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Whidbey Island

February 2, 2016August 7, 2018
by Ashley Gossens

My husband, Nali, and I were invited to spend the past weekend on Whidbey Island with friends. We started off the weekend with a leisurely hike at Ebey’s Landing. It’s one of my favorite winter hikes and the sun even came out for us, just a little. The trail starts off parallel to farm fields speckled green with winter plantings. The lush green rolling fields reminded me of my home state Pennsylvania.

Soon the trail comes to a tee at a bluff overlooking the Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains. The ferries and container ships crisscrossing the Sound looked like bathtub toys from our vantage. As we headed up to the right, a hang glider swooped overhead with a red, white, and blue sail. We waved and Nali barked at him, startled from his sudden appearance. From there its a short climb to the long winding section along the top of the bluff.

We admired gnarled trees and the winter textures of the dried grasses, oregon grape, and thick thorny bushes. It’s nothing but grand views from the bluff trail. A driftwood covered spit carves out a large lake of green water, calm compared to the opposite side where big frothy waves crashed. Toward the end of the bluff, the trail switchbacks down to the beach to make a loop.

On the beach we turned into the cold headwind and I wished I had a scarf. We scattered out, heads down and hands in our pockets scouring the surface for anything interesting. Nali found and ate some dried bull kelp and dug holes to find who knows what.

By the time we reached the stairs to return we were quite frozen. The incline back up the hill was welcome as it generated some body heat. On the way back we passed by Isaac Ebey’s old home and blockhouse.

Ebey was the first settler on Whidbey Island in 1850 and he and eight family members lived in the house while they farmed the neighboring prairie land. The blockhouse was built as defense in response to continuing conflict with the Native Americans who were displaced from their land. Ebey lived there until he died in 1862. He is buried at the Sunnyside Cemetary, just across the road from the trailhead.

We returned to the cabin just in time for sunset. We poured some cider and headed to the deck with our cameras. The sun lit the clouds in gold as the air grew colder. We went inside and warmed ourselves by the wood stove.

The next morning we explored Langley. Well, mostly we explored the bookstore, Moonraker Books, admired enormously chunky Italian yarn, and grabbed some great coffees. Then our friends made us marvelous cheddar rolls for lunch. After a never ending January, it was the perfect winter getaway without getting too far away.

Hikes featured in this post:
Ebey’s Landing

Road Trip

Big Sur

April 16, 2015August 7, 2018
by Ashley Gossens

My oldest sister lives in Monterey, California and by about mid-March I feel a strong urge to escape the gray clouds and rain of Seattle and get some sunshine and sister time. This year my husband and I both made the trip and my sister and her boyfriend took us car camping in Big Sur. We arrived early on a Saturday morning, crammed our stuff into the already jam-packed SUV and stopped at Trader Joes to stock up on food. Now the vehicle is officially at max cargo capacity. I’m comfortably snuggled between old cook pots, paper towels, my backpack and Trader Joe’s wraps and honey wheat pretzels as we cross the Bixby Bridge and wind down the Pacific Coast Highway, one of the most beautiful highways on the planet.

We set up camp at Ventana nestled in the shadows of giant redwoods along a babbling brook. My jaw drops at the shear size of the tent that will be our home for two days. I’m even more blown away by my sister’s nylon palace that dwarfs her 6 foot tall boyfriend. I realize later that these tents are actually smaller than average based on the mega tents we see popping up in other spots. My husband blows up our queen size air mattress (!) that fits with room to spare in the tent while I check out the nicest outdoor bathrooms I’ve ever seen and with showers (!). We northerners are not used to such luxuries.

By now the clouds are burning off and it’s time to explore. We first head to McWay Falls, the classic overhead view of a majestic waterfall crashing onto the beach of a aqua blue cove. We then head across the street to the Ewoldsen Trail. The wooded trail follows a small creek up to an open meadow overlooking the ocean with orange and purple wildflowers. Some young spring breakers catch up to us and yell to each other, “we NEED to go down to that meadow!” They run down the spur trail and we watch as they take selfies in the flowers. Another girl passes us carrying a beautiful crown of fresh lupines. We continue along the trail now through a high stand of gnarled oak trees interspersed with the tops of redwoods and return to the creek, the coolness of the water refreshing us. That night the guys made us tri-tip steak with fresh salad and a fancy delicious red wine. Later we sipped cold beers, roasted marshmallows and ate at least three s’mores a piece.

