Enjoy movies from the seat of your car

Should you want to watch a first-run movie or two (or possibly three) from the comfort of your own car as Americans did decades ago, you'll need to hit the road for the Blue Fox Drive-In, just south of Oak Harbor on Highway 20 at Moore Landing Road.

Used to be that many American towns had a drive-in movie theater. Today, the Blue Fox is one of just five drive-ins left in all of Washington.

The Blue Fox Drive-In has been a Whidbey Island entertainment mainstay since 1960. In some ways, it still feels like 1960. The pre-movie film reels feature animated cups of soda and candy bars dancing happily out of the lobby, followed by "The Star Spangled Banner" featuring a rocket flying to the moon. Everyone honks and flashes headlights at the finale.

Thankfully, the hard-wired, staticky speakers your elders hung in the driver's window in 1960 are long gone, replaced by a clear FM broadcast. If your vehicle battery is dead at the end of the show, the staff will give you a jump start.

The Blue Fox weathered the destruction of its screen during a windstorm in the 1990s and survived the transition from film reels to digital projection. Film fans flocked to the Blue Fox during the pandemic when brick-and-mortar theaters had to stay closed for social distancing.

You don't have to be stuck in your car for hours while you wait for the first show to start after sunset. Kids run around beneath the screen to burn off sugar-fueled energy. Families and friends gather and laugh, then bundle up and sit in lawn chairs in pickup beds or leave the minivan's rear hatch open.

The Blue Fox has a go-kart track with karts that seat two (parent and child bonding!). It recently expanded its video-game arcade. The snack bar has a full kitchen and often has weekend menu specials. There's an outdoor patio with adult beverages. Get warm with Blue Fox hoodies and onesies. You can even bring your RV or camper and spend the night, provided you plan to arrive when the gate opens at 4 p.m. and use the supplied voucher to eat at the snack bar.

My wife, Christine Valdez, and I have been hitting the Blue Fox a few times a season for the last 20 years. Usually it's on a Friday or Saturday night, and it's always busy. Even when we get there early, parking as we do in the first three rows with the other "small cars" to get a decent view of the screen can be a challenge.

This time, we went Thursday night for "Barbie" and the latest "Mission: Impossible" installment. We expected it to be crowded as usual, because of the two wildly popular movie titles.

Oddly, it wasn't crowded at all. Maybe because it was a "work night" for most people. For the first time ever, we parked dead center of the screen in the second row. I didn't have to slouch uncomfortably to see the whole screen.

Lots of people left after "Barbie," leaving us all alone down front with only two other cars and a smattering of pickups and SUVs behind us.

I don't need to provide you with a review of the movies, other than to say, "Wow!"

A night at the Blue Fox does require some time management on your part. When the first feature doesn't start until 9:30 p.m. or so, you're in for a late, late night. After about five hours of screen time, we got home at 2:45 a.m.

"The best advice I can give is to take a nap first," Christine said.

As usual, my wife is correct.