I promised a ferry ride for Jackie’s Echoes of My Neighborhood (acookingpotandtwistedtales) share. I hope to see your neighborhood there!

This was taken in February with overcast skies, so I’ve included a couple of older shots so you can see the Mukilteo Light House and a good shot of the ferry.

We’re going to Whidbey Island on the Mukilteo to Clinton Ferry. It’s one of the shorter ferry rides – about 20 minutes. You can see the Washington State Ferry route map to get a perspective on the location.

Hard to get shots while boarding, but here we are on the left side-deck on the way to Clinton, WA. Ferry holds up to 140 cars.

20 minutes later we’re deboarding at Clinton.

Right/Left decks merging to exit the ferry. (There’s upper/lower right/left deck and bottom center deck. Passenger deck upstairs.) FYI – I don’t know if all ferries are this way, but ours never turn around. The Captain moves to the cabin on the other end and reverses engines. The worst snafoo I ever saw was a problem with engines not reversing.. the ferry DID have to turn around and 140 cars deboarded IN REVERSE… took 1 1/2 hours.

Arrival at Whidbey Island – Clinton Ferry Dock.

Whidbey Island is the longest island in the USA – 40 Miles from end to end. It’s a cottage community on the south end – B&Bs, Artist and Glassblowing studios, galleries, wineries.. go to the beach, or get lost in a pristine forest. (for another post)

Boarding for return trip to Mukilteo.

Stairs to the passenger deck.

Lots of whale traffic in Puget Sound. The grey whales arrive in April in the Saratoga Passage off Clinton/Langley to feed on shrimp. They slam their tails on the bottom to stir them up into the water.

The huge passenger deck doesn’t see that much foot traffic, though this level includes concessions if you need something to eat or a cup of coffee.

View coming home – almost saw the sun.

Looking back at the Clinton ferry dock – we’re riding the Tokitae.

Deboarding – back in Mukilteo.

Deboarding – continued.

A picture of the ferry on a much prettier day. My daughter and I first moved to Washington from Kansas, the Great Plains (flat) in the middle of the USA, so it was pretty novel that anytime you wanted to go for a ride on the water, you could just go take a ferry ride.

Hope you enjoyed! Thanks, Jackie, for the motivation. 🙂

in lak’ech, Debra