking up copies of the Washington State Park Calendar on the first day of the year at Deception Pass. As also mentioned, I was unable to make it there on the 1st due to pass closures. I had a few adventures (see future post about trip to Fort Simcoe) trying to find a state park gift store that I could buy the calendars at.
Meanwhile, since I felt that I needed to go to Deception Pass in January, I made plans with Critter and his parents (20 month olds need parents so they have a social secretary) to go there on the 24th. In addition to getting a calendar myself, I always get one as a birthday present for Critter’s daddy.
I had given up on my romantic notion of getting the calendars at a state park and ordered them on the internet. (It’s just not the same!) They arrived the day before our planned excursion. And, in serendipitous moment, I opened the calendar to discover that January’s state park of the month was … Deception Pass!
So the next day we all went to Deception Pass and I got my annual spirit renewal and we were all able to mark January’s park as visited. I may have not mentioned this before but we make an attempt to visit every state park featured in the calendar in the month they are featured.

Friendly Forest Critter

We parked at the main beach area. Wandered on a trail for a little while, walked down pass the big fire pit to the beach facing north, on the west side of the bridge. We created all kinds of havoc – throwing rocks in the water, moving large rocks around, sending logs out into the water to watch them move with the swift currents. Then we wandered off into the forest and walked around for a while.

Then we went home and ate dinner and watched the Muppet Movie. There are two bits from the Muppet Movie that really speak to my rambling self. First – the entire song Movin’ Right Along – it’s an excellent road trip song. Secondly – the part where Fozzie sings America the Beautiful, which is my favorite song about America, and then says “patriotism swells in the heart of the american bear”. Patriotism swells in me whenever I hear that song.

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!