Larrabee — Washington's First State Park — a stop on Chuckanut Drive.
On your left is Larrabee State Park, and it holds a genuine distinction: it was the FIRST state park in Washington.
The date is precise. On the twenty-third of October, nineteen fifteen, the governor accepted the deed to land along this drive — twenty acres given by the Larrabee family — and with that, Washington had a state park system where before it had none. It was officially named for Charles Xavier Larrabee in nineteen twenty-three.
It has grown enormously since those twenty acres. Today it runs from saltwater beaches up into the forest on Chuckanut Mountain, with campgrounds, tidepools, and trails climbing to Fragrance Lake and Lost Lake up in the hills.
If you stop, the two best short options are the beach at Wildcat Cove — a rocky, driftwood-strewn cove that is lovely at low tide — and the short climb to a viewpoint over the bay and islands.
Bear in mind you will need a Discover Pass for the vehicle, and it is checked.
Boone will tell you about the family who started it, because giving away land you could have sold is rarer than it sounds.