Stop 22 – Oak Harbor, Whidbey Island, Washington

Whidbey Island is located on the Puget Sound about an hour-and-half north of Seattle. We stayed at the Naval Air Station, Cliffside RV Park, on the outskirts of Oak Harbor for 6 nights. We had full hook-up and perfect views out over the ocean.

There were beautiful flowers growing everywhere at the RV park, a huge undertaking for one of the hosts of the park. He plants 1500 dahlia bulbs every spring, along with hundreds of other flowers. All of his efforts made the stay absolutely amazing. The smell of fresh flowers mixed with sea air can only make one practically giddy.

There were great, huge trees hugging parts the coastline and paved paths within the base that allowed us to wander the cliffs for hours gazing out over the water.

One of the bonuses of our wanderings is that we found some huge blackberry patches. Almost everyday we would go pick a pint to enjoy at breakfast or for a snack. Delicious!

The beach itself was also great – very secluded with lots of driftwood everywhere. We all enjoyed observing breaching whales, seals and sea otters in the distance. Maggie enjoyed freedom from her leash and would run like a crazy dog up and down the beach, spraying sand all over us and loving every moment. The beach here is so much different from South Carolina. Free from people, still so wild. But also cold (water and air), so there was no swimming or sunbathing. Regardless, I think we all enjoyed the ocean here more than in SC. Additionally, it had been since Maine since we’d seen the ocean and it was great to back on a coast again.

OK, so we’ve all heard about the weather in Seattle and we were expecting a lot of rain. Fortunately, we had great weather though! 60’s and 70’s during the day and 50’s at night; one day of rain, 2 with clouds and 3 with pure sun.

While on Whidbey we took the time to explore the nearby towns of Oak Harbor and Coupeville. The weekend we were there, Oak Harbor hosted a Hydro Boat Race which was fun for the boys.

And Coupeville was more up my lane. It was a small, historic town tucked into Penn Cove. There were wonderful store fronts, small restaurants and a charming marina which made the town unforgettable.