SPONTANEOUS DAY TRIPPIN' || WHIDBEY ISLAND || WASHINGTON || USA || FEBRUARY 2018

So guys, I’ve got what the young kids today would call a “bae”; I like to call said “bae”, “my person”; In society, said “person” would be generally recognized as a “boyfriend”. I’m being so extra in this description right now! Haha! Anyway, he’s the sweetest and comes up with the best ideas for daytime activities, as those are my favorite types of activities because I’m #28GoingOn82 and I cannot hang!

I was having a not so good day and he decided to take me to an island; sounds romantical, right?! The great thing about living in Seattle is the plethora of islands, mountains, beaches, nature activities, and city life, all within an hour drive or ferry ride of each other.

We decided to take a ferry, on Saturday morning, to Whidbey Island, which is actually a real island and NOT a peninsula, as I thought, while we were driving back home. The island is just close enough to the mainland that it can be deceptive i.e. “Deception” Pass. On our way, back we drove through Deception Pass but we’ll get to that later.

We started off by packing up the car with my dog (Aja), our snacks, and enough water for all of us. We then drove to Mukilteo Ferry Terminal and waited in line. We got there a bit earlier than the ferry’s arrival so we talked, ate chips, and watched Grown-ish on the iPhone. I do this cool think where I put the phone in the sun glasses case at the top of the car. It makes it look like we are in a movie theatre.

Once the ferry arrived, we drove on, parked, and got out of the car to take pictures and look at the water. It was cold so that was a smooth 2-minute activity before we headed back to the car. It felt like about a 20-minute ferry ride and we were on the island.

Our first stop was spent grabbing a quick bite to eat at Whidbey Island Bagel Factory. They have a huge variety of delicious bagel flavors, cream cheese options, and sandwich options. I got the Lox sandwich, no capers, add tomato, on an onion bagel because that’s my favorite way to eat a bagel. My person got a blueberry bagel with plain cream cheese. He likes to keep things simple. Aja rarely gets “people food” but since we were out, I shared a bit of my salmon with her because it’s her favorite thing.

After the bagels were devoured, we headed to Whidbey Island Distillery. They have a free whiskey & liqueur tasting and tour so if you’re looking for a free way to get a slight mini buzz…*hint hint*. There was some valentine’s day event going on while we were there, so it was super crowded but we still were able to get a good experience from the staff. We tried their Bunker Rye Whiskey, Blackberry Liqueur, Loganberry Liqueur, Raspberry Liqueur, and Boysenberry Liqueur. I purchased the raspberry liqueur because all of the flavors were delicious but this was our favorite but also, I needed to re-up on the raspberry liqueur in my bar because I was out. Check out my “love day” inspired cocktail featuring the Whidbey Distiller Raspberry Liqueur; Bourbon & Black Love.

When the tour was done, we headed out to explore the rest of the island. We drove to a private beach, I learned how to skip rocks, and we let Aja play around for a bit.

Side Note: My person is way more comfortable letting Aja off-leash than I am but it’s been working out. She’s been doing really well and I’ve definitely chilled out more.

We drove along the beautiful evergreen lined country roads; saw cows, horses, barns, and experienced the small town feel of the island.

Since we were already on the road, we decided to just drive back home, taking the scenic route. It was about a 2-hour drive back. Unbeknownst to either of us, we were about to come up on what we later found out was Deception Pass. We absolutely had to stop and walk along the bridge and down to check out the AMAZING view! At the time, my best friend decided to FaceTime me so she got to come on the hike too, at least virtually.

I love being able to explore my own backyard, and find such food and beverage gems; especially in the, “say it with me” “DAYTIME!” because my bedtime is at 8pm sharp! Haha!!

Thanks for reading all these words!

Love ya-self. Love others. Love ya-snacks.

Happy Exploring,

Taste Tutor

TRAVEL BLOG THURSDAYS - WHIDBEY ISLAND