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| Whidbey Island Greenbank Farm |
Although I had lived within 30 minutes of Whidbey Island for the majority of my life, I had ever taken the time to visit the island. Over the course of many years I had heard numerous great things about the island, including the quaint towns of Langley and Coupeville and the popular Deception Pass State Park.
While I was on a trip with my family the year prior at Lake Crescent, we had discussed the idea of initiating an annual family trip to locales around the Puget Sound area. My Aunt Staci recommended that we stay on Whidbey Island for the next trip as one of her best friends had a family home near Freeland that we would probably be able to use for free. It sounded like a great idea to me, especially because I would be able to bring the dogs and also because Whidbey Island had been on my list of places to visit for quite some time. A few months later, we agreed upon a weekend in August that most of us could attend. In addition to the two nights we were going to spend at the beach house, I also made a reservation for a third night up in the small town of Coupeville at a bed and breakfast.
Much to my surprise, while I was completing research for the trip I found out that Whidbey Island is one of the longest islands in the United States, measuring 45 miles long (or 36 or 62, depending on who you ask!). Regardless of where one stands on the island, you are never more than five miles away from the water. Whidbey Island is an extremely popular place for Seattleites to escape from the city, especially during the summer months. The island can be accessed from three points; via ferry from Mukilteo, which is about 20 miles north of Seattle; via ferry from Port Townsend, which is located on the Olympic Peninsula, and lastly via the Deception Pass State Bridge, located on the very northern tip of the island.
Day 1 (Friday, August 7th 2009)
After a very long 10.5 hour day at work, I raced home and quickly began packing up the car. I drove to Mukilteo where I thankfully only had to wait about 45 minutes in line for the ferry. I was waiting for the ferry that would take me to the town of Clinton on Whidbey Island. My sister Kimberly and the rest of the family had waited nearly two hours in the same line several hours prior, so my wait time didn't seem too bad. Much to my surprise, the actual duration of the ferry ride took only about ten minutes, so before I knew it I was on the island.
Once off the ferry, I drove onto the island and met up with the family who had just finished eating dinner. I followed the family to the beach house, which was located within the town of Freeland in a small neighborhood called Mutiny Bay. The house was just a short three minute walk to the beach. After settling in, I relaxed with the family for the rest of the evening which involved several hours of long conversations regarding old family memories and stories.
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| Mutiny Bay, Whidbey Island |
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| Mutiny Bay, Whidbey Island |
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| Beautiful home in Mutiny Bay, Whidbey Island |
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| Beautiful home in Mutiny Bay, Whidbey Island |
Day 2 (Saturday, August 8th 2009)
After eating a casual breakfast with the family, Kimberly, the dogs and I left around 10:00 and headed towards Langley where we had planned on visiting two farmer’s market. The first one that we stopped at was called Bayview Farmer’s Market at Bayview Corner. We arrived just after the market had opened, so the parking lot was full of dozens of cars. We weren’t sure if dogs were allowed at this farmer’s market (as they sometimes aren’t at others) but after checking, we were informed that dogs were welcomed!
I was pleasantly surprised at the size and variety of the market; it was much larger than I had expected it would be and had at least 40 vendors selling a wide range of goods from vegetables and fruits, to baked goods, to an array of art, including photography, jewelry, fountains, and much more. We made our way through the aisles, stopping to photograph and eat some of the beautiful food. I chose to purchase some lumpia and BBQ pork from a Filipino food stand. For those of you who aren't familiar with lumpia, they are similar in concept to an egg roll or spring roll, except that they usually tend to be shorter and skinnier. Kimberly opted to spring for a dessert and bought a chocolate toffee bar cookie, which I was fortunate enough to take a delicious bite of!
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| Bayview Farmer's Market in Langley |
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| Fruit tart for sale at Bayview Farmer's Market in Langley. |
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| Fruit tart for sale at Bayview Farmer's Market in Langley. |
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| Bayview Farmer's Market in Langley |
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| Bayview Farmer's Market in Langley |
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| Bayview Farmer's Market in Langley |
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| Bayview Farmer's Market in Langley |
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| Bayview Farmer's Market in Langley |
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| Bayview Farmer's Market in Langley |
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| Bayview Farmer's Market in Langley |
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| Bayview Farmer's Market in Langley |
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| Bayview Farmer's Market in Langley |
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| Bayview Farmer's Market in Langley |
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| Bayview Farmer's Market in Langley |
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| Bayview Farmer's Market in Langley |
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| Bayview Farmer's Market in Langley |
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| Bayview Farmer's Market in Langley |
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| Bayview Farmer's Market in Langley |
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| Bayview Farmer's Market in Langley |
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| Bayview Farmer's Market in Langley |
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| Lumpia stand at Bayview Farmer's Market in Langley. |
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| BBQ pork and lumpia at Bayview Farmer's Market in Langley. |
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| Chocolate toffee bar cookie from Bayview Farmer's Market in Langley. |
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| Bayview Farmer's Market in Langley |
From the Bayview Farmer’s Market I planned on heading to another farmer’s market. As we approached the South Whidbey Tilth Farmer’s Market from a distance, we could see that it was tiny in comparison to the one we had just visited. We decided to go ahead and stop in anyways as we figured that it never hurts to just walk around. Although there were quite a bit of cars in the parking lot, there was definitely a lack of vendors selling products; in total, there might have been six or seven, none of which had a rather large selection of items for sale. After wandering around for about five minutes, we turned around and headed towards Langley.
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| South Whidbey Tilth Farmer's Market |
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