Emily and I took the ferry up to Whidbey Island this past weekend. My mom has a little cabin on Penn Cove — about two hours from Seattle if there's no line-up at the boat.Her place is right across the water from Coupeville, one of the older towns in the state, and home to Toby's, where we stopped on the way up to watch the Skins/Cowboys game. Mussels are the hometown specialty — aside from Prince Edward Island, Penn Cove is one of the biggest producers of blue mussels in North America — and Toby's does them right.We met Fritha, who just biked all the way from Whidbey Island to Mexico by herself — and Rita, who is just about the sweetest bartender on the planet.Outside we said goodnight to Elvis, the Coupeville wharf cat.The next morning was freezing cold and all the spider webs were covered with dew.We went for a walk on the beach. It's really cool, you can see both the Cascades and the Olympic Mountains when it's clear enough.We always look for beach glass and agates……and whatever else washes up.Barnacles are underrated as a design inspiration.Someone's fort was still standing.Two seagulls harassed a bald eagle overhead.Emily found a nice piece of lodgepole pine.
"I want to bring this piece of wood home for the cats to scratch on."
"It's too big, I don't think it will fit in the car."
"We should put a big piece of wood in our apartment."
"Yeah but let's leave it here. It'll dry out, and you can get it next time."
"But what if someone else takes it."
"I think you might be surprised how little competition you have."
"Okay."We also took a little walk in Ebey's Landing. There's a great 3.5-mile loop along the bluff but it was a little too foggy, so we decided to save it for a better day.We hit up some thrift stores on the way back down to the ferry, and had lunch at the Dog House in Langley. 2008 marks its hundredth year in business. I prefer Toby's but the Dog House is good too.This was our first trip to Whidbey since we've been back, and I'm looking forward to going up there more. It's great to be able to take a mini-vacation and feel like you've been away for a long time.