Whidbey Island is just 30 miles north of Seattle and super easy to access either by Ferry from Mukilteo or bridge across Deception Pass. This makes it perfect for a day trip with little ones. Read on for everything you need to know for a Pink & Fluffy trip to Whidbey!

General Itinerary:

9:30 – Ferry from Mukilteo

10:00-11:30 – Beach time at Double Bluff Beach

12:00 – Lunch at Greenbank Farm, Whidbey Pies Café

1:00-2:00 – Explore Fort Casey

2:30 – Treats in Langley and/or wine tasting at Spoiled Dog Winery

3:35 (or 4:05 depending how the winery went!) – Ferry crossing at Clinton

Bring:

Your Dog!

Beach stuff, croc-type beach shoes, and a full change of clothes for after the beach

Snacks, plus veggies & chips to beef up the kid’s lunch

Hats and Sunscreen (seriously, there’s no shade on this island…)

Kites

Discover Pass for parking at Fort Casey (they do sell day passes at the park – should take credit card, but maybe bring $10 cash just to be safe)

Do Not Bring:

A stroller – we went with 3 kids ages 5, 2, 7 months and didn’t pull ours out of the car once. We did use the Ergo for the baby, however.

Weather:

This day trip is great on any non-rainy day. Since there’s such little shade on these parts of the Island, I don’t think I’d actually do this trip on a really hot day.

Details:

The last time we headed up to Whidbey it was a 70-degree, sunny Sunday in May. You would think the place would be super crowded, but not the case at all. We got to the Mukilteo Ferry at 9:23 (yes, very specific…) and made the 9:30 crossing – so seriously not busy. But the ferry runs every 30 minutes, so if things are different the day you go, it’s not a total nightmare. I had a friend go the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend and she had to wait about an hour going, but no time at all coming back. When you’re taking any ferries in the area, try and think about the times people would be crossing if they were going to their cabins for the weekend. For example, Memorial Day weekend Saturday morning going to Whidbey: crowded. Memorial Day weekend Monday afternoon leaving Whidbey: crowded. But if you go mid-day Sunday you’ll probably have a quicker time.

This crossing is very short – like maybe 20 minutes. Just enough time to head up to the potty and snap a few cute obligatory ferry deck photos. My new personal favorite:

Now as you may already know, we have a sweet 8-year-old Golden Retriever, Corby. When we head out for the whole day we usually try and bring her along – more than 6 hours at home alone starts to feel a bit like animal cruelty, in my opinion. So, this day trip is 100% dog friendly. Now if you like dogs, but don’t have one, this is still the trip for you. If you’re deathly afraid of dogs read on, I’ll throw in some alternate suggestions!

Our first stop off the ferry is Double Bluff Beach. A huge section of this beach is a dog off-leash area. If you’ve got your pup in-tow this is amazing. If you don’t, then regardless of your feelings about dogs, I’d stick to the area of the beach closest to the parking lot and not included in the off-leash area. Dogs are cute, but they poop, and owners don’t always see them doing it, so miss picking it up… you get the idea. And of course, dogs pee everywhere too – but then again, so do my boys, so that seems like a draw.

The parking lot here is very small. We were lucky to find a spot right away, but since people use this beach as an off leash area the turnover in the lot seemed fairly constant. If you get there and the lot is full, I bet you’d catch a spot if you waited for just a bit.

This beach truly has it all: sand, rocks, driftwood, SHOWER FOR RINSING THE KIDS OFF AFTER!!! The sand bit is really nice – usually Puget Sound beaches are rocky, so having sand to dig and play in is a treat. The driftwood on this beach is impressive too. Great for fort building, or you can just enjoy the ones already there. Pop your head into them before your kids do – just to check for beer bottles, etc. We were there last time at a high tide so I’m not sure if a low tide would also give you some classic northwest beach features like tidepools and rocks to turn over. Check the tidal charts if that’s important to you, but we had fun at the high tide and there was plenty of beach to enjoy. We wore rain boots when we went – my normal ‘northwest beach’ footwear of choice. But since it was warm and there was so much sand I think I’d do crocs next time instead. The kids were barefoot pretty quickly, and putting their rainboots back on afterwards was a mess.

Since we walked down to the dog part of the beach, we probably had a 5 minute walk before we found a spot to camp out. Because of that, we didn’t bring a ton of stuff: waterproof picnic blanket for the baby, bucket of beach toys, one towel, and a backpack with essentials in case of a blowout, etc. I made sure the boys snacked before we got there – sand and snacks are not my favorite combo.