The next morning it was raining and we slept in. Upon finally rolling out of the tent my sister had coffee and chocolate chip cookies waiting for us from the Big Sur Bakery. She made us a delicious egg scramble with sharp cheddar and avocado and then we hit the trail. The day’s goal was the Tin House, an abandoned house made of tin perched high up on the jagged mountains. The house was built in 1944 and was apparently abandoned after one night because the tin was too noisy. But like most of these kind of hikes, the journey was more exciting than the destination.

We climbed through a redwood forest recovering from a burn in 2008, the trail lined with sorrel, red columbine and starflower, plants I recognized from the northwest. Somehow we got on a wrong trail and climbed higher and higher through increasing brushy terrain to an old homestead. We couldn’t see the views since we were in a rain cloud, but I bet they were spectacular. We retraced our steps and found the main trail to the tin house. The collapsing and burnt structure is really an eye sore but it provided shelter while we ate our Big Sur Bakery chocolate chip cookies. Someone left a journal and a pencil for visitors to leave notes. We thumbed through, contributed some words and continued on the trail.

As we descended it began to rain again, the redwoods mysteriously standing guard in the fog seemingly protecting us. As we get farther down the rain let up and the sun began to poke out of the clouds. We turned a corner and the trees gave way to stunning views of the coast line.

To close the loop we crossed the highway and stopped to rest at a pull-off parking lot. As we nibbled on snacks a giant of a bird flew down toward us and soared right over our heads. I pointed out the clearly visible number on its wing as a nearby tourist told us it was a California condor. The condor went extinct in the wild in 1987 but have since been reintroduced and now over 200 live in California.

We stumbled back to the car after a long day of hiking. We showered and went out for a nice dinner at the Big Sur Roadhouse complete with champagne toasts. We skipped dessert though, we still had more s’mores to make over the campfire. They sure do know how to camp in California. I fear that our humble lightweight backpacking tent and sleeping pads will disappoint us on our next car camping trip. But when we grow too weary of our meager set-up we will return to the redwoods to be pampered once again.

More info about Big Sur:

Hiking in Big Sur

Hikes Featured in this Post:

McWay Falls, Julia Pfieffer Burns State Park

Ewoldsen Trail, Julia Pfieffer Burns State Park

Tanbark Trail & Tin House, Big Sur

Road Trip

Skagit Valley

April 2, 2015October 11, 2018
by Ashley Gossens

April means tulips around here. Much like the phenomenon of leafers that drive slowly through New England in the fall to admire the changing leaves, western Washington comes down with a bit of tulip mania this time of year. Seattleites flock 60 miles north to Skagit Valley to gaze upon miles of natural rainbows, the famous tulip fields. And like their counterparts in the northeast they are driving slowly, not to slow down to enjoy the views, but because they are stuck in endless traffic on I-5.

Seattleites are not the first people to fall in love with the colorful bulbous perennials. Tulips were introduced to Europe in the 16th century from Turkey. The intensely colored flowers were like nothing else in Europe and were considered a status symbol. As international trade flourished in the region, tulips became wildly popular, influencing one of the greatest art movements- the era of Dutch still life painting. Between the years of 1634 and 1637 the price of rare tulip bulbs skyrocketed as investors dumped money into tulip futures. But like financial bubbles tend to do, this one burst in 1637. The tulip is still associated with the Netherlands where 4.32 billion bulbs are produced each year.

The state of Washington produces a fraction of that: 200 million tulip bulbs a year, 75 percent of the nation’s tulip crop. The flowers bloom as early as late March through April and later depending on the weather conditions. The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival has been celebrated over the month of April since 1984. Events include street fairs, salmon barbecues and fun runs. Roozengaarde and Tulip Town are the growers to visit. My favorite is Roozengaarde with its smaller specialized gardens featuring rare varieties. Admission to the gardens is $5 and they open at 9am. You can also enjoy the fields without spending a dime. Just wander on the back roads until you run into the tulip fields, or check out the Bloom Map to see which fields are currently blooming.

You could easily spend an entire weekend or more exploring the tulip fields and gardens and the nearby towns of La Conner and Mt Vernon. It’s also a great area to bike as the valley is flat and the fields spread out throughout the valley. However, I like to just spend a couple hours tiptoeing in the tulips, arriving right when they open thus avoiding the crowds and leaving the rest of the day for nearby exploring. I usually head east and spend the rest of the day at Deception Pass State Park or wander slowly south on the back roads through the farmland that reminds me of rural Pennsylvania where I grew up. The area is also a great place for bird watching as many migratory birds make their way through the area.

More about the Skagit Valley:

Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

Bird Watching in the Skagit Valley