A predicted minus 2.6 foot low tide, as low as local tides go, drew me to a different beach this summer in early July. It was Libbey Beach County Park, located just north of Fort Ebey State Park, accessed by following Libbey Road to the west for about 1.5 miles from Highway 20. I had …
Category Archives: Recreation
Rookies Race the Reserve
“Never leave your wingman,” is what I always think (and sometimes say) when my race running partner starts to fret about us sticking together during a race. In this case, it was my 11 months older, 52-year-old sister JoDee, who took up running in April and now, fewer than four months later, was running her first …
Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight
When our son was eleven, we agreed to get him a dog. I had in mind a quiet, loving, sweet-tempered, mid-sized creature that would race to the door to greet him, wag its tail often, walk obediently by his side, sleep at the foot of his bed and spend a little time on my lap. …
Double Bluff County Park
This weekend I finally had the chance to revisit one of the most vast, flat, sandy, scenic beaches on Whidbey Island: Double Bluff County Park. According to the Washington Department of Fishing and Wildlife site, “While the tidelands are a State Park, Double Bluff Park (the upland portion of the park) is operated by the Friends …
Rosario Beach, Head and Tide Pools at Deception Pass State Park
Shh…Don’t tell anyone. Arrive on any non-summer-visitor-rush day at Rosario Beach and you will likely be alone. I know, right? Unfortunately, most folks must visit during the summer months, which are also awesome, as long as you don’t mind sharing. And I don’t. First, the tide pools, also known as the Urchin Rocks, for reasons …
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Scrapy Sounds, Stinky Smells and…Serenity
If my same-size sister and I had known that the canoe our neighbors agreed to loan us weighed nearly as much as one of us, we’d have handled things differently. Our plan: to lift, load and transport the dark green Coleman X Scanoe to our destination seven miles away: Cornet Bay, part of Deception Pass State …
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Channeling Frederick
Frederick, the title character of one of Leo Lionni’s many wonderful children’s books, is a mouse that seems to be daydreaming and shirking his preparing-for-the-winter-months duties while his mice friends work. But when winter comes, he does his part by sharing the memories he collected and lifting their spirits. Last week Tuesday while others in …
South Whidbey State Park
Last week, for the first time during the decade I’ve lived on Whidbey Island, I made my way to South Whidbey State Park, located between Greenback and Freeland. The Washington State Parks site says, “South Whidbey Island State Park is a 347-acre camping park with 4,500 feet of saltwater shoreline on Admiralty Inlet. Park features include old-growth …
Red Devil Challenge 25K Trail Run
A few months ago, my cousin Steve suggested we run a marathon. I’d been burned by stuff like this before, the event suggester talking me into it, then backing out. Plus, I’d already been there, done that (marathon), so I tried to find something different that might work and did: the Red Devil Challenge 25K …
Wild About the Islands’ Flowers
Two years ago, I came upon a plant while doing what else, running, on the Lighthouse Point trail in Deception Pass State Park. I had never seen the flower before but suspected it was an orchid. I was right. It was a Calypso bulbosa, common name: Fairy slipper orchid. From that day forward, this plant …
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