Well Ron, at least from flying into and out of SeaTac (that's actually the name of the incorporated community that is now a "city" around Seattle's airport), you might start to have a perspective of the magnitude and vastness of this place! But even from the air the perspective still confuses me! Since I'm not trained on how to judge things that way (I doubt anyone at GBO makes maps or studies satillite photos for a living is all I'm saying). The Puget Sound takes up 2/3 of this state "width" is how big this area is, (and Oregon is even different in and of itself too).
As for just hopping on the
S.S. Minnow and casually getting off some 'gilligan's place' is "not likely."
This area is huge. Formed by glaciation as well as vulcanism and at present, plate tectonics. this area sits on huge masses, foundations, "islands" of rock and often high jagged cliffs. People don't get around much by "boat!" Plus people don't swim off whatever shores or very rocky rugged beaches -
the water is COLD! In fact our climate is a 'marine' climate like England and the UK have! (the only two regions in the world like that, according to my 9th grade geography teacher
).
Yes it may sound weird to those that have never been here, but transportation here depends mostly on public roads (and some private planes), altho there's also ferries at two key landings on western and southern Whidbey Isle, but they're 30+ and 50+ miles away!
One of them is the Clinton-Mulkiteo ferry seen in the movie "
Double Jeopardy" with Tommy Lee Jones and Ashley Judd, where the chick drives Jone's car off the ferry into the water to make her escape. The first half of that flick was filmed on Whidbey I.
At the begiing it showed also the bridge at Deception Pass (a huge state tourist attraction that's ALWAYS traffic jammed in the summer, to the frustration of residents as tourist like to gawk at and off of it! Deception P. is as high as the Golden Gate, and the water under it is 60 fathams deep - that's 360 feet). sometimes jumpers go off of it, and one murder since I've lived here.
There are eight or nine American islands in in the greater Puget Sound; the 3 northern most create whats known as the San Juan's (and San Juan county); Whidbey is south of the island Anacortes is on (with another island in between that one and the mainland which is an indian reservation). And then much further south is Vashon and another 'seattle' island that's part of that vicinity.
If this whole area was hit with a crisis (a quake, tsunami, martial law, whatever),
the best thing to do is get back on the mainland (somehow) and then somewhere's EAST of interstate-5, trying to make your way eastward over the Cascade Divide away from the biggest Seattle mobs or crowds.
Things start to improve substantially/dramatically after that!
Ron you also mentioned some of the volcanos. Except for Mt Baker, all of the 'serious' ones geologists worry about are south and southeast this locale. If an event like St Helen's blowing its top again or like was featured in the flick "
Dante's Peak," no doubt my community would feel its affects and we'd get some evacuees. However, all of the ash should be downwind of this area. Also best way to travel eastward (by road) would be over Steven's pass (Snoqualme would be a zoo! If not jammed or closed). Of course one could hop a train (too) I suppose.
If any of those volcanos immediately east and south of Seattle erupted, casualties
could rival Japan's a year ago. I know Japan was hit by a quake followed by a tidal wave, but that region of WA and Oregon is also believed to be most vulnerable to tsunamis.
There is one thing going for that region, in that it may be the best equipped amd monitored "area" and region in the world with seismic sensors to warn of quakes and tsunamis. And perhaps the highest concentration of those kinds of scientists too.
Sorry for any rambling.
