Moved to Oak Harbor, WA in the Summer of 1971 for my last year of high school. I’ve always considered it my home town and still visit it a couple of times each year to see my mom.
My dad was one of the top Chiefs in VA-115 “A’rabs”; serving as maintenance chief on one Viet Nam cruise and Leading Chief on a second cruise.
Whidbey Island is beautiful. One of the best stations for Navy personnel; although not so much for young sailors.
Some of the filming for Top Gun II was done with the actors in actual planes from Whidbey and flying over the Cascades. Sometimes flying “through” the Cascades. Oftentimes will be cross-country skiing in the mountains and have a pair of airplanes (Growlers?) fly up the valley at very low level. With all of the trees we rarely see them, but you can sure hear and feel them.