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Washington's lovely Whidbey Island is the place you want to be when the hustle and bustle of city life is too much.
By DIANNE D. PRICE
© St. Petersburg Times, published May 28, 2000
Maybe it's in the blood: I was born on Long Island and I live on Sand Key, south of Clearwater Beach. But even if you have just smelled the ocean or tasted the salt in the air or listened to the sea gulls screeching overhead, you may understand the island song that reverberates throughout Puget Sound's Whidbey Island.
Driving off the ferry from the Olympic Peninsula into laid-back Keystone, my first impression was of vertical emptiness. Nothing but rolling meadows and farms, sparkling cobalt seas and tiny coves stretching to the horizon. Cape Cod or Door County, Wisc., may have looked this way a hundred years ago, I think.
But as we drove the inland, giant green-black fir, cedar and hemlock crowded the landscape, dipping down to the driftwood-strewn shores. Snow-capped mountains -- the Olympics to the west, the Cascades to the east -- rimmed the horizon.
This bucolic wonderland, part of the San Juan Islands, exists only 50 miles northwest of Seattle. That's a half-hour from Seattle's airport, via a nine-passenger plane. On our second trip to Whidbey Island, we decided there's no better way to come.
After flying into Oak Harbor in north Whidbey, we rented a car to drive 30 miles south, along S.R. 20, to the seaside town of Langley. Armed with a copy ofWhidbey Island Visitors' Guide, picked up free our first time through (and obtainable from the Chamber of Commerce), we had made arrangements at a bed and breakfast, Country Cottages of Langley.
Our large room and bath, decorated in shades of soft yellow and pale green and with a queen-sized feather bed, looks like it came out of House Beautiful. Two high-backed armchairs are positioned to take in the view of Langley harbor. The suite includes TV, refrigerator, coffee pot and freshly baked cookies every morning.
Each day we walked the few blocks to town, past Victorian houses brimming with daisies, huge fragrant roses and lavender.
Our second week we drove a few miles to charming Coupeville, set around a wide, horseshoe-shaped bay, home to delectable Penn Cove mussels. We savored them in broth, marinara and steamed before leaving.
There was a sailing regatta during our visit, and later we saw hundreds of sailboats winding through inlets as we explored the 40-mile-long island.
At a Sunday concert in the park overlooking the bay, we thrilled to the sight of a bald eagle perched on the bent tip of a hemlock.
We browsed shops, museums, art galleries, antique stores, parks and restaurants in both Langley and Coupeville. In Oak Harbor, the island's largest town, we had a picnic in the waterfront park, with a view of Mount Baker's snowy peak.
Everything on the island seems human-sized -- easy to reach and to know, much like going back in time. And every place the eye wanders is a feast.
Hummingbird Farm proved to be the most breathtakingly colorful garden I've ever seen. Outside Coupeville I bought dried lavender at Sweetwater Lavender, which claims to be the largest English lavender farm in the United States.
Endless trails wound through numerous parks throughout the island, some with old-growth forests of Douglas fir, western red cedar and Sitka spruce. We drove to bluffs and gazed down on the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Whidbey State Park. Nearby, we explored the 19th-century battlements at Fort Casey, adjacent to whitewashed Admiralty Head Lighthouse. And we trekked through North Beach on the ocean to view Deception Pass Bridge, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1935 -- a national historic monument and considered a scenic wonder.
Temperatures hovered in the 70s throughout our stay, a perfect trade-off for Florida summer. Besides excellent hiking, Whidbey offered activities such as fishing, clamming, golfing, biking, scuba diving and berry-picking.
Or you may just want to vegetate and drink in the view. Perhaps ride the ferry to Victorian Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula, and breathe in the crisp sea air while you slip through a crack in time.
-- Dianne D. Price lives in Indian Rocks Beach.
For more information: Get a copy of Whidbey Island Visitors' Guide by calling (360) 336-6171; fax to (360) 428-3052; the Web site is http://www.plaidnet.com
And contact the following: Greater Oak Harbor Chamber of Commerce, (360) 675-3535; e-mail gocc@whidbey.net; Web site http://www.whidbey.net/oakchamber
Langley Chamber of Commerce, 208 Anthes Ave./P.O. Box 403, Langley, WA 98260; (360) 221-6765.
Central Whidbey Chamber of Commerce, P.O. Box 152, Coupeville, WA 98239; (360) 678-5434.
We flew Harbor Airlines (a subsidiary of Alaska Airlines), to Oak Harbor; (800) 359-3220.
There is free bus service throughout the island. For more freedom, we rented a car from Budget Rent A Car, Oak Harbor Airport; (800) 359-3220.
Country Cottage of Langley (B&B); (800) 713-3860.