Our favorite vegan B&B

Last Wednesday we headed to beautiful Whidbey Island for a few days of escaping the city, and as usual, we went to Someday Farm Vegan B&B, which is located on 70 peaceful acres in the quiet town of Freeport. It's a charming and comfortable place to stay, and the breakfasts are exceptional. Whidbey Island is a short ferry ride from the mainland, and we've made it door to door in an hour — when the Universe aligns. Usually, we figure it will take us about 1-1/2 hours or less.

When we arrived at Someday Farm in the early afternoon, we found a plate of whoopie pies waiting for us. This may be hard to believe, but I don't think I've ever had a whoopie pie. When you stop rolling your eyes, I'll tell you what I thought. I thought if my husband turned his back I might eat both. They were excellent — just as one might expect any food served by Jill, the owner of Someday Farm, would be — soft, pumpkin-y and cinnamon-y with a creamy coconut filling. (Hmmm. Come to think of it, I bet the Tastykake chocolate kreamies and vanilla kreamies of my childhood are probably elongated whoopie pies. Any Philadelphians out there who can weigh in on this?)


The day we arrived, the weather was a little sketchy — windy, chilly and drizzly —  so we opted to go shopping rather than hiking. When we go to Whidbey, hiking, thrifting and antiquing are our main occupations, and we have favorite shops in several of the small towns that dot the island. We made a good haul in the Freeland thrift shop, netting three items of baby clothing, a sweater for me and a children's book, for a grand total of $12. Next we visited our two favorite antique stores, and found a perfect little pyrex bowl that nests excellently into my other, similar bowls.

After a long afternoon of bargain hunting and antique admiring, we stopped at a supermarket to purchase a cauliflower to add a vegetable to our dinner menu. Even though we had a full kitchen in the B&B, we didn't feel like cooking on this little trip. We brought along two packs of TastyBite Indian meals — channa masala and rice — and cooked the cauliflower to add in. Easy vegan cooking. It worked for us.

Breakfast (and lunch) on Thursday.

The next morning, Jill brought us BREAKFAST — beans, rice, sweet potatoes, mango, plantains, avocado, chutney and muffins. Even two of us could barely eat half, so a good lunch was assured, though it would be well into the late afternoon before we felt hungry again. We needed all the good food to keep our energy up because we planned to spent much of the day hiking at Fort Ebey State Park in Coupeville.

View from Bluff Trail in Fort Ebey State Park.

We love the park — especially the spectacular views from the Bluff trail, high over Puget Sound.

View from Bluff Trail in Fort Ebey State Park.

We spent a lot of time on the bluff, admiring the view over the water as well as the view in front of us, behind us and on both sides.

Oregon grape on Bluff Trail in Fort Ebey State Park.

The Oregon Grape shrubs were in bloom, adding to the scenic experience. We also hiked interior trails, and spent time at the lake and at the beach. If you love a beach generously littered with interesting rocks and driftwood, this is the beach for you. I know you're not supposed to remove items from a state park, but the variety of amazing rocks is a big temptation. Yeah.

When we finally got back to the B&B, we had a late lunch of leftovers, before venturing out again. Later, we were supposed to meet friends for dinner at an Asian restaurant recommended because although omni, it has clearly marked vegan menu options. My friend was sick, and couldn't meet us, so we opted to have a takeout dinner back in our cottage. I would say it was typical take-away fare, as in take away all the animal ingredients and serve the vegans whatever is left. It was okay, and I don't mean to complain, because I'm happy to be able to find vegan food on the island, but wouldn't it be great if a restaurant actually thought about flavor when creating a vegan dish?

Although Jill has provided loads of videos, games and books, we were feeling the results of the long day, and were asleep by 9 p.m.

Breakfast (and lunch) on Friday.

Ah, breakfast. On our last day, the breakfast tray contained a tofu quiche with a rice crust, roasted beets and an apple pie. Jill offered me ice cream for the pie but I declined; it was breakfast, after all. We lingered over breakfast, then packed the leftovers into our new bowl (there was a reason why we needed the bowl!) We walked around the property, talked to the rescue goats, then headed to town to take a second look at a couple of items we were still thinking about from the day before.



I tried to talk myself out of it, but we ended up buying a very cute kitchen scale that matches the color of our rear kitchen wall. It's not an antique — it just looks like one. We're slowly collecting items to display on top of the kitchen cupboards — you know, dust collectors — and it seemed so appropriate. As an item to display, I mean. Not a dust collector.

My new kitchen scale on display above the cabinets.

The only bad part about going to Someday Farm is waking up back at home, and not having anyone knock on the door with a breakfast tray. Do you have a favorite vegan B&B?

You can read my other posts about Someday Farm B&B here, and here.

A sign on Bluff Trail.