Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
VISITOR INFORMATION
Contact
Island County Tourism,
P.O. Box 365,
Coupeville, WA 98239-0365 (
&
888/747-7777;
www.donothinghere.com);
Central Whidbey Chamber of Commerce,
107 S. Main St., Coupeville, WA
98239-0152 (
&
360/678-5434;
www.centralwhidbeychamber.com); or the
Lan-
gley South Whidbey Chamber of Commerce,
208 Anthes St. (P.O. Box 403),
Langley, WA 98260 (
&
360/221-5676;
www.whidbey.com/langley).
GETTING AROUND Island Transit
(
&
800/240-8747
or 360/678-7771;
www.islandtransit.org) offers free public bus service on Whidbey Island.
FESTIVALS
On the first weekend of March, you can eat your fill of mussels
at the
Penn Cove Mussel Festival,
and in mid-July, Langley celebrates the visual
and performing arts with the
Choochokam
street festival. In early August,
there's the
Coupeville Arts and Crafts Festival.
In late February, aspiring pri-
vate detectives descend on Whidbey Island for the
Langley Mystery Weekend,
during which participants wander around trying to figure out who done it.
EXPLORING THE ISLAND
If you're coming from the south and take the ferry from Mukilteo, then the best
place to start exploring Whidbey Island is in the historic fishing village of
Lan-
gley,
which is reached by taking Langley Road off Wash. 525. Before you ever
reach town, you'll pass by the
Whidbey Island Vineyard & Winery,
5237 S.
Langley Rd. (
&
360/221-2040;
www.whidbeyislandwinery.com), where you
can taste a few wines before heading into town. Many of their white wines are
made from grapes grown here on the island, while their reds are made from
grapes grown in eastern Washington. The tasting room is open Wednesday
through Sunday from noon to 5pm (in July and Aug, open Mon also).
Langley today is a compact little village with a mix of sophisticated shops,
interesting art galleries, and good, moderately priced restaurants occupying
restored wooden commercial buildings along the waterfront.
First Street Park,
right in downtown, provides access to a narrow, rocky beach and offers views of
Saratoga Passage and the distant Cascades. A couple of blocks away, at the cor-
ner of Anthes Avenue and Second Street, you'll find the eclectic and artistic lit-
tle
Langley Park,
which is a great place to sit and sip a latte. Across the street
from this park, you'll find the
South Whidbey Historical Museum,
312 Sec-
ond St. (
&
360/221-2101
), a small museum housing displays on local history.
The museum is open Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 4pm (June-Aug, also open
on Fri); admission is a $2 suggested donation.
Four miles northwest of
Freeland,
which is the narrowest point of the island,
you'll find
South Whidbey State Park
(
&
360/331-4559
), with 2 miles of shore-
line, hiking trails through some old-growth forest, and a campground. Continu-
ing north, you come to
Whidbey Island Greenbank Farm
(
&
360/678-7700;
www.greenbankfarm.com), at Wash. 525 and Wonn Road in
Greenbank.
This
former loganberry farm is now a community park. For many years the farm was
known for its loganberry liqueur, and today, in the farm's tasting room, you can
still sample both this liqueur and a loganberry wine, as well as other wines from
around the region. In summer, you can even pick your own loganberries. In the
farm's main building, you'll find both the tasting room and a small cafe known
for its delicious loganberry pies. With its big red barns and rolling farmlands,
Greenbank Farm is as picture perfect a farm as you will find anywhere in western
Washington. A network of trails meanders around the farm property, making this
a good place to stretch your legs. Not far away, you can sample more wines
at
Greenbank Cellars,
3112 Day Rd., Greenbank (
&
360/678-3964;
