Whidbey Island, WA - August 10-16, 2006

We traveled to the Puget Sound area was over the North Cascades Highway, one of the most spectacular drives we’ve experienced so far on our trip. We ran into some heavy rain on the trip, which explains why this is such a lush, green part of the country. We stopped at a viewpoint where we learned that writer Jack Kerouac spent a summer as a fire spotter at the watch tower on a distant peak. Who knew??

We were headed for Whidbey Island, a laid back haven separated from the mainland by the bridge over treacherous Deception Pass. It seems a lifetime away from the congested urban corridor that stretches from Everett to Olympia. Our RV park was less than a mile from the Deception Pass Bridge, so we were close to its spectacular views as well as lots of other picturesque scenes. Whidbey is home to a naval air station, lots of small farms, and the shores are lined with vacation getaways as well as full time residences.

We spent lots of time exploring Whidbey Island from one end to the other. We wandered through the small towns, strolled the beaches and even took in the Highland Games one Saturday. If you’re not familiar, the Highland Games could be described as a Scottish cultural festival – Scottish dancers and music, bagpipe band competitions, and distinctly Scottish athletic games such as the caber toss (that’s the picture of the guy getting ready to toss what looks like a telephone pole!). We had a great afternoon watching all the happenings, eating scones, and discovering that Robinsons are part of Clan Gunn!

One day we caught a ferry across the sound to Port Townsend, a charming seaside town with lots of great Victorian homes. We did some sightseeing before grabbing dinner on a deck looking over the harbor and then sailed back to Whidbey at twilight. We did another day trip to nearby La Conner which also included lunch on a deck with another great view of boats sailing by against a backdrop of water and mountains. What a life! (That's a view of LaConner in the pic at the top of this blog entry.)

Whidbey also makes a great jumping-off point for a trip to the San Juan Islands, so one morning we drove to nearby Anacortes to catch the ferry to Orcas Island. We picked a ferry that stopped at a couple of other islands on the way so we could spend more time checking out the glorious scenery from the deck. Then we spent the day sightseeing across the island including (guess what?!) lunch on the deck with a view of the docks at Westsound harbor. At Deer Harbor we trained our binoculars on tiny Deer Island in the middle of the harbor where Gene Hackman is reputed to have a home. We saw a sailboat, but no Gene!

We were blessed with glorious weather while we were on Whidbey Island. Even if the day dawned cloudy and foggy, the sun was out by early afternoon. We decided this was another reason to sleep in, since we didn’t have to worry about missing any sun! What a pair of slugs! The last pic is the western shore of Whidbey at sunset - stunning. . .

We readied ourselves for the next stage of our trip, driving through the traffic on the dreaded I-5 corridor through Seattle. Our destination is Gig Harbor, just across the Narrows Bridge from Tacoma, my home town! Check back soon to see how it went. .