There’s a shower right next to the bathrooms that was running when we were there – I feel like showers at places like this sometimes aren’t working in the off season, so I thought that was a good sign! We stripped the boys down and did a full outfit change. I just ran back to the car quickly to grab our change of clothes & shoes. Bathrooms themselves were in pretty bad shape, but got the job done. If you’re not having an emergency might be worth it to wait until the next stop…

… which was Greenbank Farm for lunch at Whidbey Pies! This farm is charming and has a few different fun things to check out. Whidbey Pies is there, of course. But there are also gardens, shops, art galleries, dog friendly walking trails through the fields, and a small swing set/playground area. When it was a working farm it was the largest grower of Loganberries, so if you’re trying to be super local grab a slice of Loganberry pie for dessert after your lunch!

We popped into the café and ordered lunch to go – the wait for food was probably about 10 minutes, so not terrible. But if you feel like that won’t work for your impatient family you could call ahead on your drive over. I had their take on a BLT and a side salad, which was very good. They made just basic grilled cheeses for the boys, which wasn’t technically on the menu. They didn’t sell any ‘kid friendly’ sides, like chips, etc. so we reached into our snack stash in the car – next time I’ll bring some cut up veggies and fruit to make it more of a complete lunch for them. But don’t forget to order a few slices of pie to share for dessert! We sat outside at a picnic table right near the swings. When the boys finished their lunches they ran around and played while Kevin and I sat for a bit. The inside of the café is very cute – so if your children are more well behaved… (like for example: they’re girls ) you could sit and order from an indoor table.

After lunch we headed for Fort Casey State Park – the early 1900s defense and training facility on the west side of the island. The remaining buildings (and “disappearing guns”) are fun to explore – and by fun I mean: fun for my boys, frightening for their parents! This place has not been kid proofed at all and feels like it’s the exact same as it was 100+ years ago when taken out of commission. If your kids are difficult to corral, you might choose to skip this bit or just stick to the grassy field. There are adult sized ladders for climbing, steep cement drop offs for falling off of, and insanely narrow 30 foot tall bridges for teetering across! My kids are decent listeners (well, at least they were that day…) and we were able to explore the structures safely and together .

Bringing a kite to fly in the grassy field would be a fun activity as well. And if you’d like to go take a peek at the lighthouse down the road, that could also be a safer option.

Next we headed to Langley for a little afternoon treat. There are a couple options here for you, depending on the nature of your sweet tooth – either Sprinklz Ice Cream or Sweet Mona’s Chocolate Boutique are good choices. You can take a stroll through this cute little town with your treat in tow. We’re in-and-out of “cute little towns” fairly quickly these days. Stopping into a “cute little shop” with my “cute little boys” sounds like my worst nightmare (and probably the owner’s as well…).

Another option (or in addition to the treats) is to stop at Spoiled Dog Winery for a little tasting and some outdoor lounging. The kids can run around and play lawn games.

And from there it’s just a 10 minute drive to the ferry! Hope this helps make your next adventure to Whidbey Island Pink and Fluffy!

Links:

Ferry Schedule: https://www.wsdot.com/ferries/schedule/

Tidal Charts: https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/noaatidepredictions.html?id=9447854

Double Bluff Beach: https://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/double-bluff

Greenbank Farm: https://whidbeycamanoislands.com/greenbank-farm

Whidbey Pies Café: http://www.whidbeypies.com/

Fort Casey State Park: http://parks.state.wa.us/505/Fort-Casey

Sprinklz Ice Cream: https://www.sprinklz-icecream.com/

Sweet Mona’s Chocolate Boutique: https://sweetmonas.com/

Spoiled Dog Winery: http://spoileddogwinery.com/

Destination Addresses:

Mukilteo Ferry Terminal: 614 Front St, Mukilteo, WA 98204

Double Bluff Beach: 6378 S Double Bluff Rd, Freeland, WA 98249

Whidbey Pies Café: 765 Wonn Rd, Greenbank, WA 98253

Fort Casey State Park: 1280 Engle Rd, Coupeville, WA 98239

Langley: 105 Anthes Ave, Langley, WA 98260

Spoiled Dog Winery: 5881 Maxwelton Rd, Langley, WA 98260

Clinton Ferry Terminal: 64 South Ferrydock Road, Clinton, WA 98236