Whidbey Island

Last month we decided to take a quick weekend vacation to Whidbey Island, which is over the Puget Sound north of Seattle. It's only a 90 minute drive from us. The island is close enough to the mainland that there is a bridge between the two at Deception Pass State Park. More on that later. 

Deception Pass. Pictures don't do it justice - it's so beautiful! 

We stayed in Oak Harbor at a little motel with a small but deep pool and free continental breakfast. 

Motel shenanigans

Our first stop was at the Whidbey Island Fair. Wow! Maybe I missed out because I quit 4H halfway through the first month, but I never knew a fair could be so fun! Of course, there were the quirky things about a fair - interesting local people, cheap but deathly carnival rides, and any fried food you could ever dream up; but they also had a fantastic array of animals and displays--all by the 4H. We saw everything from dogs to horses, and chickens to Guinea pigs-- all scrubbed up and looking their finest for the fair. We even saw a rabbit that was bigger than a small dog. No joke. 

Elise was unimpressed with most of the "stinky" animals, but she did like the horse that shared Grandpa Young's first name! Notice Ralphie's tongue...

Later on, D.J. and Elise decided to venture out in a raft they bought. Not one foot from the beach, they broke a paddle. D.J. was a sport and improvised for the remainder of the time with one paddle. Elise loved every seafaring minute of it. 

The next day we went to church in Oak Harbor. The kids and I then scouted out a few local parks after dropping D.J. off at the motel to sleep off some flu-like aches. After a long nap D.J. was much better, so we drove over to Joseph Whidbey State Park. Breathtaking!

Elise took the picture on bottom R. Not bad, huh? 

On our final day on the island we went to another beach near Oak Harbor. I don't remember the name. We found lots of interesting sea shells and chased off the seagulls. Elise made sand castles and prepared a "sand-wich" for D.J. to taste.

Finally, we made our way back to Deception Pass and had lunch on the Island side.

We loved our quick stay on Whidbey Island and want to go back soon!