Of the many varieties of rabbit hole into which I enjoy delving, Tacoma-area geography holds a special place in my heart. It's the nostalgia. For example, I remember learning about Galloping Gertie as a schoolboy, so it was the perfect subject for a deep-dive a few years back. Lately, I've been trying to identify all the major islands and landmasses S and I see during our walks about the shores of Puget Sound. There's something satisfying to me about matching all these locations with names I heard bandied about growing up. Plus, S is super impressed (read: annoyed) by me pointing out that those two islands to the left are actually one island, called Vashon, connected by a narrow, unseen strip of land. (I've since learned the body of water that nearly separates the island is called Quartermaster Harbor.)
I've been running the loop around Chambers Bay regularly, and I've finally gotten all the islands and landmasses straight there. I knew Gig Harbor, which is easy to see and identify, since it's the non-Tacoma end of the Narrows Bridge. And I knew McNeil Island because you can see some buildings on it that I think are associated with the old prison (made famous to me by the quite bad movie Three Fugitives, which opens with Nick Nolte being released from there). More recently, I learned that Fox Island is the ritzy looking one next to Gig Harbor, and Anderson Island is the more rustic looking one next to McNeil.
Then there is one other little island tucked between Anderson and the shore that my dad told me is called Ketron. It turns out to be the most interesting one of all, because a plane thief named Beebo Russell crashed a stolen Bombadier Q400 there in 2018. I have no idea how I missed this story when it happened, but it was a great rabbit hole to dive down last night. Seriously -- if you missed it like me, I recommend reading this Rolling Stone article and watching this YouTube clip. Also, you can see a short video of him commandeering and taking off the stolen plane here. (Although, it really just looks like a normal plane taxiing and taking off.)
Speaking of islands, we are headed to Vancouver tomorrow for a few days. True, we are going to Vancouver the city, which is (somewhat confusingly) not on Vancouver Island, but I needed a segue. That's why I'm putting this post up now (I doubt weekend blogging is in the cards), and why I'm going to wrap it up very soon. Before I go, however, I will leave you with some great pics I took.
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