FIELD TRIP: WHIDBEY ISLAND, WA

JUMP TO EXTRA GOOD

I've always wanted to be a tour guide, and that’s no joke: I’d love to be holding the microphone at the back of a tour bus, and I even wrote about this small dream on my About Libby page.  The closest I can get to tour guiding these days is through the pics on my camera roll, so please join me on a short journey to a small but spectacular part of the Pacific Northwest 🌊 🚌 🎤.

*If you're looking at your watch, this Whidbey tour is not long; we have some Extra Good extra updates that add time ... but also value!

WHY WHIDBEY?  

During our twenty years in the Seattle area, Whidbey Island was an every-so-often day-trip destination.  The girls took preschool field trips to investigate tide pools and lighthouses, and we ferried over several times as a family to explore further afield.  We now live in Colorado, which puts Whidbey well out of day-trip range; nevertheless, many months ago, C casually asked if we could visit Whidbey for her late-spring birthday.  Normally, this would be an easy “Ahh, no,” with air travel and an Airbnb blowing way past our regular birthday budget.  But we paused and thought about it.  Her request was not as random as it sounded.

C — who now lives 40 minutes from us in CO — was born and raised (minus our four Iowa years), near Seattle in WA State.  She grew up in its dense greenness, its damp mossiness, its shimmery waters, and its forested mountains.  Neither C nor E has had a chance to return following our spontaneous CO pandemic move in early 2021, so she had a decent case there.  E, hard at work teaching her emerging readers in TX, would be a no-go, but we still pondered.  And sometime between Christmas and Valentine’s Day, we said yes to an early birthday visit. C immediately set to work on her very thorough shared Google Docs itinerary.

WHERE IS WHIDBEY?

“The Shortest Distance to Far Away”

That's the trademarked slogan in the official visitors' guide to Whidbey and neighboring Camano Island, and it's both clever and accurate.

Our Seattle life had its own remarkable destinations on our regular weekend or seasonal loops — Pike Place Market, the Seattle Children's Theater, the Issaquah Salmon Hatchery, the Skagit Valley tulip fields — but it was also where we lived regular life: Safeway, school, the pediatrician's office, the gas station, and Costco. Whidbey was an accessible, single-day, blustery-beach interruption of typical life. We were/are not a hardy, sea-faring family, but a day on the island could convince us otherwise. Whidbey always ... expanded us.

First, there was the great-sea adventure of a twenty-minute ferry ride from the mainland terminal in Mukilteo, with our minivan-and-later-SUV right on board with us 😲. After roaming the ferry inside and out, we'd hear the PA announcement signalling drivers to return to their cars, and we'd disembark in the ferry system's orderly fashion. Then we'd drive on a winding road up the narrow, seahorse-shaped island through forests and farmland with flashes of water on each side, passing signs with names like:

Useless Bay

and Mutiny Bay

and Deception Pass

and Smugglers Cove Road

... which were all just begging for a good campfire story.

We'd usually have lunch in Langley, we'd eat ice cream in Coupeville, and we'd try something different each visit over the years: Fort Casey's abandoned bunkers, Deception Pass's moody grandeur, the chilly beaches scattered with natural treasures delivered by the tides. When it was time to return home, we'd either head north to travel over the Deception Pass Bridge or drive back onto the ferry to Mukilteo, with the girls sound asleep — at any age — by the time we reached 405 South toward home. And then we were back to shopping for next week's groceries at Safeway 🛒.

WHAT'S WHIDBEY LIKE?

Whidbey feels rooted, unfussy, and comfortingly timeless. It's a working island with roadside produce stands, boat repair shops, propane sellers, and a naval air station. People who live there seem formidably resourceful and capable, in the way a soft suburbanite like myself is not. And it's bracingly beautiful, with its rugged coastline enfolding its fresh green pastoral interior. Flowers grow everywhere. You see old wooden storefronts, educational/interpretive signage, long-retired coastal defense equipment, battered driftwood, and many, many boats scattered on land and on water; combined, it's a full, present-day show-and-tell of Whidbey's maritime, military, and Indigenous history. And also: whales — briefly visible then mysteriously deep — saturate the spirit of the entire island.

Got a few minutes? Let me show you around 🚙:

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FIRST, FERRY LIFE

We became Pacific Northwesterners in 1999, and instantly fell for the WA State ferry system. We often rode over to Bainbridge Island / Poulsbo with out-of-town guests for a guaranteed 🤩 ISN'T THIS AMAZING 🤩 excursion. You can catch the Bainbridge ferry from downtown Seattle, which meant, for us, that Bainbridge could be a lark while Whidbey was more of a plan. But both routes were a rush — massive, rumbling ferries with snowcapped mountains in the distance and the hope of spotting a whale (never) or harbor seals (often!) in the water. We were never not wowed.

WA State ferries have little cafeterias, fyi 😁. And tbh, it's rarely this sunny in April 😎.

