Whidbey Island Getaway

We recently returned from a quick trip to Washington state where we sent time in Seattle, Whidbey Island, Skagit Valley, and Bellingham. We had a great time visiting with family and friends. The weather was pretty decent - maybe 10 degrees warmer then Juneau and the autumn season was just starting to change. Lots of beautiful fall foliage covered the hills and trees along the streets. Lots of fall migrants, of the bird kind, were sighted along the farm fields and along the coast. We saw a lot of red tailed hawks, harriers, eagles, and smaller raptures.

We enjoyed a couple night's stay at Kate's Cottage at Maxwelton Beach on Whidbey Island. This vacation cottage is located at the lower end of the island, closer to the Clinton end. We picked up the ferry at Mukileo. What's cool about this route is that you get to drive through the huge Boeing plant at Paine field. There are several huge hangars and sometimes you see the planes outside. Right now one of the unions in on strike so all we saw where a bunch of people walking around with signs.

The ferry is only about a 20-minute trip and we didn't even get out of the car, especially since we had just a nice spot. It runs just about every 1/2 hour so getting on it isn't too much of a problem. I image in the summer and holidays it does get backed up.


The cottage was very cute - and just the right size for our group. There is an extra building that has two more bedrooms that we could have rented if we needed it. What more could you ask for: hot tub set at 101, fireplace with well-stocked wood pile, gas grill, nice kitchen with everything that we needed for the meals we planned.


and the view from the tub! The beach is just over the rise. You could walk in either direction for quite a ways (longer than we wanted to walk) and there was interesting shells, driftwood, and other beach stuff that was fun to look at.


Rachelle, Zac, Bella, Tisha, Marty, and Heidi enjoying the sunshine!


Zac and Bella enjoying the beachscape.


and Tim added to the mix (and apparently blocking the sun for me!)


So the funny thing about this cottage is that while reading the log book we realized that one of our friends, Genevieve had spend time here to celebrate her birthday last year!