Published in USA Today!

I've gone big time! Well, I wish there was a write up about the Lovejoy Inn in the newspaper - we've had a couple local mentions, but I just found out a photo I took last summer was used in a USA Today story about places to camp.

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/10great/2009-07-16-state-park-volunteers_N.htm

USA Today - Travel - Destinations - City Guides - 10 Great Deals - July 16

"10 Great Places to Pitch in a State Park"

USA Today featured Ebey's Landing National Historical Reserve (a National Park that encompasses all of Coupeville) as a place to camp - we have two State Parks within the National Park). I helped promote Ebey's last summer for their 30th anniversary celebration and 1st ever Ebey's Forever Conference so anywhere I went around here, I snapped pictures.

Well, my "Cabbage" picture has now received national recognition. It's okay as photo's go, but MY PICTURE AND NAME ARE IN USA TODAY!

Now I'll go back to cleaning the Carriage House and Penn Cove Rooms.

Whidbey is the Greatest this Summer!

We can't believe we live on Whidbey Island this summer. Probably 4 nights a week, our family has dinner on the front porch overlooking Penn Cove, or on our back patio. That's because it's warm, sunny, dry. It's crazy, but what a treat.

Our Lovejoy Inn guests are loving it too. Our inn is already a happy-relaxing place, but to have all this sun! Joy joy joy! The guests just leaving today came down from Vancouver BC with their 5 month old daughter. Loved the Carriage House, the balcony, dining at the Oystercatcher and walking through town. Once they parked in our driveway, they haven't needed to drive till they left.

3 nights this week we had a family from Atlanta that lived in Coupeville 12 years ago. To them, Coupeville hasn't changed - picnics, walks on the beach, Toby's tavern - they lived it up.

And ... this week is Whidbey Island Race Week - a sailboat regatta where most of the time the boats are racing around Penn Cove. I get distracted everytime I look out the window. The best place to watch is downtown Coupeville and the Coupeville Wharf.

Happy Independence Day!

Last night we watched an amazing fireworks display down in Freeland – about 20 minutes south of Coupeville. Sitting on blankets with our kids running wild in the dark on the golf course, it was loads of fun! This is the first fireworks our family has seen together, usually our kids are in bed, but we let them stay up to watch the show that started at 10:20pm.

There are more festivities today in Freeland, Langley, and a parade and fireworks in Oak Harbor. Coupeville doesn’t have any official 4th of July offering, other than Main Street being lined with American Flags. Unofficially, some Coupeville waterfront areas become a war zone with fireworks purchased from the Indian reservation (these are not the “safe and sane” variety.) So tonight, there will be multiple mini-fireworks shows and we’ll stay up past our bedtime.

Lovejoy Inn has guests form Napa, Everett and Chicago today!

From the “home of the free and the brave” – Happy 4th of July.

Coupeville Memorial Day Parade Tomorrow!

One of our favorite things about living in Coupeville is the Memorial Day parade held on the Saturday morning at 11:am of Memorial Day weekend. The parade route goes down Main Street, turns left on Front Street, and the up Alexander, and right on Coveland to the park where free hot dogs and sodas are waiting for the weary parade participants and viewers.

The parade often begins with a flyover down Main Street of a Navy Jet from the Naval Air Station that is located at the north end of the island. It's quite an impressive kick off to one of the sweetest parades in the Northwest. Here a just a couple photos from parades in years past:

Hooray for Coupeville Arts Center!

Hooray for Spectators!

Hooray for Central Whidbey Little League!

Come and witness some true community pride tomorrow! We will be scouting out the oboe player in the Coupeville High School Marching Band....and the new Lion in his shiny vest....and the Central Whidbey Softball player...

See you there!

Speed Blogger - Signs- Sunshine

Friday 4/23 8:46am.

I’m going to write and publish this post by 9:00am – speed blogger!

Sunny, high of 60 degrees, blooms on the fruit trees and tulips opening up around the yard.

We’ve had a number of Coupeville Arts Center students stay with us here at the Lovejoy Inn this past month and it has been wonderful. Nice creative folks, diving deeper into watercolor, art quilts, photography, you name it. We are a 10 minute walk to the art center so it’s the perfect place to stay – relaxed, peaceful, and easily accessible. The students and instructors we’ve had stay with us appreciate the high caliber of teaching and organization at the Art Center - and its run by incredible people.

8:54am. I’m running behind. Big news . . . We have our sign! The first one is on the front of the guest side of the Lovejoy Inn. The one in front will be hung today. I got the post in a couple days ago, painting the finial cap for the post and this afternoon – we will no longer be Coupeville’s best kept secret bed and breakfast.

This week we watched locals and a couple realtors slam on their brakes in front of the house since we have this sign post out front that looks like a For Sale sign is about to be hung. In a few hours, they can relax and we’ll be official.

9:00am – dang, it will be 5 more minutes. Seize the day!

Whidbey Island Marathon 2009

This past weekend, a couple thousand people showed up to Whidbey to run/walk in the Whidbey Island Marathon. It’s a stimulus package for Whidbey to have that many folks, most staying overnight, to come to the island. Here at the Lovejoy Inn, 3 of our 4 guests were here because of the Marathon – “Yay – Way to Go! Lookin’good!” When we get all these fit people around us, it gets us to start talking about training for next year’s marathon. Lynda walked it few years ago, I’ve watched it a couple times. Our 12 year old now wants to run the half-marathon (13 miles) next year. I’ll cheer her on.
Here’s a 2006 picture of Lynda, Andreas and Lisa of Christopher’s Restaurant, and Aimee (she did all 26 miles) at the end of the race in Coupeville (where the race used to end).
The other picture is of a young and in love dating couple who were about to run the Bloomsday Race in Spokane in 1991. I was still trying to impress Lynda. I could barely walk for the next 4 days. Ah, love.

What happened to February?

We were going to blog faithfully. I just posted about spring and found February was missing. Well, here’s what you missed – it was kind of quiet at the Lovejoy Inn. . . .

Oh yeah, Lynda went to Washington DC to visit her brother and – she got to see President Obama (along with 3,500 folks) while volunteering at the National Prayer Breakfast http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog_post/this_is_my_prayer/.

Best parts were getting to know the other behind the scene volunteers and to listen and meet Paul Young, author of The Shack.

We applied for our SIGN with the Town of Coupeville and it was reviewed and approved by the Design Review Board (more on the sign in another post). Lynda finished the trim painting in the Garden Room.

We won two Whidbey driftwood vases at the Coupeville Lions Club Scholarship Auction and have them on the breakfast tables at the Lovejoy Inn - pictured in the breakfast room and with the wharf and Penn Cove out the window.
After writing this I realize, maybe there was a reason we didn’t post in February.