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LANGLEY, WA

Per C's itinerary, we had a much-anticipated Wednesday night dinner with family-like family friends in Bellevue, and the next morning the three of us loaded onto the Kitsap ferry to Clinton on the south end of Whidbey. We drove straight to Langley, the artsy, idyllic home of Moonraker Books (calm and inviting — and over 50 years old!), The Star Store (everything from chic pleather jackets to martini glasses to bananas to wine), fish & chips at Saltwater Fish House & Oyster Bar (very yum), and Whidbey Pies, where we picked out dessert for later (the best pie we've ever tasted — except for yours, Judy Hanaway 👑). C nostalgically posed at the Boy and Dog statue before we took all the steps down to Seawall Park.

MOONRAKER BOOKS:

THE STAR STORE:

WHIDBEY PIES:

SEAWALL PARK:

After Langley, we drove to The Goose Community Grocer. The Goose, we learned, gives back. The store is notable for its ownership, org structure, and mission, which funnels profits directly back into the South Whidbey community through numerous grant programs. Each store aisle features a different local nonprofit, nudging you to, say, ponder how you might support orcas as you browse for Oreos. Also, it takes its goose identity seriously, which I like, and it provided this very delicious salmon fillet for the grill.

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WHALES

Whale culture is big on Whidbey. The island offers several viewing sites along The Whale Trail (informative website here 🐋) that hugs the Pacific Coast. It seems like Langley is Whale-Central for Whidbey — as you can see, it's all very whale-coming!

And in case you don't actually SPY A (real) WHALE and therefore can't RING THE BELL ⬇️, you have plenty of retail options:

While in Langley, we stopped by the Langley Whale Center, a friendly, homey awareness resource and an ode to orcas and more. The J, K, and L pods are familiar groupings for anyone living near coastal WA and the Puget Sound. These are the three tight-knit, family-like units of the Southern Resident Killer Whales (I go with orcas for a friendlier sound) that travel the cool waters of the Pacific Northwest. Orcas are magnificent — though endangered — creatures, and even as suburban, subdivisioned Seattleites, we found ourselves very invested in their health and well-being. In a future whale post, I'll include the story of Tahlequah (J-35), and it will never leave you. Whales are wondrous.

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DECEPTION PASS STATE PARK

This was our third visit to Deception Pass State Park, though our first to Rosario Beach, which is technically on Fidalgo Island just across the made-for-an-action-movie Deception Pass Bridge.

On our hike (more of a walk), we followed the yellow rope along a tide pool trail, learned about the legend of Ko-kwal-alwoot, the Salish Tribe's Maiden of Deception Pass, and caught an epic view around every bend. AND WE SAW TWO WHALES — barely/briefly (with no available bell to ring), but there they were 🐋🐋!

After the whale excitement, we stopped off for top-rate sandwiches at The Greenbank Pantry & Deli:

(Pic added 4/26/26 because I didn't want to leave out this really great wall 🌻)

Then we relaxed/napped and read our books (see above: not hardy) before heading up to Coupeville for our second and final evening on Whidbey.

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COUPEVILLE, WA

I would say whales are to Langley as Penn Cove mussels are to Coupeville, but Coupeville loves the whales, too. Its mussels, however, are the carefully-cultivated stars of menus across the region, so much so that they are known as "Little Legends." When the tide in Penn Cove is low under Coupeville's historic 1905 boardwalk and wharf, the scene is just ... very ... mucky. But that muck is packed with culinary gold. I myself am not a mussels person, but that could be because I've never actually tried one. An essay called "How I Fell in Love with Penn Cove Mussels" just popped up in my Googling, which seems like a sign I should keep an open mind the next time I spot them on a menu. Are you a fan of mussels?

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SUNSETS

We were not anticipating sunsets, because in the PNW it's best to keep your weather expectations in check. But both nights — dodging the plentiful deer population on our short drive down to the beach — we got a gorgeous show. We will always line up for this kind of art in the sky 🌅.

About that Jeep: it's for sure cooler than we are. At the SeaTac Hertz car rental zone, we had our choice between seven very large pick-up trucks and the gleaming white Jeep. We ran for the Jeep, even though we could barely hoist ourselves up into it. Most of its features were wasted on us, but we did feel more rugged than usual.

Fake it til you make it!

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It was time to head home when we ran out of pie and the rain began falling. We rolled back onto the ferry, made a stop at Mercurys Coffee in Bellevue, and pulled into the tiny back parking lot of nearby glassybaby, the hand-blown candleholder company I wrote about in Extra Good here. I had a virtual Christmastime gift card burning a hole in my Inbox (thank you, E 🥳), and I spent the next 20 minutes lighting up and analyzing various candleholders, eventually landing on the first one I tried. Then back to SeaTac to turn in the Jeep and our off-road personas, catch our flight, and return to non-maritime Colorado. Goodbye Olympic Mountains in the distance, hello again, Rockies.

