In the late 1970s, when I first came to live in Skagit County, it felt like coming home. That first view coming off the Conway Hill going north on I-5 brings that feeling. I have to admit that what brought me to that view point was a little more scientific. I was on my way to Anacortes. I had studied the area and Fidalgo Island was the closest landfall of the “rain shadow” from the Olympic Peninsula. I wanted to live in Western Washington, but in the least soggy parts.

In the process of exploring the valley, I stumbled across La Conner. At the time, it was hardly on the map. The town wa...