The Island, also called by many, The Rock, is the largest (168.7 square miles), in the state of Washington. However, in the lower forty-eight, it is the fourth largest behind: Long Island, NY (1401 sq mi); Padre Island, TX (209 sq mi); and Isle Royal, MI (206 sq mi). After The Rock, Mount Desert Island, ME, comes in fifth at 108 square miles.

Whidbey Island is about 30 miles north of Seattle, and lies between the Olympic Peninsula and the western Washington mainland commonly called the I-5 corridor.

Whidbey Island, along with Camano Island, Ben Ure Island and six uninhabited islands, comprises Island County, Washington. The county seat is located in the town of Coupeville on Whidbey Island.

The First People who first inhabited this island were of the Lower Skagit, Swinomish, Suquamish, Snohomish and other Salish (or Salishan) speaking Native American tribes. The Salish name for the island was Tscha-kole-chy. These were peaceful groups who lived off the sea and land, with fishing, harvesting nuts, berries and roots, which they preserved over the winter.

All Salish languages are considered critically endangered, some extremely so, with only three or four speakers left. Those languages considered extinct are often referred to as sleeping languages, in that no speakers exist currently. The Salish language family consists of twenty-three language and dialects.

Next, the exlporers came to Whidbey Island, first in 1790 when Spanish expedition of the Princesa Real sighted the Island. However, in 1792, British Captain George Vancouver on the HMS Discovery fully explored the island and in May of that year, officers and members of Vancouver&primee;s expedition, Joseph Whidbey (master of the ship) and Peter Puget (a lieutenant on the ship), began to map and explore the areas of what would later be named Puget Sound. After Whidbey circumnavigated the island in June 1792, Vancouver named the island in his honor.

Having already claimed the area for Britain earlier, Vancouver, on 4 June 1792, near Possession Point at the southern end of Whidbey Island, took formal possession of all the coast and hinterland contiguous to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, including Puget Sound, under the name of New Georgia.

Thomas W. Glasgow filed the first land claim on Whidbey Island in 1848, attempting to become the first settler. He built a small cabin near Penn Cove, planted some crops and married a local lady, Julia Pat-Ke-Nim. However, Glasgow left the Island in August of that same year.

On 15 October 1850, Colonel Isaac N. Ebey arrived from Columbus, Ohio to became the first permanent white settler, claiming a square mile of prairie with a southern shoreline on Admiralty Inlet. He was first to take advantage of the free 640 acres offered to each married couple. Then, in the fall of 1851, his wife, their children, three of his wife′s brothers and the Samuel Crockett family arrived to join Ebey. In addition to farming potatoes and wheat, Ebey was also the postmaster for Port Townsend, Washington and rowed a boat daily across the inlet in order to work at the post office there.

Colonel Ebey also served as the first Justice of the Peace for Island County, as a probate judge and as Collector of Customs for the Puget Sound District.

Ebey′s Landing National Historical Reserve

Deception Pass Pass State Park (the most visited state park in Washington),

Joseph Whidbey State Park,

Fort Ebey State Park,

Fort Casey State Park,

Possession Point State Park, and

South Whidbey Island State Park.

Over the years, I have not camped in any of the Washington state parks because of the extremely high camping fees, currently from $27.00 (for a primitive campsite with no hookups) to $50.00 (for a full hookup campsite) per night.

Further, the parks charge an additional $10.00 for more than one vehicle parked at the campsite, and there is a fee or fifty cents for a three minute shower.

Awake, dress, drive to a w-mart for coffee and com. At three, I drive to the west side of the island to the Hastie Lake County Park to view the straight of San de Fuca and take photos of west beach while I wait for Andy to get home from work.

Like most of previous visits to this beach, the view of the Olympic peninsula, Straight of San de Fuca and Vancouver Island are all blocked by cloud cover.

I take off from the landscaping today to do some chores, one of which is to have the tires on the jammer balanced. I had previously had a flat on one of the newer tires and due to the d-mart tire department being closed due to the pandemic, I had to do a plug repair. Now, I would like for the tire department to take the tire off of the rim and do a permanent repair.

After I have the work on the Jammer′s tires completed, I drive to the city beach to study for the meeting tonight and see that it is a Rainier Day.

Awake, coffee, com, computer. I pound keys for a time so that I may prepare for the meeting today. I am already online and waiting for the host when the meeting begins. David, a local elder give the public talk and then we do the Watchtower study. Afterwards, I leave the w-mart to drive to the laundry mat a do a load of wash.

When my laundry is done, I hang all of my clothes up in the back of the jammer and then park it at the city beach with the rear facing the sun to do the finish drying while I look for a good photo of the sunset over the water.

Arise, drive to city beach and here see Venus but the city lights require that I find a better location. So, I drive to Dugalla Bay, which is much better, light wise, but from here there is fog covering the view to the northeast. I continue further north on the east side of the island and soon arrive at Ala Spit county park, drive down the approach road and upon arriving at the parking lot, there is already one other person here, set up with a telescope and camera, both on tripods viewing the comet.

I grab my camera, step out of the jammer and begin trying to spot the comet. Although, the dayglow is already begun, I am able to see the comet, but just barely. Then, as the day progresses, getting brighter, I continue taking photos of Ala Spit, the surrounding islands and even Mount Erie.

After a day of recuperating pounding keys and napping, I drive to the city beach to watch the sunglow on the harbor.

In the late afternoon I drive to the state park and take a hot shower, after which, I drive to West Beach to see the sunset.

After parking, I see that the tide is high, probably the highest I have ever seen it here. I begin with taking photos of the beach both to the south with the Olympic Mountains in the backdrop and to the north with the clifts at Ebey′s Landing in the distance.

When the sun approaches the horizon, I turn my attention to taking photos of the sunglow with the shore rocks and timbers in the foreground of the photos.

Finally, I drive back to the city to park in the g-mart parking lot.

Awake, dress in my fall blues, walk into the w-mart for coffee, com and computer and stay here until about two-thirty when I pack out and drive to the license plate office to ask a few questions. I find out that the day I choose to transfer my title to Washington, that day will always be the day that the license plates will have to be renewed. I decided that I would wait at least two weeks before I transfer the title so that that date will be closer to when I also have to renew my driver license, when is at the end of September.

When I open my eyes and look outside, I see that the overcast dreary sky has returned and it is raining lightly. I drive to the w-mart, go inside for a cup of coffee, check my com and then get caught up on my journal.

One of my good friends, JP, comes into the w-mart for coffee and asks me if I am coming to the Rocky Point Lodge today for the get together. I tell him that I did not know about it, nor where Rocky Point Lodge is located. He shows me on my computer and I tell him that I will see him there.