For any of you that came to the 10 year reunion, or who may still have family and/or friends in the area, this may not come as much of a shock to you. But, for those of you that haven't seen Oak Harbor much (or at all) in the last 17 years, it may be an interesting look at the place you graduated from, and how much it's grown.
So, sit back and take a ride around the Oak Harbor of today.
We started our little tour on Midway Blvd.
Well, the Book Rack is still there...
But what is that in the old Payless/Marketplace grocery store? (which is now over by Kmart in the Ennens building, BTW)
And in the old Sprouse Reitz?
Okay, heading north..this is where Taco Bell once stood..but now it's (obviously ;o) ) a Teriyaki restauraunt.
(But not to worry..now our Taco Bell/Pizza Hut combo restaurant is one of McDonalds' neighbors..)
If we head further down Hwy 20, as if we were leaving town, you'll notice a new hotel being built right next to Mitzels and the Best Western.
I THINK it's going to be a Holiday Inn..but don't quote me on that! LOL!
We drove on and headed back into town down 20. When we got to the road where the Greenhouse flower shop is (now called 7th Avenue) we glance to the other side of the road..and on the corner of Hwy 20, we now have..
Right across the street still houses 7-11..but Copeland Lumber (the big orange building with the screeching black cat) is nowhere to be found. It was recently torn down and is about to become the 'Harbor Station' shopping area. I don't know what all is going into this plaza, all I've really heard about is a 'Thrive Community Fitness' and a drive through coffee place, along with a couple of other little shops. O-kay.
As we continue south down Hwy 20, we find a Blockbuster video with an Auto Zone directly across the street.
If you follow down the road next to the Auto Zone, look directly to your right and you'll see we have a relatively new restaurant (I believe it went in the summer/fall of 2005)
And if you follow the road down some more, it leads to this huge store...
Yes, we now have a Home Depot.
But Ace Hardware, (AKA Coast to Coast to me!) is still in business. :o)
We continue on down Hwy 20 and notice Safeway (complete with a new Starbucks inside) has gotten a facelift..
..as well as it's own gas station, right where Godfathers once sat.
Now as I understand it, one day the employees just went to work at Godfathers and were met with a sign on the door saying the restaurant was closing. Now, that could just be a rumor..but all I know is it sat empty for months until the bulldozers came and tore it down and a new Safeway gas station was built. (Which, BTW--was quite funny..because as many people drove past it when they were first setting everything up, the billboard which displays the gas prices had set the cost for regular unleaded at about $6.99..we actually saw it and had to laugh about how bad gas prices were REALLY getting! LOL!) But, since they've gotten the sign working correctly, they stay close to the same as all the other places in town now.
Now this building site starts directly across from the Ford dealership (I took this picture from the Acorn Motor Inn parking lot), and ends across the street from the Department of Licensing. A gas station and another car lot were torn down to build what is GOING to be a Walgreens. I'm guessing it's going to be an entrance on the corner of Hwy 20 and Pioneer Way when it's finished, but I don't know for sure.
Hey...maybe we could ask this guy?
Anyway, moving on, we turned right at the light, as if we were heading towards DQ, the movie theater or Bears (which, BTW, is now an H&R Block--talk about AGING you!) and we see this:
Look at all that construction going on up on "Snob Hill"!
But an even a bigger deal, ever since it came to town a few years ago, it's 'Bayview Plaza'..
..and the anchor of that shopping area--
Yep, we got a Wal Mart. It gave Kmart quite a run for their money, at least to begin with it seemed to, but Kmart is still surviving too at this point. :o)
But, onto the 'plaza' part of "Bayview Plaza"..as you drive from the Wal Mart parking area, you'll see this:
On the left hand side is another grocery store and another Starbucks (though this one came BEFORE the one inside Safeway):
And across from Alberstons and Starbucks is a Money Tree and ANOTHER Blockbuster video.
Okay. We've left the Wal Mart area and are continuing south up Hwy 20..
Decisions, decisions..we could go straight and head towards Coupeville, but let's go down Ft. Nugent Road instead.
Before we can GET to Ft. Nugent, we have to drive down Swantown Rd a bit and off to the right we can see a very fancy looking retirement home called Regency on Whidbey.
NOW we're headed down Ft Nugent. And just a ways down, we find a nice sports field for soccer and the like..
And, an even nicer playground for the kids.
Ft. Nugent Park is a nice park to climb around and play at, and they even have a fancy bathroom! XoD
Okay..we've had all the fun we can at the park..it's time to head back into town. And I can't help but wonder, much like I remember reading on one of the questionairres, "what's happened to all the trees??"
Oh yeah..that's what happened.
I think we're heading home now. And as my oldest son moans about to this day, we are reminded of the fact that Kow Korner has gone the way of the dinosaur. :o(
A credit union. *sigh*
Yes, another reminder of how much easier it was when we were kids.
And as if to further make the point, another Banner Bank branch is being built across the street from Alaska Federal. (it used to be a gas station, in case you're wondering)
Oh wait..I almost forgot! I'm sure you'd all LOVE to see what has happened to some of our old schools! ;o)
Right this way!