"There" was, of course, Huntsville, Alabama. "Here" is Coupeville, Washington. That's Washington State and we're on an island in the northwest corner of the state. So we're also pretty much in the northwest corner of the 48 contiguous states. For those of you wanting the precise location, Coupeville is at latitude 48° 13.118' north, longitude 122° 41.007' west.
To help orient you to "here", we've provided a bit of a description of the area. Click on any image to see a larger version (in a new window). Some pictures are large, but we're working on that.
| Coupeville is a small town in the central area of Whidbey Island. Whidbey Island is located at the north end of Puget Sound and the east end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. |
| Whidbey is a "real" island. To get to the southern part, you take a ferry across Possession Sound. To get to the west central part, you take a ferry from the Olympic Peninsula across Admiralty Inlet. And to get to the northern part, you island-hop on bridges from the mainland to Fildago Island to Whidbey Island. |
| The bridge from Fildago Island to Whidbey is 200 feet above Deception Pass, a narrow strait with powerful tidal currents. Deception Pass State Park is the most visited state park in Washington. The picture suggests why. |
| Whidbey is considered by the locals to be the longest island in the 48 contiguous states. Although quite irregular, it's 45 or so miles in the longest direction, varying from about 1 to 10 miles in width. The claim of "longest island" results from a ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court in the mid-80's that Long Island, NY was, in fact a peninsula. This ruling probably owed more to political considerations than geological considerations, but it provides the basis for Whidbey's claim. We haven't checked all the other islands in the 48 states, so we'll go with local opinion. |
| Central Whidbey is also in the Olympic rain shadow. The Olympic Mountains act as a wall that protects the northeastern Olympic Peninsula and various islands from the bulk of the rain that moves into the Pacific Northwest. The dominant airflow during rainy days is from the southwest. As that air runs into the southwestern face of the Olympics, the mountains push the air upward. As the air lifts, it condenses and loses its moisture. Once the air reaches the Olympic Summit, it's pretty much lost all its moisture. As it goes over the top of the mountains and comes down the northeastern slopes, it sinks. And just like rising air condenses, sinking air dries out as it encounters warmer air near the surface. So you already have semi-dry air becoming even drier. That's why our area gets around 20 inches of rain a year, less that half that of Seattle. Seattle, despite it's reputation, gets less rain than Huntsville. We won't tell you about the Puget Sound Convergence Zone (PSCZ). You'll have to look that up yourselves. |
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Coupeville, population 1750, is the second oldest town in Washington. Front Street has many old buildings and still reflects the character of a frontier seaport when Puget Sound was being settled. The Wharf House is the oldest remaining in Washington. |
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Coupeville is at the center of Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve, a unit of the National Park Service. The reserve provides a vivid historical record of Pacific Northwest history, including the first exploration of Puget Sound by Captain George Vancouver in 1792; and early settlement by Colonel Isaac Ebey, an important figure in Washington Territory. For more information, you can look to the National Park Service. |
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The principal activity in Coupeville, aside from shopping, eating, and sleeping, is festivals. The festival season begins in the first week of March with the Penn Cove Mussel Festival, rises to a peak in mid-August with the Coupeville Arts and Crafts festival, gradually subsides through the October with the Scarecrow Corridor display, and ends in early December with the Greening of Coupeville and various Christmas Parades. |
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Finally, here's a picture of our house. Located just outside of Coupeville, it is surrounded by firs and indigenous rhododendrons. We have abundant songbirds and other wildlife, including deer. We also have fir needles. Keeping fir needles out of the house is an unending, and ultimately futile task. But we try. |