Whidbey Island Trip Log

[Ian Curtis]

This past Sunday my wife & I took our model A on a ~140 mile trip around Whidbey Island here in Puget Sound to kick off the touring season.

We left Snohomish at around 8AM in a heavy drizzle by way of the bait & tackle store to get a Discover pass as we couldn’t find our existing one. These $30 / year passes are required for parking at state parks here in Washington State. We also stopped at McDonald’s for breakfast burritos and coffee. This is the first time I’ve used the magnetic cup-holder I bought a few months ago, and that thing is worth its weight in gold! We cruised across the Snohomish river valley and through Everett to arrive at the Mukilteo ferry. We just missed the 9:00 AM ferry, so we sat at the dock for a half hour waiting for the next ferry. Conveniently, the rain stopped and the sun broke through.

As we had just missed the first ferry, we were the first off the boat in Clinton. We took a right on Bob Galbreath Road, and headed up along the east coast of the island to Langley. In Langley we took a walk along the shore, and wandered through a few shops and up to Useless Bay Coffee for second coffee. Langley is a great little town, it reminded me of some of the towns on the San Juan Islands, but much easier to get to.

Then we set off across the island, mostly on back roads, to Double Bluff beach. Thanks to the tiny-ness of the Model A, we were able to grab a questionable parking spot and had a nice walk on the beach. True to the name there were some impressive bluffs, as well as a great scenic view down the sound.

From there, we drove north along the west coast of the island, along Bush Point Road which becomes Smugglers Cove Road. This merges back onto 525, and then we took a left on 20 towards Fort Casey. We were pleasantly surprised to have 525 mostly to ourselves. The view on 20 driving down towards Fort Casey was pretty spectacular. At Fort Casey we had our one scary moment of the trip. This horrendous noise started intermittently in the engine compartment.

Luckily, it turned out to be a loose heater manifold. Certain engine vibrations would start it vibrating and it would make the most terrible racket. I tightened the two bolts, and it was fixed. It kept working its way loose again and again over the course of the trip, eventually on the way home I just took it off and set it in the bed. I also dumped in about a quart of oil here. We had left the house about halfway between empty & full, and were at the L here. I checked again when we got home and hadn’t lost any. Sometimes I go through a lot of oil, and sometimes very little… and there doesn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason.

After Fort Casey, it was north on South Engle Road to Coupeville. We stopped for lunch at the Oystercatcher, which was quite nice. Great oysters, wonderful mussels, fantastic bread – we also had some “””poutine””” which was interesting but not at all poutine. Lunch took a while, so at this point it was getting on in the afternoon, and we still had a lot of driving and exploring to do. We drove along Madrona Way taking in the sights of Penn Cove, and then merged onto 20 up to Deception Pass State Park.

We parked at the lower lot by the Deception Pass bridge. There was a short jaunt down the beach where you could look up to the bridge, and then a short trail up the bridge itself. You can walk across the bridge (quite an experience!) and then we wandered around a few trails on the Fidalgo Island side of the bridge down to Lottie Bay & Bowman Bay. Just a wonderfully scenic place. We headed back to the car at around 3:30, and were back on the road by 4.

Driving across the bridge was a real treat, the bridge is just a couple years younger than the Model A. Once across the bridge highway 20 continues across the southern part of Fidalgo Island. We took a right on Reservation Road through the Swinomish Reservation to get away from traffic, which was a nice road through the woods I had not been on before. This takes you through the small town of La Conner, and then out into the Skagit Valley.

At this point, our destination was Snow Goose Produce, farm stand and ice cream extravaganza. For $4.50, you get a homemade waffle cone with an ice cream scoop that is almost the size of your head. We were not the only people with this idea on a sunny Sunday afternoon, so we stood in line for at least half an hour to get our ice cream. It was after 5 at this point, and the sun was getting low, so we wolfed down our “dinner” and were back on the road.

We took 534 to 9. I had never been on 534 before, that was a nice country road as well. I really love SR 9 north of Arlington, so I enjoyed the next 10 miles. South of Arlington 9 becomes pretty busy, with rolling hills and lots of stop lights not timed with the Model A in mind. Particularly the intersections with SR 92 & 20th St SE. We made it home around 6:30, completing about 140 miles of Model A driving with several hours of wandering & hiking. A long day!

Previous Trips
Olympic Peninsula
Sauk Mountain
Chuckanut Drive
Spada Lake
Mountain Loop Highway

[Simonpie]

Sounds fun! When I was a kid we spent weekends in a cabin on the Swinomish Reservation. To this day I feel weird buying seafood. You can just get it for free out of the water!
Lots of great roads in that area.

[frank mcdaniels]

Ian looks like a lot of fun and your pickup looks great. When I was a kid in the sixties my first model A was just like yours. My older brother and I would spend weekends cruising and looking for old Fords. We could switch drivers while still going down the road and not stopping. I wouldn't recommend that anymore. We would take sleeping bags and sleep in the box. Tail gate down of course. We were always welcomed when we drove into places that had old cars because of being in the Model A. Later, Frank

[Art Newland]

Nice! I could follow along on your trip in my mind. Maybe some day I'll get to drive my car again.

[Dick Steinkamp]

Ian,
Thanks for the report. I like that you included a map. Made it easy to follow along.

[asapguy]

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Ian, glad you had a great trip. See ya at the MOA's mtg. in two weeks.

[Doug Linden]

Sounds like a great trip. Enjoyed reading your report. My traveling buddy and I stopped by Fort Casey while on our cross-country tour and stopped by the lighthouse for a photo-op.

[Tacoma Bob]

Great read Ian. Aren't we blessed living in Puget Sound country.

[1930artdeco]

Keep posting travel ideas I am planning on transferring up to the Seattle area next June-or there abouts.

Mike

[JtownJoe]

It sure is gorgeous county up there. Took my basic at Ft. Lewis back in 65' and fell in love with that area!

[Ian Curtis]

I agree it is a beautiful place! So much varied scenery within a day's drive, and even more in a weekend! I always enjoy seeing other people's trips, so I figure by posting ours maybe a few more people will be inspired. It's nice to get the Model A perspective on which roads are fun and which roads are less fun.

A couple more pictures...

View on the way across the Sound


Model A Parked at the Keystone Spit


People on the beach at Deception Pass


One impressive bluff that gives Double Bluff Beach it's name

[37Benny]

Originally Posted by Ian Curtis

I agree it is a beautiful place! So much varied scenery within a day's drive, and even more in a weekend! I always enjoy seeing other people's trips, so I figure by posting ours maybe a few more people will be inspired. It's nice to get the Model A perspective on which roads are fun and which roads are less fun.

A couple more pictures...

View on the way across the Sound


Model A Parked at the Keystone Spit


People on the beach at Deception Pass


One impressive bluff that gives Double Bluff Beach it's name

sweet you put your bumper badge on

[rtruax]

Welcome to Whidbey Island! I get to live here. Also Whidbey A's Club is here. We would love to show anyone around.

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by rtruax

Welcome to Whidbey Island! I get to live here. Also Whidbey A's Club is here. We would love to show anyone around.

My office building is in Harbour Pointe, as we were driving around my wife said, "You know, it isn't THAT far away." I met a few Whidbey Island folks in Anacortes a few years ago at the old Antique Machinery show. More touring is always better! I'm sure there is lots more to see.

I neglected to mention, coming home & looking at the odometer we've now put over 2700 miles on the Model A since we bought it in early July 2014. That's not too far off from my stated goal of at least 1,000 miles per year.