Week on Whidbey

I spent last week on Whidbey Island in Washington State visiting our friends John and Sharon Vanderslice. John's second career after being a naval officer was as an attorney, and he and I started together at the City Attorney's Office in San Diego in 1986. They moved up here about 20 years ago. I'd never been to Whidbey before. It was beautiful, and it was great to see John and Sharon.

They live right on the water, at a place on the island called Useless Bay. As for me, I found it very useful for the pretty views. (Which, much to their chagrin, were impaired by the smoke from area wildfires.) It still looked good to me, and this was a perfect spot to sit outside and read.

Here is a view from the same place, just looking in the other direction (and on a different day). When the tide goes out (as it has in the above photo) it creates tide flats that you can walk on. Or ride horses on.

Sharon has two horses, but I don't ride. This is one time in my life when I wish I did. Meet Whitey. She's 30 years old. On this day, Whitey and their other horse Indy got new shoes, right in the comfort of their own driveway. I'd never seen the process of shoeing a horse, and it was interesting.

I went on a walk every morning. I walked on trails and through neighborhoods. It was very pretty and peaceful. Hydrangaes are some of my favorite flowers and they were abundant and in full bloom.

Blackberries were also everywhere. One day Sharon and I picked a bunch and she showed me how she makes blackberry pie. I also helped myself to blackberries straight off the bush when out walking. They were a sweet and delicious snack. Sharon and John have an apple tree in their yard and I got to have applesauce and apple crisp made from apples on their tree. In addition, we had an onion pie made from onions in their garden. And a neighbor brought over a couple of Dungeness crabs that he had caught, so one night we had a salad topped with crab. In other words, we ate what was grown and what was caught, and I loved that.

The other thing I got to do was hang out with John and Sharon in their lovely home. We enjoyed lots of good meals and good conversation. Sharon also took me around to see some of the other towns on the island, which I enjoyed. All in all it was an excellent trip and I hope I'll be able to return someday soon with Brad as I think he'd like it too, and he always enjoys seeing John and Sharon.

The route from their house to the airport involves a shuttle bus which then goes on the ferry. The ferry ride is only about 15 minutes long. Door-to-door it's not quite 90 minutes, including the wait to get on and off the ferry.

I loved that on the ferry there was a puzzle in progress. What a great idea.

The flight home wasn't too shabby either, as far as views are concerned. According to Brad, this is Mount Baker, as seen shortly after takeoff.