Last Day on Whidbey Island

Yesterday we left Fort Casey State Park and headed over to South Whidbey Island State Park to (1) dump our tanks (Fort Casey has no dump station) and (2) have lunch and do a little work while parked in the day use area. We took a detour through the (full) campground to check out the sites and they're pretty: wooded, close to the water (but no view spots), with trails through some beautiful old growth forests. After lunch and some work we did a hike down to the beach (I do mean down: .5 miles down and .5 miles back up). 

Next, we headed over towards Langley to meet up with some old friends we hadn't seen in way too long. Rose and Eric have three boys (Ben, Tim, and Nate) and a great house on a couple of wooded acres up near Baby Island. They graciously invited us to come for dinner and stay the night on their property. We parked on…well, basically, in their front yard. Kind of gorgeous there:

Kevin took the hex up and got some fun footage of their house and property, and the boys were SO into it. They asked Kevin a million questions…it was really cute!

Eric made some fabulous homemade pizzas for dinner, and then we all went out in the backyard for a bonfire. I love this shot of the fire with the island truck full of stuff to burn:

They've got a nice variety of chickens:

Including this fluffy headed Silkie who wouldn't hold still long enough for me to get a good shot, but this'll give you an idea:

Ben feeding the chickens:

These little feather-footed ones don't like to be photographed, but I finally managed to catch 'em off guard:

The backyard is huge and they've got a fabulous garden with fruit trees and berries and lettuce and peas and and and….and a great play area for the kids. Check out this swingset they built from their own cut down trees (taken while Rose pushes Nate on the swing, and Tim explains something very important to me):

Rose and Eric were so sweet and sent us off with a dozen fresh eggs and a loaf of bread Eric baked the night before. 

When we got out to the trailer, we had a guest. A guest who really, REALLY loved his beautiful reflection in the nice shiny truck: 

(The neighbor's peacock)

On the way out we stopped at the Bayview Saturday Farmers Market, but parking was, um, scarce…so we just pulled into the (closed) business across the street and did a quick run through. We picked up some lunch and a few things and got back to the trailer in about 15 minutes. I'll definitely come back to this market with more time when we're back on the island.

We took the the Clinton-Mukilteo Ferry and now we're back in Bothell for the weekend. I've got a photo shoot in Seattle tomorrow…good excuse to visit with Tiffani and Deke for another day or so before heading home on Monday morning.