Reader Comments

Janice Mosier

“Dear Steve, I don’t have a photo request but wanted to thank you for such a lovely website…so glad I found it. Keep up the good work!”

Lydia

“Steve, I just looked at your site for the first time. Nice job! I’m glad you’re doing that because you’re so right about this fabulous community. My husband, daughter, and I have a thriving medical transcription business that originated in our home town of Prairie Village, KS (suburb of KC on the KS side). We vacationed several times in Vancouver, BC and Seattle. In March 2002 we were driving back from Vancouver to Seattle to catch our plane home when my husband, Jon, turned to me and said, “Why don’t we just move here?” I said, “OK.” The minute we got home we started looking at the northwest Washington area between Seattle and Vancouver for a place to live. We happened upon Anacortes and fell in love with all it had to offer. One big seller was the school system. We found a builder in our price range, contacted them, picked out a house and lot…all in three weeks from our visit! We decided we’d better come out to see the town since we’d never been here before. So with pad and paper to write down all the negatives (we were already convinced by the positives) we entered Anacortes for the first time. We were here 4 days…put money down on the house so they would start building it and came home! Six months later in October 2002, we moved! Now that’s fast! We’ve never regretted it! We’ve been falling in love with the whole area ever since. We really loved the festival. We really hope the Majestic comes back to life sometime soon! Recently our business (currently still going strong in KC) has made contacts to double in size! Someone Up There wanted us here! Anyway, that’s our story. Thanks for having the site. Keep up with the pictures. I’ve attached my own sunsets from Mt. Erie last week and Washington Park a couple of weeks ago. We have the most beautiful sunsets around!”

Bill Berry

“Steve, Just took my first look at your site. I think it’s great. Keep up the great work. Bill Berry, General Manager, KLKI Radio, Anacortes.”

Bill Forrest

“Hi Steve, I have just finished viewing every picture on your awesome website and I am so homesick I can hardly stand it. You have done such an amazing job of capturing the spirit of Anacortes as it has always been in my mind. I am exceedingly happy to see that has not changed and that you see it too, through the eye of your camera. Your photography is to be commended, as you definitely have the eye of the artist. The captions really make the photos come to life. Thank you Steve for making my day. I will be back soon for the next look to see what else you have added. I may just load up the Motorhome instead and take a run back to Anacortes and soak in my roots. Best to you and yours (from San Jose, CA).”

Cathy Pitts

“I received a link to your website today. How wonderful to have a photo snapshot of daily life in our community. I sent the link to my son, Steven, who is in Chicago, training to be a corpsman in the Navy. He will enjoy the snapshots from home. Thanks for putting this together.”

Ken Baber

“Steve: I ran across your website – it’s a wonderful tribute to the beauty of Fidalgo Island and the people who live, work, and play there. Although I’m not a native-born Skagitonian, I too have fallen in love with this region. My wife Debbie and I have resided in Mount Vernon for the past 16 years and have managed to raise two great kids and pursue our chosen careers. Your photos reflect a rich life and a deep appreciation for your community. I spent considerable time admiring your photography.”

Brian Snarr

“I wanted to thank you for your web site. It has played a part in renewing my love affair with your home town. In the summer of 1996 I traveled to Washington, from Salt Lake City, with some friends.

After climbing Mt. Rainier a friend and I drove up to Lynden, north of Bellingham, and stayed with some of his relatives. His mother had grown up in Lynden and we were fortunate enough to have his grandfather share his memories about traveling to Whidbey Island by ferry before the bridge over Deception Pass was built to go to work as a painter, and the days when the salmon would swim all the way to the small streams around Lynden to lay their eggs. It wasn’t long after we were there that his grandfather passed away.

One day, while exploring the area we stopped in Anacortes while there happened to be an art fair going on. My friend and I spent a few hours walking around enjoying Ostrich burgers and homemade ice cream while enjoying the beautiful surroundings and local art. We spent the afternoon taking photographs of Deception Pass, hiking to the beach and driving around Whidbey Island, walking the docks admiring the trawlers and sail boats. As the day grew late we decided we had better head back to Lynden but were drawn back to Anacortes where we stopped and had dinner. It was at that time, and perhaps the only time in my life I have ever said “Wow, I could live here.”

My friend had to get back to work and I had to finish college so we drove back to Utah by way of the North Cascades and on through Idaho.

I finished college a few years later and moved to Detroit where I went to work for GM, forgetting about my trip to Washington. Time went on, I got laid off and moved back to Salt Lake, where I went from one unsatisfying job to another. Once again I had enough of Utah and its strange politics and decided I needed to make another change, the thoughts of Washington and Anacortes stored somewhere deep in the back of my mind.

