Coupeville – Riveted

Langley to Coupeville | Whidbey Island

Laura Domela — Wed, 15 Feb 2017 17:53:18 +0000

Sunset light from the dock Monday night at Langley:

We had a lovely dinner at Prima Bistro (and, after looking at the blog post from our last visit, it turns out we ordered the exact same thing as when we were here two years ago: bouillabaisse and the wild boar ragout over house-made pasta…predictable much?)

The weather was pretty and clear again in the morning and we left around 9:30am for Coupeville. It took us about 2.5 hours to get to Coupeville. By then it had gotten a little windy and cloudy. Our plan was to stop for lunch at Toby’s and then continue north to either LaConner or all the way to Anacortes.

We tied up at the wharf dock in Coupeville which is free during the day, then between 5pm-8pm changes to $5. We hear it’s about to change to $5 for 3 hours at all times of the day, and overnight will be somewhere just over a buck a foot. There were two guys out repairing things on the dock, and it was actually looking pretty good. No upgrades (like water or power) are planned.

Downtown Coupeville (“A Touch of Dutch” on the corner):

There was a guy (Chris) walking around town in a dinosaur costume handing out Valentine’s Day cards (from “Chris” to “a friend”) attached to small bags of candy hearts. He came into Toby’s while we were having lunch and walked around the restaurant handing out Valentines to the customers and the servers.

Then he sat at the bar and had a beer (the server told him it was her Valentine to him). His dinosaur did not look all that happy being smushed onto the bar stool, but I overheard him telling the server how much fun he was having in his costume, passing out Valentines. It was pretty sweet.

We left Coupeville and decided that we’d probably go all the way to Anacortes. The forecast for today was and still is 25-35 knots, wind waves 3-5 feet. Here in the marina it’s raining and gusting to about 30kts, so it’s a nice day to be tucked in and catching up on work and boat projects.

Coupeville and Langley (Whidbey Island)

Laura Domela — Tue, 25 Nov 2014 02:07:07 +0000

This morning we got up early and after a shower and a quick breakfast we said goodbye to LaConner (above) and headed toward Coupeville, a small wharf town in Penn Cove on Whidbey Island.

Crumpled shack on the way out of the Swinomish Channel:

Bald eagle hanging out on a piling, watching us pass by:

Surf shack on Whidbey:

We decided to stop in Coupeville for some Penn Cove mussels at Toby's. Toby's is the red/white building on the left:

Approaching the wharf:

Docked and heading to town for lunch:

Not too busy at this time of year, is it?

Toby's is great…a dive(ish) bar, with really good steamed Penn Cove mussels with garlic bread.

A little view of our Airship out the window:

Perfect bar ambiance and super nice people.

And the mussels were REALLY good:

Here's our route from LaConner to Coupeville:

We headed back out to Airship after lunch and then made our way further south to Langley. The weather was kinda crappy, but still totally fun in the boat. Looking back from the pilothouse window:

A bit of wind, and some wind waves (2-4 feet) but Airship is so solid. Nothing creaks, clanks, or blams at all. Even in this!

We arrived in Langley and met up with some good friends (Hi Rose, Eric, Ben, Tim, Nate!) and it was a blast to have them on the boat with us for a bit (us there on the far right)! This is when we saw them last, on Whidbey with our Airstream (too long ago!)

After that visit we headed up into town to wander around a bit and popped in to say hi to some fellow Airstreaming friends who own the Poppybank Gallery (Hi Leslie & Chris!) It was nice to see their gallery finally (beautiful spot…if you're in Langley you should definitely stop in and check it out). They asked us if we had time to join them for a drink or for dinner, or if we had plans. Rose & Eric had recommended Prima Bistro, so we said we'd planned to go there, and it turns out…Leslie and Chris were planning to have dinner there tonight (it's Monday – bouillabaisse night!) so we all walked over and had a delicious meal there! Drinks, charcuterie, cheese, and then bouillabaisse and a wild boar ragout over house-made pasta (oh hi, Italy!) The food was fabulous, and we had a nice time catching up and visiting with Leslie and Chris. The last time we saw them was at Dave and Ann's Farmlet in Petaluma.

What a fun day on the water, and a great evening catching up with friends!

Oh, here's our route from Coupeville to Langley:

Fort Casey State Park via the Whidbey Island Ferry

Laura Domela — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 00:12:46 +0000

We hopped on the ferry this morning (with our truck, our Airstream, and our Hobie) and headed for Whidbey Island.

It was fairly effortless, actually. We showed up about 5 minutes before the ferry arrived (if that) and got right on it. Arrived at the Clinton ferry terminal and headed north toward Fort Casey State Park.

All spots are first come first served here, some with water and electric. We were hoping for one on the waterfront side, but they were all taken. Still, we have a nice view…it just has a few other RVs in it this way. :) Here's one of the Port Townsend/Coupeville ferries coming into the landing (view from the dinette):

This is not a great photo of the campground, really, but it's what I've got (Admiralty Bay/Puget Sound is straight ahead, and on the left):

We've got some work to do today, and we'll explore a bit later this evening.