Whidbey Island

2017-09-28 Westbound; Ferry to the Olympic Peninsula…

A short travel day today. We hitched up and headed out about 12:30. We had a leisurely drive from the fairgrounds to the ferry landing in Coupeville; obviously, the ferry wasn’t here yet:

2017-09-28 Washington 01 Ferry 01

So we waited…

2017-09-28 Washington 01 Ferry 02

Finally the ferry arrived and we were directed to drive on-board.

2017-09-28 Washington 01 Ferry 04

We are traveling from the Coupeville Ferry Landing, on Whidbey Island, across to the town of Port Townsend, on the Olympic Peninsula; we will stay in Port Townsend overnight, then explore the rain forest on the Olympic Peninsula.

Being first on-board the ferry, we were parked right up front:

2017-09-28 Washington 01 Ferry 06

2017-09-28 Washington 01 Ferry 07

We passed by a small trailer park and spotted an Airstream, the 117th one we have seen as we have been driving this trip…

2017-09-28 Washington 01 Ferry 15

35 minutes later we arrived at Port Townsend:

2017-09-28 Washington 01 Ferry 11

Our campground was right in town, in conjunction with the marina:

2017-09-28 Washington 02 Port Townsend 01

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2017-09-28 Washington 02 Port Townsend 02

We walked along the shore:

2017-09-28 Washington 02 Port Townsend 04

2017-09-28 Washington 02 Port Townsend 03

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We walked through the town; it appeared to be a “real” town, with local businesses, bars, and restaurants, maritime industry, and tourist shops all cohabiting nicely. Over the shops were offices and apartments/condos. It felt much more real than previous small towns we have visited…

We opted to stay in the Villa for dinner tonight; we watched football and Happy Hours ensured; an enjoyable time was had by all…

October 3, 2017 0

2017-09-27 Westbound; Whidbey Island…

We had a lazy morning, here in the fairgrounds campground. We used the time to do final planning for the remainder of our trip. We also communicated with other residents of the trailer park:

2017-09-27 Washington 02 Langley Rabbits 01

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2017-09-27 Washington 02 Langley Rabbits 02

Apparently, several years ago the fair folks invited kids in the community to bring in their pets; many brought pet rabbits. As could be expected, some escaped into the woods and over the years have cross-pollinated with the local gray rabbits. The fairgrounds in particular, and the whole island in general, are now overrun with rabbits of all colors. Only the gray rabbits are indigenous; all the others are the results of the great pet escape…

At noon we put together a small picnic and walked about one mile down the road to the Whidbey Island Winery. We did some tasting, then bought a bottle of nice Sangiovece to enjoy with our picnic…

2017-09-27 Washington 01 Langley Winery 01

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2017-09-27 Washington 01 Langley Winery 02

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We returned to the Villa; I took a nap. At 5:00 David and Kim picked us up and we went to the Roaming Radish for dinner; this is a farm-to-table restaurant, and one of the best restaurants on the island, with very unique, chef-centric food.

2017-09-27 Washington 03 Langley Dinner 02

2017-09-27 Washington 03 Langley Dinner 03

2017-09-27 Washington 03 Langley Dinner 01

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We enjoyed a great meal with great friends… An enjoyable time was had by all…

October 2, 2017 2

2017-09-26 Westbound; Whidbey Island;

We pulled out of Larrabee State Park this morning, having an interesting time threading our way between the trees. I don’t think the designers of this campground was anticipating 35′ long trailers…

We had an uneventful drive south, over a few bridges, and onto Whidbey Island. We parked in the town of Oak Harbor and took a quick shopping trip to the local Safeway.

We then met an old Airstream friend, and professional photographer, Bill Ferry:

2017-09-26 Washington 01 Oak Harbor

We enjoyed a tour of the town and then we shared lunch at Seabolt’s Smokehouse. The Penn Cove mussels (a local favorite) were spectacular!

After lunch we proceeded down the island. We checked out the Coupeville ferry landing from which we will be leaving in a few days. Then we arrived at the Island County Fairgrounds in Langley, WA. They have a simple campground that is usually crammed with 50-60 RVs during the fair and other events, but today we shared it with only 7 other rigs…

2017-09-26 Washington 02 Langley 01

We have long time friends who recently moved to Washington from Laguna Beach about 1 1/2 years ago. While they live in Seattle for now, they are building a new house here in Langley. We walked the short one mile to see the progress of the house (slow), then we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Prima in Langley. After dinner we walked along the shore and through the town.

2017-09-26 Washington 02 Langley 02