It was that time when I moved here to St. Louis, where I enrolled in nursing school, a job I knew I could take anywhere and enjoy doing. Now, two years later I am about to graduate and started thinking of where I would go to next as I knew this town wasn’t for me. My roommate here in St. Louis moved to Underwood, Washington, an hour east of Portland. Not knowing exactly where I wanted to go I considered moving to Underwood myself. I thought it wouldn’t be so bad. My younger sister is moving to Seattle this summer so I would have family nearby.

A few weeks ago I was going through some old photographs of mine when I came across the photos I had taken of Deception Pass. All of a sudden my memories of Anacortes came rushing back. I remembered watching an old trawler try to churn its way through the pass as the rising tide, looking like a river, fought back. I remembered the art fair, the sweet smell of the air, my childhood fascination with anything having to do with boats and sailing, the clam chowder and beer my friend and I had enjoyed for dinner in Anacortes. But most importantly I remembered “I could live here”.

It was at that moment that I knew where I would move. I started looking around the internet and found your web site. Talking to people at the hospital where I work and go to school they often ask why I would move to Anacortes. I simply pull up your web site and show them a few of your photographs and listen to responses like: ‘Wow, I could live there… If only it weren’t for…’ Lucky for me I have no ‘If it weren’t for…’ I am planning on visiting Anacortes in May, then moving there this fall.

I now look at your site almost every day to see what wonderful scene you have chosen to share with me and I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for helping bring back some wonderful memories. Thanks for sharing a piece of your home where I once felt completely at peace while saying ‘I could live here.’ I look forward to visiting soon and being able to wake up and see with my own eyes the wonderful surroundings you have chosen to share with the world. Thank you.”

John Fortmeyer, Publisher, Christian News Northwest, Newberg, Oregon

“No surprise to me, Steve… .. that you are doing a Web site focusing on beautiful, wonderful Anacortes. Having lived in Anacortes for seven years (from 1978 to 1985) I can affirm that there is no place quite like it. While I consider the beautiful Northwest as a whole to be “God’s Country” (and I love where we live now in Newberg, about a half-hour southwest of Portland), Anacortes certainly remains one of the most shining jewels of our region. It’s a very, very special place and I am thankful for the time I spent there. I always enjoy my occasional visits to Anacortes (some of my wife’s family still live there). So continue to enjoy documenting the great life there in Anacortes!”

Teresa C. (Randall) Zoellick

“Steve, I found the website, ‘Anacortes Today’ and really enjoy seeing the photos of the most beautiful place I’ve ever been! It’s been close to twenty years since I lived in Anacortes, although I do get back to see my Mom and Dad down on Fifth Street once in awhile…It’s very cool to see Brad Adams online – we are both AHS class of ’81 graduates and he looks pretty much the same as he did back then. Keep up the good work – I’ve saved the site in my favorites and will come back often to see what is going on in the old hometown. Thank you!”

Eddie M.

“Steve! I just stumbled across your site, saw about 10 pics as of yet, I will journey the rest of your site eventually! All I can say is WOW, you have taken in a lot of Anacortes! And at such great precision! Your keen eye for raw imagery is stunning. I idolize you in the way you can take our town and turn itself into more than just a tourist trap! Actually, these shots do make the town more attractive in as such to be entrapment for a the wayward tourist….. hahaha. Love your posts! I hope to meet you one day and share photo secrets! Thank you for the site!”

Dennis and Nancy Schafer

“We have enjoyed your website since before moving here in 2003, and we’ve shared it with friends and family all over the country. Your photos are perhaps the best PR Anacortes could have, and provide daily vistas of our wonderful area to people that are lucky enough to live here, as well as those who have never been to the area. Keep up the good work!”

Catherine Bearce

“Hey Steve, I was just looking at the AnacortesToday website and wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed seeing your eagle photo this morning. I was actually watching that eagle yesterday afternoon while washing our boat and wished for my camera. I also perused your other photos of the past few days. They are great! Thanks for all you do for the community.”

JoAnn Ross, Knoxville, TN

“I was googling for Anacortes sites and found your fabulous photos! Like you, I was dragged kicking and screaming from the Northwest in 1965, and have finally put my foot down and told my husband we’re moving back. Which meant now I had the luxury/responsibility of choosing the very best place in the PNW. I was pretty sure I’d found it, then your photos convinced me.”

Jessica Loeb

“I just wanted to tell you how very much I am enjoying your photos of Anacortes. My husband has been working at Oak Harbor Naval Hospital for the last three plus years. I have been coming to the area on and off. Recently we leased a house in Anacortes and I was just trying to find out more about the area. Thanks to your huge library of photos I am. Once again thanks for posting these.”

Thank you for visiting

A casual journal spotlighting
Anacortes residents and events

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Anacortes Today
c/o Steve Berentson
1102 King Street
Anacortes, WA 98221

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