Vikings visit Bowman Bay

History shows the Vikings made it to the East Coast of North America a few hundred years ago. It took them until Sunday, March 21 to hit the beach at Bowman Bay in Deception Pass State Park. A couple of dozen Whatcom County residents in period costume descended on the park over the weekend in conjunction with the filming of a documentary by a crew from The Discovery Channel. Scheduled for this fall is a series looking at how things were made at various times in history. Among the episodes: a feature on how Vikings made boats. On hand for the latest segment of filming were Anacortes craftsmen Jay Smith (who built a 21-foot Viking boat) and Paul Thorne, who hand-crafted tools for Smith to work with. Except for a few modern elements like eyeglasses and picnic tables, the Viking camp gave one the sense they were looking back in time. It will be exciting to see the documentary in September…