Fort Ebey – Whidbey Island

This stop represents the northernmost point on our trip, and the “destination” designation for Summer 2024 travels. The main draw for me, besides being a cool place to see, is that my bestest friend from high school has settled here and it is always great to catch up with her. Well done, Anne! You are living your best life in an amazing part of the world. Really glad you have a place for us to park our trailer so we can mooch.

We had initially made reservations for the Port Townsend to Coupeville Ferry for 12:30. But then, when we found out about the 101 closure and detour, changed it to 4:15. Then, when we found out about how bad the detour sounded and tried to change back to an earlier time, there were no reservable spaces available. Oh well, we’ll just try for standby, we figured. The woman at the ferry kiosk seemed to have already been burned by people doing this, so she made many really emphatic statements telling me she could not guarantee when we’d get on, whether we’d get on, and that we would be relinquishing our reservation. It wasn’t actually a problem and we got right on the next ferry, so she was probably just fed up with tourists and wanted to do a CYA.

The people running ferries have all my respect. You can tell they have tons of experience playing Tetris with vehicles and they know exactly what they are doing. You just wait for someone to wave you forward, follow the hand gestures, and trust that they already know you have a roof box and a fan cover, and are watching all the things as you pull into a really tight space next to other trailers or giant trucks. Man, they’re good. We loved the exhilaration of the ferry ride, and figure we have only ever done that two other times. We got to ride across Puget Sound with the wind in our faces, while chatting with locals about things to do, see, and eat while on Whidbey Island.

From the ferry landing to my friend’s house it was just a couple of miles. Because she is awesome, she had already asked her neighbor about us parking on the private drive across from her house. We needed all of our lego blocks to stabilize, but we were actually totally level and had the solar panels charging away by 2pm. After that, Anne graciously let us use her laundry facilities and her refrigerator/freezer. After about a month on the road, our freezer has enough ice build up that the door starts to have a hard time opening. You can defrost using insulated grocery bags and some ice, or you can visit a friend and mooch their fridge space for an hour or two. While these things were happening in the background, Richard explored the area on his bike and I got to chat and catch up.

Anne had already shared stories about the abundant wildlife in the area. We saw deer wandering around, munching in front yards, the entire time. The deer are so plentiful, it makes you think about how there are not many predators there. Apparently there are a few coyotes who have somehow swum their way from the mainland, but generally the deer have it pretty good. Anne has seen Bald Eagles, and we definitely heard one at Fort Ebey. And as we were sitting on her porch chatting, a large owl silently swooped down in her yard, wings spread wide, and stared at us for a while before lifting off and disappearing in the trees.

For dinner, we walked to a Thai place in town called Phad Thai. It presents more as a house than a restaurant, but the food was good and the satay portions generous. We learned a whole new thing from Anne about how to indicate your preferred level of spiciness by stating, “zero stars”… “three stars,” etc, when you order. Does everyone know this already? We tried 3.5 stars, just to be difficult, and have decided that was probably half a star too spicy.

We then walked through the downtown Coupeville area, which is charming and full of wonderful places to live it up. One such place is Kapaw’s Iskreme, which kind of reminded us of Seinfeld’s soup nazi. It is only open from 12 to 5, and there are laminated rules posted on the stairway bannister outside. Single scoops are comprised of three small scoops. Double scoops have six small scoops. Yes, you can choose different flavors. You can also get a small single scoop on a cone for $1 if you are under 10 or over 50. We were unclear about whether this is something they like you to do, or not, because it is not listed as an option. If you point to the sample display and say, “Can I get that?” they will say yes, and they will only charge you $1 if you’re over 50. But it will seem like you’ve uncovered a secret.

The next day was busy. We started by riding out together along Madrona Way, to Penn Cove Road, to stop at Monroe Landing Public Beach. The island is very funny shaped, so it’s hard for me to keep my bearings when the land continually shifts its position in relation to the water. The island is one long winding shoreline, so there are a million opportunities for spectacular views. We rode back into town and met up at the ice cream place with Anne and another special high school buddy. Anne brought her two dogs, and Karen brought hers, and her husband Matt. We licked a variety of delightful dripping flavors off our cones and made plans for the rest of the day.

We needed to dump our tanks, and there are only two options on the island, neither one of them being at Fort Ebey State Park, where we were staying for the next two nights. As a group, we decided to all head up to Deception Pass. We tried unsuccessfully to get reservations there, but figured we could use their dump and Day Use, and get in a nice scenic hike. Matt knows a ton about the area and knew exactly where to go. We were able to dump for free, park Dory, and head up to the north side of the park.

Deception Pass had been noted as a “must do,” and I can see why. In addition to the cool, photo worthy bridge, there are just a lot of little islands and waterways that all intersect in this gorgeous area. The “Deception” part of the name comes from the treacherous currents that have foundered many a ship over time. In fact, right from the parking area we saw a nice looking sail boat washed up on shore and very much aground. Matt explained that it is not uncommon for people to anchor their boats, go have some fun on land, and come back to discover their floating home has pulled loose and is now land based. That would be a bummer.

We hiked an incredible trail, all together and with the dogs. You get to see the bridge from down below, the beaches of the state park across the water, and gaze all the way across the maze of straits and sounds to the San Juan Islands. In the hazy distance, you can even make out the Victoria peninsula. We had an incredible hike and made plans to meet back up at Anne’s for dinner. All we had to do was drop Dory in her site at Fort Ebey and drive just a couple miles from there. It was the perfect day of reconnecting dear friendships over ice cream, nature, pizza, and marionberry pie a la mode.

On our last day on the island, we started with a nice loop trail through the park. The day was foggy, so we began with the inland parts. All of the trails are named and well signed. You can definitely choose your own adventure and make for any distance of your choosing, just by taking cut off trails. This is where we definitely identified a Bald Eagle using the Merlin app, but did not see him. Along the trail, we passed through the World War II gun battery bunkers. There is a kiosk explaining how this area got built up quickly, to prepare for an attack from sea or air, but was only in use about a decade.

We ended up on the bluffs, and by that time, the blue sky was just beginning to peek through. We got in some Dory time before riding into town for ice cream time with Anne. I couldn’t choose just one senior scoop flavor this time, so I got a single. It was too much ice cream, but I’d probably do it again. The Huckleberry Cheesecake was incredible.

We have dinner food still in our fridge that hasn’t been cooked because we’ve been going out. Still, that did not win over Anne’s promise of a place that serves “the best BBQ west of the Mississippi.” How can you skip that? The place is Orlando’s, with an unassuming exterior, located in Oak Harbor. We had baby back ribs, mac & cheese, bbq baked beans, and fried biscuits. I’m no expert in BBQ, on any side of the Mississippi, but I’ll go ahead and plant my flag and claim she’s right. It was so good, the kind where the meat just falls off the bone.

With goodbyes, promises to make this a habit, and one last sunset, we called it a day on our island experience. I really give it to my friend for crushing her life so thoroughly that she has settled permanently in such a beautiful place. It has all the amenities you could possibly need, and yet all the remoteness too. It is a beautiful place indeed. Five stars (but not on the spicy scale).

Total miles (to Anne’s house) from Port Angeles: 44.8, 16.1 mpg, 2 hours 49 min with ferry ride. Site 45, no hookups. No solar. Frustratingly bad cell for both of us and cell towers annoyingly close by. No dump. Choices on the island are Deception Pass or South Whidbey State Park. Anne’s house has fantastic solar and great service, but you’ll need to befriend her before you can stay there.