Thanks for joining me in this mini-photo tour and nostalgic review of Whidbey Island 🌊 🚌 🎤! If you have an extra day or two while visiting the Seattle area, find the ferry and go!

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**An addendum on 4/25/2026: We have lots of pics of the girls on Whidbey over the years; the collection is a sort of evolving time capsule — same girls, same landmark places, different heights and shifting life stages. Below is a photo of C's very first visit to the island, and it's making me think how you never know when an experience — or a place — will catch and sink in ... nudging you, maybe, to travel back 1,300 miles twenty-some years later for an early birthday celebration 🥧.

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EXTRA GOOD

ALSO LINKED THROUGH THE EXTRA GOOD PAGE HERE

THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 2026

1._GOOD NEWS: It's hard to resist an athletic-competitor-helping-another-competitor story, and last weekend's Boston Marathon brought us a good one. When a 21-year-old runner from Massachusetts stumbled in fatigue near the finish line, not one, but two runners gathered beside to help him cross the finish line. First came a runner from Northern Ireland on his left, and then a runner from Brazil joined on his right. The height of sportsmanship and international goodwill! Read the full story:

"Two are stronger than one’: Boston Marathon duo praised for helping struggling runner cross finish line."

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2._MORE GOOD NEWS: Many of us across the globe were spellbound by the Artemis II landing. We three stood, car keys in hand, to watch it live on TV before leaving for our evening in Coupeville.

There's more about the Artemis II mission below, but here's a story about a different kind of balloon landing from the sky. Last Saturday, a hot-air balloon carrying 13 people celebrating a 10th wedding anniversary unexpectedly/unintentionally landed in a very small Temecula, CA backyard. A near-disaster turned into a very uplifting story. This quote is great:

"I was watching TV and my wife was doing yoga," Perrin told The Associated Press. "There was a man standing in front of my door saying, 'They just landed.' What? I was very confused."

The headline gives away the whole scoop, but the various quotes make the full (short) piece a very enjoyable read:

"Hot Air Balloon With 13 Aboard Makes Emergency Landing in California Backyard."

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3._GOOD ART, DESIGN + PHOTOGRAPHY: NASA is really making a NAME for itself these days 🌚. Last night, E let me know about a fun little NASA offering: in honor of Earth Day [Happy Belated Earth Day 🌎], you can see your name — via satellite imagery — spelled out by patterns on Earth. Go on, you know you want to try it!

Click here: "Your Name in Landsat"

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EXTRA GOOD UPDATES FROM 4/3/26:

MOVIE REVIEW 🍿:  For the three people out there who have not yet seen Project Hail Mary, I say go and totally enjoy! The filming is dazzlingly inventive, Ryan Gosling is scruffy perfection, and you may later catch yourself thinking deep thoughts about autonomy, resilience, courage, and hope. Plus, there's Eva in the bar: 🎶 ❤️‍🩹. I read that Gosling wanted to make a non-animated movie his whole family could enjoy, with a few messages he hoped they might carry forward. In this video interview, he emphasizes the idea of turning fear into curiosity, and I cannot stop thinking about that mindset. Helpful!!

ARTEMIS II 🚀: Who knew the feel-good event of the year would happen in outer space? In my last post, I wrote about the funny, relatable, day-one malfunctions onboard the spacecraft, with a brief mention of the apparent camaraderie of the astronaut team. I buried the lede!!

Of course, at that point, we did not know of the tender, moving moment when the crew proposed naming a bright lunar crater "Carroll" in memory of mission commander Reid Wiseman's beautiful wife Carroll, a pediatric nurse practitioner who died of cancer in 2020 at age 46. From the Associated Press:

Their request came shortly after they broke Apollo 13’s distance record for deep-space travelers. All four astronauts wept as they embraced in a group hug.

“We lost a loved one. Her name was Carroll, the spouse of Reid, the mother of Katie and Ellie,” Hansen radioed, his voice breaking. “It’s a bright spot on the moon and we would like to call it Carroll.”

Mission Control fell silent for nearly a minute before replying: “Integrity and Carroll crater, loud and clear.”

And we had not yet heard the unscripted, unifying Easter Day message from mission pilot Victor Glover:

"Maybe the distance we are from you makes you think what we’re doing is special. But we’re the same distance from you, and I’m trying to tell you, just trust me, you are special. In all of this emptiness, this is a whole bunch of nothing, this thing we call the universe. You have this oasis, this beautiful place that we get to exist — together."

And I had not realized the name for the Orion spacecraft — Integrity* — had been chosen by the four crew members themselves. From the NASA website:

The name Integrity embodies the foundation of trust, respect, candor, and humility across the crew and the many engineers, technicians, scientists, planners, and dreamers required for mission success.

*The crew named a second lunar crater Integrity, as well.

You can view the full and inspiring post-mission press conference here, but if you're short on time, Brené Brown gives a compelling summary statement:

#moonjoy

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SEE YOU HERE NEXT TIME FOR

ANOTHER BATCH OF GOOD

😀