northern exposure

On Wednesday morning, the three of us (Kirrin, Jeremy, and myself) woke up slow, made breakfast, washed dishes, packed up, and headed out of Seattle for Bellingham. I had a few options of things to see with these friends.

Our first stop was at the Mukilteo Ferry dock. We arrived about 20 minutes before we had to drive onto the boat and enjoyed another cup of Ivar's Clam Chowder while we waited in the car and watched the police dogs sniff wheel wells for drugs or explosives or both. This ferry heads across Puget Sound to the south end of Whidbey Island.

Our first stop was in Langley; a much more quaint and whimsical town than I remembered from our junior high volleyball games. My friend, Brandi, had taken pictures of a coffee shop she visited there, so I was determined to find it as well. We each had a latte at the Useless Bay Coffee Company. Brandi's photos turned out better than mine!

The next stop was Fort Casey. Our school hosted retreats and outings at this State Park. The fort was built during World War II with two other strongholds in the Washington area. During the Cold War it became an evacuation shelter. The cement tunnels and rooms are quite dank and spooky to think about living in, but rather interesting to climb and poke around in. Kids run around this place screaming in the echoing corridors and chasing each other for a game of capture the flag. We also saw a doe and her two fawns nibbling on leaves as we snacked on nectarines in the car here.

Our last stop on Whidbey Island was Deception Pass. The northe end of the island is connected to Fidalgo Island by this bridge and Fidalgo Island is connected by another bridge to the mainland. You can hardly drive this stretch of road while visiting Washington and not stop at the Deception Pass bridge. We took a half mile walk down to the beach to look back up at the bridge, take some photos on the driftwood and look at the pebbles on the shore before heading back up and out toward Bellingham where we all stayed with Uncle Jerry and Aunt Faye for the night.