Skagit County, Washington in the context of "Anacortes, Washington"

Fidalgo Island is an island in Skagit County, Washington, located about 60 mi (97 km) north of Seattle. To the east, it is separated from the mainland by the Swinomish Channel, and from Whidbey Island to the south by Deception Pass. The island is named after the Spanish explorer and cartographer Salvador Fidalgo, who explored the area in 1790.

Its largest and only city is Anacortes with a population of 17,637 at the time of the 2020 census. Anacortes has ferries with daily service to the San Juan Islands and Guemes Island.

Mount Vernon is the county seat of and the most populous city in Skagit County, Washington, United States. A central location in the Skagit River Valley, the city is located 51 miles (82 km) south of the Canadian border and 60 miles (97 km) north of Seattle. The population was 35,219 at the 2020 census, making it the 35th most-populous city in Washington, with 62,966 people living in its urban area. It is one of two principal cities of and included in the Mount Vernon-Anacortes Metropolitan Statistical Area, covering most of Skagit County.

Mount Vernon and its surrounding areas is known for its annual Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, which has Mount Vernon host a street fair in downtown once a year, with millions of tulips grown in the Skagit Valley every year. Between the 2000 and 2020 census, Mount Vernon grew by 34.3%, and is a prominent location in Northwestern Washington, connected to neighboring communities via I-5 and Amtrak (with Skagit Station).

Guemes Island (Samish: Qweng7qwengila7) is a small island in western Skagit County, Washington, United States. It is located north of Fidalgo Island and the city of Anacortes, and is accessible by private boat and by the Guemes Island ferry operated by Skagit County.

Guemes Island was named by the Spanish after the Viceroy of New Spain, Juan Vicente de Güemes, who commissioned an expedition that revealed the islands to Spain in 1794.

Glacier Peak Wilderness is a 566,057-acre (229,075 ha), 35-mile-long (56 km), 20-mile-wide (32 km) wilderness area located within portions of Chelan, Snohomish, and Skagit counties in the North Cascades of Washington. The area lies within parts of Wenatchee National Forest and Mount Baker National Forest and is characterized by heavily forested stream courses, steep-sided valleys, and dramatic glacier-crowned peaks. The dominant geologic feature of the area is 10,541-foot (3,213 m) Glacier Peak. It is the most remote major volcanic peak in the Cascade Range and is the third most heavily glaciated volcano in the lower forty-eight states behind Mount Rainier and Mount Baker. Glacier Peak is a volcanic cone of basalt, pumice, and ash which erupted during periods of heavy glaciation.

Whatcom County (/ˈwɒtkəm/, /ˈhwɒtkəm/) is a county located in the northwestern corner of the U.S. state of Washington, bordered by the Lower Mainland (the Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley Regional Districts) of the Canadian province of British Columbia to the north, Okanogan County to the east, Skagit County to the south, San Juan County across Rosario Strait to the southwest, and the Strait of Georgia to the west. Its county seat and largest population center is the coastal city of Bellingham. Whatcom County is coterminous with the Bellingham, WA Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 226,847.

The county was created from Island County by the Washington Territorial Legislature in March 1854. It originally included the territory of present-day San Juan and Skagit counties, which were later independently organized after additional settlement. Its name derives from the Lummi word Xwotʼqom, also spelled [x̣ʷátqʷəm], perhaps meaning 'noisy' or 'noisy water' and referring to a waterfall. Whatcom County has a diversified economy with a significant agricultural base, including approximately 60% of the nation's annual production of raspberries.