Skagit Valley – My favorite places

We travel home to the gorgeous Skagit Valley each summer to see my family. The girls look forward to helping with the farm chores and I look forward to beaches, berries, and ice cream. My girls are constantly asking, all year-long, how many more days until we visit their grandparents.

We just got back from two wonderful weeks near my hometown of Mount Vernon, Washington. Mount Vernon is in the beautiful Skagit Valley, a farming town in the far northwest corner of Washington State. I grew up on a farm in Mount Vernon and have my favorite places to visit when I am home. (No, I’m not going to include Target or Menchie’s although we did see quite a lot of each other…)

Skagit Valley is known for its tulip festival, produce, farms, bald eagles, the Skagit River, Salmon, and rain. (I’m always asked about the rain when I tell someone where I am from, but I don’t think it rained all two weeks I was home. Summertime is gorgeous, warm and sunny. The rest of the year, yes, it’s probably raining)

My favorite places in and around Skagit Valley:

LaConner– One of my first stops when we arrive is to make a bee line for Calico Cupboard in LaConner. This little one old street town is absolutely beautiful. Calico Cupboard has the yummiest brunches and I dream about getting back there all year-long. They have an enormous pastry selection of gluttonous goodies. They are especially famous for their gigantic cinnamon rolls. My husband and I got married at my parent’s farm 11 years ago and we spent our wedding night in LaConner right across the street from Calico Cupboard. Obviously, as soon as we woke up I made sure we went straight in for some breakfast and pastries. Yum!

Tulip Festival– The beautiful and famous Tulip Festival is held every April. Growing up, we would always go see the snow geese in the spring time, then see the daffodils in March, then the spectacular tulips would arrive in April. I was so excited to go to Keukenhof last Easter for their amazing Tulip Festival after seeing our Skagit Valley Tulip Festival my whole life. It’s amazing what moving away makes me appreciate about my hometown. It’s absolutely gorgeous and I appreciate it all so much more now than I realized while I was growing up.

Deception Pass– Deception Pass Bridge is absolutely gorgeous, if a bit scary. Driving across this tiny bridge high above two steep cliffs with water so far down below is a bit scary for me, but the view is absolutely incredible. There is parking on either side of the bridge, but it’s usually so busy that it’s a bit difficult to find a spot. Another option is to park at the State Park and go on a little hike (there are 38 miles of hiking trails!) to the beaches and view the bridge from below. Both are stunning and worth the trip. We used to sail a lot to Rosario Beach and Bowman Bay which are absolutely gorgeous. I can’t believe the amount of times we crossed that bridge as a family and I was just riding in the backseat and probably not looking out the window to enjoy this site. And now, when I drive my girls over the bridge, my goodness, my heart drops to the floor and we need to get out of the car and take it all in. Just gorgeous.

San Juan Island Ferry– Any visit home must include a Washington State Ferry to the San Juan Islands. Getting there is the most gorgeous part of the journey. It seems like time stands still as we sit on the seats and look out the window at the gorgeous water, mountains, islands, and all the sea life. We used to sail a lot when I was growing up and I went to a summer camp in the San Juan Islands. I feel like it’s such a huge part of going home. This summer we took the Anacortes Ferry to Friday Harbor. The girls saw a drop off play place as soon as we got off the ferry and they loved it so much. I would definitely recommend it as the lady there was so nice and the place was large and very clean.

Padilla Bay– I love going to Padilla Bay Estuary Research Reserve in Mount Vernon. We park there, look through the mini learning center for the kids, then we head over to the Bay. This year the tide was out, way way out, and we squelched in mud up to our knees. It was so much fun, and gross, and something I had never done before. I came here as a kid in a field trip when I was in primary school and remember learning fun songs about the sea life and all about the tide pools. It is such a fun place to take the girls. And it’s a beautiful beach.

Snow Goose– I try to make sure all destinations travel past Snow Goose, and luckily they do! Snow Goose is known for their enormous ice creams. We get flats of berries, veggies, cheese curd and colorful baskets here. This is just a little road side stop, but when we arrive and smell the warm waffle cones and see the ice cream line, we are in heaven. My favorite flavor ice cream to order at Snow Goose is the Blackberry. I’m usually a salted caramel or coffee ice cream person, but seriously, the blackberry is mind-blowing. Hadley and Heike get rainbow sherbet. They usually order mango sorbet when it’s an option. There are so many flavors to choose from!

Fairhaven Historic District– Oh Bellingham. I have been coming to Fairhaven since I was probably my girls ages. I love walking the Historic District streets of Old Fairhaven. There are so many new and wonderful places to eat now! Then, we go down the street to the amazingly beautiful Boulevard Park (there’s a Wood’s Coffee there which is a true life saver!) And when there is time, driving along Chuckanut Drive is absolutely spectacular.

These are my very favorite things to do near where I grew up. I love to see them again and again each year and I get so sad each time on our trip when I think it’s our last visit to each of them. We had such a wonderful summer holiday in Washington State. I was so happy to have spent the last two days before our flight in the beautiful city of Vancouver. I hope to write about our excursions in Seattle and Malibu as well.