In celebration of our fifteen-year anniversary, Kari-Lise and I skipped town for a few days and did a bit of exploring in our backyard. Our destination was Whidbey Island, located centrally in the Puget Sound, a short drive north of Seattle.
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We have been to Whidbey before, usually to hike the always exceptional Ebey’s Landing, but we’ve never spent much time on the island. We wanted to change that and ended up finding a weird 111-year-old inn (yeah, same age as Bilbo Baggins) on Penn Cove called The Captain Whidbey that became our home for a few days.
We came onto the island via the highway that crosses Deception Pass and connects Whidbey Island to Fidalgo Island and the mainland. We hung out there for a few hours and took a quiet walk along the beach before we made our way to the hotel. After settling in, we found ourselves a short drive from Coupeville, a teeny fishing village that has been around since the 1850s. It also resides alongside Penn Cove, and its little waterfront is a great spot to grab a bite, especially if you like mussels and shellfish.
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The second day, we walked on the ferry that runs from Keystone Landing to Port Townsend and spent most of the day there. Taking the ferry is a great way to visit the town, which is easily one of my favorite places in Western Washington. A lot of history there, it’s nearly as old as Coupeville and full of ornate Victorian architecture.
At one time there was a hope it’d become the largest seaport in Washington, but today it’s mostly focused on tourism. That said, it’s picturesque, quite chill, and full of places to explore and eat. While there I met an old woman who was sitting outside her apartment listening to a folk band, and she told me how every building in town was haunted and how you can see all the ghosts during thunderstorms because of the static electricity in the air. GHOST SCIENCE.
We returned to Whidbey that afternoon. Right next to the Keystone Landing is Fort Casey, a decommissioned U. S. Army emplacement designed and built to protect the Puget Sound and the Bremerton Navy Yard around the 1890s. The Pacific Northwest is dotted with these little emplacements and they come in all shapes and sizes and in various states of dilapidation. I haven’t seen one as intact and explorable as Fort Casey. Poking around was fun. We climbed ladders, checked out the disappearing guns, and dared ourselves to delve into the deep spaces within the fort that our tiny cell-phone lights couldn’t penetrate.
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Our last day consisted of exploring a rhododendron forest garden, a little art farm that also sold cheese, and a quiet drive south where we caught the ferry to the mainland. It was a good trip. I read a book, we both relaxed, and we came away knowing Whidbey a bit better. All in all, it was a lovely little flash-vacation, and I’m glad I got to spend it with my favorite person. You can check out a few photos from the trip below.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
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