TravelingbeebryantRN & Flicks_withNick

 My husband works Monday through Friday 8-5, and I’m currently on the glorious nurse schedule, three 12 hour day shifts. This means I typically have a few days where I’m off when he’s working, and that leads me to exploring some things on my own. Not that I want to explore without him, but at the same time we don’t get to everything on the weekends. I did my first solo explore day this past week on Whidbey Island in Washington. I heard a lot about Whidbey Island through browsing on the internet, and also through my patients at work. I was excited to see what the island had to offer. Let’s get to it.

First off, what classifies something as an island? I thought it was something that was isolated or detached, which is one definition, but the other definition is something that is surrounded by water.  Interestingly enough, you can actually drive to Whidbey Island. This island is not completely isolated or detached. It would take approximately two hours to drive there from Everett, Washington. I decided to do the easy route and took the 20 minute ferry from Mukilteo (30 miles north of Seattle). This ferry terminal is about 15 minutes away from our Airbnb! Tickets are 25 dollars round trip for the car. You can choose to walk on the ferry without your car, but I don’t think you would get to experience all of Whidbey island without a car. There’s a lot of charming towns on the island. 

Let’s talk about some hot spots on Whidbey island:

1. Whidbey Island Bagel Factory
   • Fresh local bagels located 2 miles from the ferry.

2. Whale watching on Whidbey island

• We recently went whale watching on Friday Harbor, so I decided to pass on a whale watch tour. I decided to check out the Langley whale watch bell and Langley Whale Center. The Langley whale center gave out some great free whale watching tips, and where they recently spotted whales the last few days. You also can check out their Facebook page:

3. Whidbey coffee

• I checked out this local coffee shop on the other side of the island. They had a great selection of lattes to choose from. They had outside seating and such friendly staff. It was such a great find!

4. Deception Pass Bridge/Deception Pass State Park

• This is on the opposite side of the island in comparison to the ferry port in Oak Harbor. It’s the two lane bridge that connects Whidbey Island and Fidalgo Island. There are multiple pull offs along the side of the road for visitors, like myself to admire the views or even to walk onto the bridge. Even on a lucky day you might get to see some orcas! Not far from the deception state bridge is the Deception State Park. The Deception State Park is 3,854 acres full of beautiful coastline with so much to do. Hiking, enjoying the lake, camping, kayaking, and boating.  The Deception State Park requires a day use pass or a Discovers pass. A day pass is $10.00, and a discover pass is $30.00. The discover pass is an annual pass to Washington’s state parks, water access points, natural and wildlife areas, and different recreation trails. If you think you will visit at least two other trails during your travel assignment, I highly suggest investing in the discover pass. Nick and I purchased one during our assignment during Spokane, and it went to good use! This past week I explored Deception State Park, but decided to leave the hiking for another day, as I wasn’t wearing the right attire.

I originally thought I was going to be taking the ferry back and forth from Whidbey Island. When I was done at the Deception Bridges, I realized it didn’t make sense to drive back to the ferry port. I ended up driving home instead of going on the ferry. I ended up hitting some traffic, but it took me approximately an hour and fifteen minutes to get back to Everett. 

Honestly… I love island life. Whidbey Island should definitely be on your bucket list if you are in the Seattle area. Where will be the next solo trip?