As for last weekend's excursion, the reasoning boils down to this: one of my younger siblings wanted the house all to themselves, in order to celebrate their birthday weekend with friends. My Mom jumped at the opportunity to get away for the weekend, and check out one of the many exciting vacation destinations around the Pacific Northwest. Originally we were planning a little Cannon Beach excursion down on the Oregon coast, but after VRBO prices proved prohibitive and my ceaseless begging to take a ferry ride won out, the date was settled: I packed a bag and some hiking boots, and scooted off to the Whidbey waterfront for a little island time.
For those keeping score, this is actually the second vacation of my parents' that I've crashed so far this year: the three of us stayed an overnight in a haunted castle in Port Townsend back in January. (Which made for some pre-ferry-boarding shopping this time around, because we already knew which stores we liked best!)
This time, though, I was venturing off with an intention: there was no way I was getting out of this weekend without finishing at LEAST two reads under my belt! In particular, I wanted to wrap up a book I've been wandering through for a while, take out another from the Big Box of Paranormal Romance, and just generally get some reading time back that I've been missing out on for the past few weeks.
Where We Went: Whidbey Island
Whidbey Island one of the longest, skinniest members of the San Juan Islands, and the largest overall island in Washington State. It is primarily accessible by way of several ferry systems through places like Port Townsend and Mukilteo, or driving around to Deception Pass at the Northern tip of the island. It's also home to several towns, including Langley, Oak Harbor, and Coupeville.
Whidbey seems to have something for just about every Birkenstock-and-sock-wearing PNW traveler. For instance, area farms produce plenty of produce, meat products, and more, and the island boasts a great many farmer's markets, which makes it a regular destination for locavores. It serves as a home to multiple wineries, breweries, and even a cider house, which is why it's considering an exciting tasting destination. Old growth forests, multiple protected state parks, and miles of coastline - each with their own diverse and exciting flora and fauna - make it a playground for nature lovers. It's waterfront views and friendly locals make it a great place to just get away from it all and relax.
It's a popular destination during the summer for what are surely obvious reasons, but there was plenty to do during February, as well! Sure, the ice cream shops may still be shut up for another month, but we explored cool shops, dined at some truly lovely restaurants, and yes, of course, did an awful lot of reading. Or, at least, I did!
What I Packed
The one I had to finish: Best American Food Writing 2020, ed. J. Kenji Lopez-Alt
The next in my Paranormal Romance Reading Challenge: Bustin', Minda Webber
The one I want to pass on to my brother when I'm done: Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City, K. J. Parker
and an extra romance novel on my Kindle for good measure, of course!
Is it a lot of books? Yes. But should this have surprised anyone? In fact, it did the opposite, if you're my mom: in the car on the drive over, she and my Dad played a speed round of guessing "How Many Books Did Savannah Bring for This Weekend?" Not only did she immediately guess the correct number, but she even nailed my rationalization for bringing four books, as well, saying, "Well, one is for Friday night, and one is for Saturday morning, and one is for Saturday evening, and one is for Sunday, before we leave!"
Did I manage to make it that far into my optimistic TBR? Not exactly. Still, I maintain that this is the appropriate number of books for a weekend excursion.
What I Actually Ended Up Reading
I finally finished reading the second half of Best American Food Writing 2020 on Friday night, and immediately found some new all-time favorites. I've been a dedicated fan of the Food Writing series for a while now, and they make for some of my favorite secondhand or discount finds (that being said, I think I've exhausted almost all of my backlist resources now, and am two away from being fully caught up).
This installment, in particular, made for some of the most compelling selections of the entire series so far: while the articles published within were all written within the 2019 food writing year, they were selected and organized at the top of the pandemic, and that divide - between who we were, and what would very quickly become important to us - makes for some seriously compelling subtext. I don't want to get too much into it before I publish an official review, but it made for some of my favorite food writing in recent memory. And that's not just because of the really stunning article about the questionable history of crab rangoon.
I rocketed through Bustin' in just about one sitting, on Saturday afternoon. To be fair: the weather was incredibly cold, windy, and rainy for pretty much the full weekend - we are in February, in Washington, after all - which made it incredibly easy to curl up in front of the fire with a blanket and a good book for about a four-hour stretch.
The book itself was less easy, for reasons I'll get into later, when I officially review this read underneath the umbrella of my Paranormal Romance Reading Challenge. Not to tease you or anything, but this ended up being a much more cerebrally-tasking excursion than originally anticipated, and one that I pretty much subjected my parents to reading along with me, as I kept having to stop and incredulously read selections out loud. (I also ended up winging off several excerpts to my horrified brother via text.)
Due to various components of the novel itself, it took a lot longer to read than I had originally anticipated. It's a good thing that we were trapped inside because of that winter weather: being that I was caught between the February rain and a *ahem* hard place, the only thing keeping me going was with a strict reading schedule.
I read halfway through Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City on Saturday night.
Who would have thought that a relatively linear medieval-style alternative universe, wherein a walled city is being besieged by intelligent and unrelenting pirates, defended only by the various military strategies orchestrated by one ornery engineer, would make for such a compelling vacation read?
After working so hard to get through Bustin' - and with the completion of Food Writing 2020 so recently on the backburner - I was already happy with the amount of reading I'd done for the weekend, but wanted to get at least a little of the way into a new one before heading out the following morning. Needless to say, one chapter turned to two, until it was 11pm and I was ready for bed, but not exactly ready to put the book down just yet.
