When KoKo and I arrived in Mt Vernon, WA, I stayed two nights and then I drove to Coupeville. leaving KoKo with friends Mabel and Mac. He made himself right at home and took over the house.
He loves the leather sofa in the family room.
The drive to Coupeville is only about 39 miles, but with traffic and construction it took me about an hour and a half, The cabin I was renting was not available on Thursday night so I drove back to Mt Vernon for the night. KoKo was glad to see me, but not over the moon and he slept at my feet rather than against my back. Snooty. The next morning I drove back to the class at Pacific Northwest Art School for the last day of Sue Benner's Expressive Dye Painting class. Again it took me about an hour and thirty minutes including an 8 minute stop at Quiet Cove Drive where a car had gone off the road into the woods and a large tow truck was trying to get it back on the pavement, requiring one way guided traffic in each direction. The northbound lane was backed up about two miles!! Glad I was going south.
Highway 20 goes over Deception Pass on a narrow and very old looking bridge between the mainland and Whidbey Island. People park roadside at either end of the bridge and walk across so they can see the water, rocks, trees, etc., below. It is a traditional thing to do. Each time I have been across there has been at least one person walking, but not I.
There are a number of lakes on the island and they seem very full and close to the road.
Since it is summertime and this is a big tourist area there are lots of motor homes, trailers, boats on trailers, kayaks on cars, etc.
The scenery is very lovely.
This sign is specifically for the Coupeville Inn, but it is right on the road near the waterfront and typical of the signage in the area.
The old wooden buildings back up to the waterfront and are intended to be "rustic".
A sort of boardwalk goes out to a building on the water housing café and tourist shops. To the right is a long pier with boats moored along it. The tide had just turned when I took these pictures and the beach was covered with Penn Cove mussels. A dozen or so gulls were flying down, picking them up, and then dropping them from a height to break them open and they gobbled up the raw mussels.
I, on the other hand, went to Christopher's restaurant up one block and dined on mussels cooked in a nice sauce. The reception desk held these lovely sunflowers.
Unfortunately, when I had eaten all 43 mussels the waitress whipped away the bowl of empty shells, so all I could photograph was the empty bowl and the bread and butter used to sop up the juice. They were very tasty.
I looked at the dessert menu again, everything sounded delicious, but all those mussels had prior occupancy!
Another good place to eat, according to others in the class, is Toby's which backs up to the waterfront. I didn't have a chance to try it, let me know if you do. Maybe I'll have time next trip up to Coupeville.
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