Deception Valley is a place of mirages, hallucinations and alchemy. Stare into the glare for just a little while and gemsbok begin to mutate into lion and back again. The San Bushman knew better than to trust their eyes to the tricky light and even migrating pelicans have been lured by the powerful mirages of this chain of desiccated pans.

(From a feature for Global Magazine)

Deception Pass is a strait separating Whidbey Island from Fidalgo Island, in the northwest part of the U.S. state of Washington. It connects Skagit Bay, part of Puget Sound, with the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Mount Vernon, WA | Sept. 10-11, 2016 | Photo by Rob Love

Sunset reflection on Deception Bay

From Deception Pass bridge, WA, on a very rare sunny and warm early February day.

Calm waters of Deception Bay

Deception Pass bridge between Whidbey Island FIdalgo Island

Smooth water on Deception Bay

Deception Island, Antarctique, 19 mars 2011.

www.benontherun.com/post/ma-croisiere-en-antarctique

Injured Soul

Fainted Eyes

Returning

from where?

Weary feet

Weak arms

Treading

toward where?

Struggled

in vain battles

Fighting

delusive enemies

Erred by

a deception

The ancient deception

~Rixa White

and

Deception is mostly a game we play with ourselves.

~Terry Brooks 

Deception Pass Bridge

Deception Pass, North tip of Whidbey Island, WA

Brace yourself. It is grotesquely, hideously ugly when you become trapped in your own snare of lies. This is especially the case when you've built upon and attempted to maintain those lies for years and years. Lies never lead where you thought they would, but they always lead you somewhere. And it sure is a crapshoot, isn't it?

But Truth is stronger and undefeatable. When Truth has been manipulated into a resentful throng of deception, it will eventually, certifiably, show itself in full. More simply stated: Relationships are imponderably proportionate to the degree of Truth you have told... both to yourself as well as to others.

This man is no longer the fall guy for an assemblange of secrets and prevarication. He is engaged in a conversation of Truth and of Love and of Camaraderie with a father whom he finally, wholeheartedly trusts. He never should have been fair game for a repulsive excuse of a human being -- the teller of lies.

Deception Island, Antarctique, 19 mars 2011.

www.benontherun.com/post/ma-croisiere-en-antarctique

one-sided log bridge crossing Deception Creek.

Whidbey Island, WA

Deception Falls near Stevens Pass, WA on August 5th, 2010

Father's Day camping at Deception Pass

Deception Island, Antarctique, 19 mars 2011.

www.benontherun.com/post/ma-croisiere-en-antarctique

Weekend at Deception Pass

A group of sailors led by Joseph Whidbey, part of the Vancouver Expedition, found and mapped Deception Pass on June 7, 1792. George Vancouver gave it the name "Deception" because it had misled him into thinking Whidbey Island was a peninsula. The "deception" was heightened due to Whidbey's failure to find the strait at first.

Deception Pass is a strait separating Whidbey Island from Fidalgo Island, in the northwest part of the U.S. state of Washington. It connects Skagit Bay, part of Puget Sound, with the Strait of Juan de Fuca. A pair of bridges known collectively as Deception Pass Bridge cross Deception Pass, and the bridges are on the National Register of Historic Places. 2010

If you look closely, you'll see two power boats. The far hard-bottom inflatable is a tour boat, just idling. The closer one is a fishing boat blasting through the pass. The current was ripping through at about 7 knots...

The sidewalk on Deception Pass Bridge

A morning of fun on Deception Bay