(Spoiler alert: in the time since, I haven't quite finished the novel, because I've spent a little too much time looking at Goodreads reviews for it... and I took a look at the final chapter, because I was getting anxious about how it all would end. Yes, yes, I can hear your booing from here! It was a series of total mistakes on my part, that have kind of stalled me in picking up again since then... but believe it or not, I'm still planning on finishing it!)
What Else We Did
I know I mentioned the amount of rain we got while on the island, but I truly believe that had we not spent so much time driving around beautiful trees, checking out tourist shops, and eating at such delicious restaurants, I might have been able to get even more reading done!
My Dad bemoaned one morning this week, after we'd made it home, that sometimes, it feels like the vacations we take are really just food tourist weekends, and honestly, he's not that far off the mark (At least for me it is!). Unsurprisingly, there were a few restaurants we really loved on the island, that I would absolutely be willing to make a return trip to in the future.
Saltwater, in Langley, is a higher-end dining establishment specializing in - you guessed it - seafood, and was our sought-after table for Friday night. They don't take reservations, so make sure you have someone in your party go in about a half-hour before you'd like to be seated, and use your waiting time to walk around some of the local shops, or snag a glass of wine or two at Ott & Hunter across the street.
It's definitely on the pricier side, but for me - someone who prizes seafood above all else, and rarely ever gets it - it was well worth it to splurge on the seafood tower, which came with a half-crab, the largest shrimp I'd ever seen, and twelve oysters (and you choose the variety). Split between three people, it made for delicious fare, that really made me get into the waterfront vibes that Whidbey is known for.
The Braeburn Restaurant, also in Langley, boasts one of the highest-regarded breakfast+lunch+brunch lineups on the island. The overall vibe was bright and welcoming, and the drinkware was an eclectic mix of stylized water glasses and mugs that look like they were picked up at a nearby thrift store.
The food is amply portioned and absolutely delicious: faves included the breakfast bread pudding, and the "Braeburn" sandwich, which consisted of a fried chicken breast suspended between two waffles, complete with bacon jam, goat cheese, and maple butter to go alongside. Definitely one of those places where you can't help checking out the plates being delivered to other diners as they walk through the dining room... one of my best friends calls it one of her favorite places to eat on the island!
Of course, there are plenty of other local faves to check out for take-with-you goodies; most notably, delicious breakfast pastries, super-sweet truffles, and one of the best pies my parents have ever tasted.
Little Red Hen Bakery, in Coupeville, has shelves upon shelves of delicious baked goods ready for pickup on a Saturday morning... literally. If you place an order by Thursday evening on their website, they'll have a full box of goodies ready for you to enjoy with your Saturday coffee, without having to battle it out against the rest of the island for the last kouign-amann or ham and cheese scone. We went into the store on Saturday afternoon - to procure any treats for our pre-ferry breakfast the following morning - and were surprised to see they were still pretty well-stocked, especially when it comes into their fragile-yet-delicious croissants (Both chocolate and almond are delicious). 
Greenbank Farm is heralded as the home of Whidbey Pies, which are known across the Puget Sound area for their flavorful, sturdy crusts, and fresh fruit fillings. In the summer, its grassy picnic areas, dog park, and solar farm probably make for a good afternoon's exploring; even in the rain, we still found time to drift through the wine tasting room, the cheese shop, and yes, pick up a pie. We'd recommend Loganberry: Greenbank Farms was once the largest loganberry farm in the world! (And we even picked up some loganberry dessert wine from the tasting shop, too.)
Sweet Mona's Chocolates, in Langley, made for a seriously sweet outing, too. Tucked inside the colorful shop was a selection of delicious truffles, as well as other kinds of treats, like honeycomb, fudge, and more. We ended up putting together a box of twelve to take home, in flavors like cherry amaretto, banana, and more, and we've been using them as an afternoon pick-me-up all week!
Of course, there are plenty of cool non-food-related things to do on the island, too. Local stores make for some low-key shopping destinations while you're in town.
In particular, Coupeville was where I found some of my favorites: Kingfisher Bookstore is a gorgeous, well-organized bookstore, with plenty on offer for those interested in the history of the Puget Sound, as well as buzzy new releases, classic faves, and even displays created to celebrate local authors.
For someone who's always on the hunt for their next great arts-and-craft supplies, Meet Market made for some very cool perusing, as well as some happy conversation with the person manning the front desk. Not only are there plenty of supplies to check out, but there's also a few tables set up with plenty of others, as a community art space! My Dad spent the time I dedicated to browsing making an origami frog out of some scrap paper, and left it as a thank you for such a wonderful space. I, of course, walked away with a new set of Tombow brush pens (in the "Retro" color collection), a pack of new pencils, a new white gelly roll pen, and some stickers for my siblings.
Soon enough, though, the weekend was over, and we headed on a ferry back to the mainland. I'm pretty stoked on how many books I managed to fit into our all-too-brief stay, but I'm honestly just as excited about all of the seafood, fresh air, and time next to the water we got, for all of that rain we had to contend with. I can't wait to make another return trip to Whidbey soon!
But there's a whole lot of other travel that has to take place before we get there again...
Have you spent much time on Whidbey Island? What are some of your favorite genres to pack on a weekend trip? Let me know, in the comments below!
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