No matter where you go or what you study, it’s best to have a home base or a benchmark. So the second year of Tidal Life begins with an introduction to how to Whidbey Island, the place it all started.
Whether living on Whidbey or visiting, water is the number one consideration. Water surrounds the island, it defines the beaches everyone comes here to enjoy, and it falls from the sky. A lot.
Whidbey Island Garb and Gear
Spring
In spring, Whidbey’s longest season, wear a light, water resistant jacket everywhere. Usually with a hearty sweater underneath. Be sure to wear a t-shirt underneath that. Jeans or khakis. Bring rubber boots, hiking shoes, running shoes, dress shoes and flip flops. It’s best to have at least two options in the car at all times. Some like the Birkenstocks with socks thing. Personally I find them useless, except for cafe sitting. Which can be done quite well in hiking boots.
Summer
In summer – which starts July 5 – I advocate a tank top and a jacket, but keep that hearty sweater near to hand for after sundown. Jeans and shorts. The flip flops are my staple and the hiking boots vie with casual sandals for second most worn. Forget the Birkenstocks, they’re slow.
Fall
In fall – which doesn’t attack in earnest until late October, though it lobs grenades from mid-August on – instead of the tank top, opt for a long sleeve t-shirt and augment the sweater with a fleece pullover. The rain coat is a must, no Bireknstocks, your socks will only get soggy if you’re going anywhere but the coffeehouse. Hiking shoes, running shoes and loafer or deck shoes are the keys to marching through this season.
Winter
Winter begins a few days after New Year’s, lasts until the last weeks of February when there is a mini-spring, then returns until roughly tax time. Start with the raincoat. Zip in that insulated lining. Bring the fleece and the sweater, the long sleeve t shirt should probably be a thermal mock turtle, a silk version for dress occasions. Jeans. Hiking boots or Sorels, leather tennies, dressy loafers with thick soles. Forget the Birkenstocks with socks except for sitting around the fireplace.
No matter what season, or what you’re planning to do, always pack a spare pair of socks.
Remember the unofficial Whidbey Island motto: What’s an Umbrella?
Boat Shows are Nothing New, but This Year it was an Education We’ve been to more boat shows than I can count. Our first child was born the morning after we attended an in the water boat show on Lake Union. She received a marine influenced name. This year’s show though, was the very first…
Defining the Intracoastal Waterway Depending on who you listen to, the Intracoastal Waterway might run from the Canadian Border to Miami, or from New York’s Hudson River to Texas, or from Norfolk, VA to the Florida Keys. But however you describe its ends, the ICW is not a nice, straight canal, but a series of…
If you live under a rock you may not have seen the photos of Detroit’s abandoned buildings that are making the rounds of the blogs. It’s my job to make sure you do, and to make sure you consider why this is such a waste. Not only are these old buildings gorgeous in their own…
Hiking – One or the many ways you can take the coastal path. Former Whidbey Islander Leah Claire, who now lives in Cornwall, sent this shot taken from the South West Coast Path. Being rather new to the British Isles, Leah couldn’t pin-point the exact spot where she took this. “We were somewhere north of Newquay….
Usefulness depends on your perspective – a lesson from Useless Bay When Captain Vancouver and his crew scrawled the words Useless Bay across their map, the name made good sense to them. For a ship the size of Discovery, this wide, shallow bay with a sand bottom provided nothing – no place to land and get to…
One Comment
Yeaaaa! She is afloast but moored to the post in the mainstream of her beloved Whidbey Island! Spend the seasons collecting cameos of the pulse and flavor of life.
Yeaaaa! She is afloast but moored to the post in the mainstream of her beloved Whidbey Island! Spend the seasons collecting cameos of the pulse and flavor of life.