Tag Archives: Coupeville

Open House Road Trip

On Saturday we set out to the Northern end of Whidbey Island with Fort Ebey State Park our destination. We had to be out of our house from 1 until 4pm so a drive was a good option for us.

Set on the western side of Whidbey Island, Fort Ebey was constructed as a coastal defense fort during the Second World War.

The bluff trail overlooks Admiralty Inlet and offers peek-a-boo views of Point Wilson Lighthouse across the bay. Douglas-fir and hemlock provide shade along forested trails sprinkled with pink big-leaf rhododendrons in season.

We took a short loop that took us to Lake Pondilla and were rewarded with a viewing of this bird. Is it a Golden Eagle, a young eagle, or some kind of hawk?

Next time we visit we’ll take the Bluff trail to the Gun Battery.

From Fort Ebey we drove the 5 miles to Coupeville and Penn Cove which are set on the Eastern coast of Whidbey Island. We enjoyed some Penn Cove Mussels and these views.

Our Discover Pass expires the end of the month so we’ll have to take advantage of visiting some more Washington State Parks.

Summer officially begins this Thursday. Do you have any special summer plans?

Signs from Whidbey Island

Washington State has a few islands to enjoy. One of our favorites is Whidbey Island. The Bible camp our kids have attended and served as directors at is on Whidbey Island. When we have out of state company we try to include a trip to Whidbey Island. Our favorite town on the island is Langley. The Star store and the Saratoga Inn is in the little town of Langley. We stayed at the Saratoga Inn when we were attending a wedding on Whidbey.

We ate at Gerry’s kitchen in Freeland and had a great breakfast and I’m sad to say that they are now closed. There are a nice little collection of antique shops in this town.

Another town we like to walk through and eat their great Penn Cove Mussels is Coupeville. This visitor information center is in Coupeville. The town’s Main shopping street, Front Street, borders Penn Cove.

I had to include a nice bowl of mussels. We had these at Front Street Grill, Coconut Green Curry Mussels…delicious.

And here’s a photo of Penn Cove from Front Street.

I’m linking up with Lesley’s Signs Signs weekly meme.

Coupeville and Langley

When traveling on Whidbey Island we like to stop in Coupeville for Penn Cove mussels, Freeland for antique shopping, and our favorite town on the Island, Langley, for shops and a nice stroll.

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On our trip last week after exploring Deception Pass we headed south to the Island County seat of Coupeville. My plan was to have lunch at Front Street Grill and introduce Lenny and Debbee to Mussels. Coupeville sits on Penn Cove which is known for their mussels. I forgot to take a photo of those mussels. Both Lenny and Debbee didn’t think they liked mussels but after they tried them they became fans.

Front Street Grill offers a whole page of mussels in different sauces that are delicious. This photo is from our trip to Coupeville with my cousin and we had the Coconut Green Curry Mussels. This time around we chose the Rockefeller sauce because someone in the group detests coconut! How can you go wrong with a sauce described like this “Spinach, bacon, Pernod, shallots, garlic and cream. The great thing is that all the sauces for the mussels were Gluten Free.

Whidbey Island 034Debbee and Lenny with Penn Cove in the background.

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Whidbey Island 044I thought this was a creative name for this stand located at the end of Front Street.

Whidbey Island 045We headed south again to our final destination on the island, the little town of Langley. We stopped at this garden store hoping some flowers would be blooming on these great trellises. The greenery was nice but we had missed the blooms.

Whidbey Island 050Langley

Whidbey Island 047Langley sits above Saratoga Pass.

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Whidbey Island 048My brother in law, Steve, sits on bench.

Whidbey Island 051We got a refreshment here and then headed to the Cinton Ferry Dock.

Whidbey Island 054I think this was Lenny’s first ferry ride.

Whidbey Island 058It was a still glassy day on the Sound. Another great tour behind us we headed off the ferry to meet Josh, Laura, and Dear for dinner on the mainland. After dinner we said our goodbyes to Debbee and Lenny since they’d be headed back to Southern California the following morning.

We had a busy weekend around here and Dear didn’t get as much done as he had hoped to on the bathroom. You know how it goes with projects in old houses you end up finding things that need to be re-done when you open up walls and take a good look at old pipes. I have a couple days off before I put my tour guide hat back on and I’ll be sharing later in the week about the largest tour group I’ve been responsible for to date.

What’s on the list for your first full week of summer?

Grub and Goodies from the Island ~

 

We ate dinner at the Front Street Grill on Penn Cove in Coupeville. We had Penn Cove mussels and Coconut prawns with very yummy sauces to start off our meal. Dinner was really good and we had a nice chat with the Chef since we ate early and there weren’t a lot of customers.

 

The next morning we had our breakfast at the B & B and enjoyed the company of a younger couple who were staying at the Inn.

 

We found a few fun treasures to bring home. The hanging candle holder is from a thrift store on the main highway. It was $1.75 and I saw it at a nice gift shop for $16.95. I found the Christmas dinner plates at a shop in Langley. I paid $25.00 for 10 of them. The 4 red heavy glasses were $12.00 at an antique mall in Freeland.

So after a trip to good ole Fred Meyer today I’m pretty sure I am all done with my Christmas shopping. I was happy to find out that Fred Meyer is giving a 10% discount to 55 and older customers on Tuesdays up through December!

Hope you are all doing well while counting down the days to Christmas…

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

The Island Life…

Some people love it, some people thought they’d love it. We love to visit and stay awhile.

 

The town of Langley is one of our favorite towns on the island and the Star Store is always a fun stop. We were happy it was open because all the other shops in Langley didn’t open till 11:00 a.m.

 

We stopped for photos before the rains came down and kept coming down for the rest of the weekend.

 

 

Greenbank was our next stop going North up the island.

 

Our destination was Coupeville. We stayed at the Blue Goose Inn. Is anyone wondering why it’s painted salmon?

 

Our lovely room.

 

We drove along a lot of back roads and saw some nice sights. We want to visit again in dry weather so we can get out and about more.

 

Thomas Coupe, a sea captain, took up a claim in 1852 in Penn’s Cove and from there the town of Coupeville grew.Coupeville is one of the oldest towns in the State.  Coupe has a distinction of being the only man ever to sail a fully rigged ship through Deception Pass. Penn Cove Mussels were a must for us to try while staying here.

 

On our way home the wind had really picked up and there were white caps on the Puget Sound. I’ve got a few more shots to share of our dinner and breakfast later this week.

 

Have a great day everyone!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.