Whidbey Island Part 1


It was early morning on Monday, October 23, and where was I? The Fresno-Yosemite International Airport. EEEK! I am terrified of flying, and here I was ready to blast off into the wild blue yonder, to see my family in Washington for several days. I was looking forward to seeing them, but getting there... Flying? This was NOT going to be a fun experience... Yikes!


I got through security pretty easily...no line that early in the day.


The terminal was also pretty empty.


As time for the flight approached, I had a Xanax. Would Xanax work for me? God, I hoped so. Especially since I was --GASP!--flying ALONE!!!!


The flight for Seattle was called.


There was the plane, waiting to take me away. YIKES!!!!!



I was NOT in first class (Hello!?!), but apparently I was in something called "Premium Class". Who knew? I got to board before all of the other peons (well, after First Class, of course). And then I got a fancy snack box that was just for Premium Class passengers, dahling.


 The riff raff in the back got a little mini-biscotti and a plastic cup with soda poured in it. But I got the biscotti, a bloody mary and the contents of my Premium Class snack box--all complimentary. (Of course, those losers in First Class got a whole meal. Whatever... ). Hmm... Bloody Mary? While FLYING!?! Time for another Xanax!


Who knew I was in Premium Class? I was merely 3 rows back from First Class in the same crappy seats as the rest of the nobodies on the plane...only slightly closer to the front. (Apparently my seat was the end of the Premium Class area, too. But there was no way of telling really. It was just some random designation.


Unfortunately we in Premium Class did not get to use the First Class toilets. No, we had to mosey on back to the tiny potty in steerage. Jeepers! I couldn't even stand up in it.


As we approached Sea-Tac, I could see the San Juan Islands. Somewhere down there was my family. I couldn't wait to get to them...or at least get on the GROUND!


At the airport I dashed to get to my shuttle. If I reached the loading area quickly enough, there was a chance I could go on an earlier shuttle---or I'd have to wait several hours for the one I was scheduled on.


Made it! Just in time.


We were soon underway...



Here was Seattle (The Space Needle is on the left). Next time I head up there, I'll have to spend some time there. My sister and her family live there and...there are several tiki bars calling my name that I've never been to. Oh my STARS!


We were soon coming up to the ferry station in Mukilteo.



Jeepers! What a difference it makes taking the ferry in the off season on a weekday. It was NOT full at all.



Once on deck, I got a shot of the Mukilteo lighthouse compound.


And then I saw this in the snack bar?  Eeew. What the heck is THAT!? Appetizing...NOT! Gross.


The Mukilteo-Clinton crossing is relatively short, only about 20 minutes, if that. And here we were, arriving in Clinton, gateway to Whidbey Island...


After several stops along the way to let passengers out, we finally approached Coupeville.


Mom was there to pick me up. Once we got in the car, our first stop was the house on Alexander. It's the house she bought "for me" to live in, when I eventually move up there. In the mean time, she is working on it, trying to get it ready to be a vacation rental.


She has really worked hard on it. The last time I saw it, the previous March when it was up for sale, the place had been pretty well trashed. Mom bought it and has worked and worked on it. I'd get reports all of the time of what she did---and feel bad because here I was in Clovis unable to do anything and there she was busting her butt working on it. That was my goal for the trip---to help my mom with the house.


Even though the house was built in 1978, visitors to the island like everything old fashioned. So Mom is doing her best to Victorian-ify the place. While there is construction clutter everywhere, you can really see how the house is taking shape.





This shower (in the master suite on the main floor) was coated with crayon graffiti when I had seen it last. Now it looked new again.


Here is the view from the upstairs master suite (Yes, there are TWO master suites) window. You can see it's close to the library (the green building with the red door on the left) and just up the street from the wharf and cove and downtown.


Here is a view out the back windows. It is of the Coupeville Commons area, where they host farmers markets and other events.


Here is another bedroom upstairs.


And the third upstairs bedroom.



Here is the upstairs guest bathroom for the two bedrooms.


And here is the stairway down to the main level.


From the entryway looking back


Here is the powder room in the entry, right next to the stairs.


Here are the stairs from the main level going down to the ground floor.


Here is the bedroom downstairs. Mom refers to it as the "tiki room". She thinks I should have an in-home tiki bar in this space if/when I move there.


Here is the deck and commons through the sliding glass doors of the studio apartment on side of the house.


Since most hotel rooms have two queen-sized beds, she is putting two queen beds in the studio. That way families can travel together.



Here is the studio's bathroom.



Another view from the deck.


The kitchen area in the studio. Mom wants to knock the walls out at the end that create that doorway and make a little eating area back there. It's storage now.


Here is another porch over the car ports that are in front of the garage (see the picture below this one).



Mom has a fear of big trees blowing over and on top of houses  (and the wind can get mighty fierce up there, let me tell ya). Here are, I think, the ONLY trees left on the property...except for, I think, a birch tree in the back.


Here is a side exit from the living room area of the main house.


Here is the Coupeville Wharf on Penn Cove.


Downtown Coupeville...


My favorite store...


The Knead & Feed (gray building) is a bakery on the top and a restaurant down below. It was the shop Sandra Bullock owned in "Practical Magic", which was partially shot in Coupeville.


Downtown from the back side.


As mom was driving me around, we saw some deer wandering through a neighborhood near the water.



Deer are everywhere. It is amazing to see these creatures just right THERE. My brother has a side yard and they sleep there all of the time. It's just... Wild.



Here is the last photo I took that day. It is a big rock near the high school, spray painted to point out an upcoming attraction for the Halloween season, the Haunted Barn. The rock is a community rock. Everyone uses it and paints over it all of the time. The Haunted Barn sign itself would become a thing of the past before the Haunted Barn even happened.


Mom had arranged for she and I to attend a class at the library on financial planning for businesses that evening (the business being the house on Alexander being a vacation rental). I was so tired from my trip and I told the presenter I had just flown in and needed two Xanax and a bloody mary to do so. The whole class was a blur and I was valiantly trying not to nod off during it. Zzzzz. When it was over, we went back to mom's house and I was soon asleep. Tomorrow would be another day.

Stay tuned for Part 2.

CHEERS!

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