I recently returned from vacation. I couldn’t bring my hammered dulcimer, so my whistle came along to fill the void. Most of the time we were at Lake Chelan in Washington state (the hot, dry part of Washington). I spent a lot of time sitting on the patio outside the condo, or under a big tree right by the lakeshore, playing my whistle. There was a little girl staying nearby who came running whenever she heard my whistle. She had taken some Irish step-dancing lessons and loved to dance to reels and jigs. We both had a great time, and I was thrilled that my whistle playing actually inspired someone to dance! 
The whistle playing was also a hit with my 1 1/2-year-old nephew. He doesn’t say many words yet, but “Yay!” is one of his favorites, and he used it a lot in response to both my whistle and my husband’s fiddle.
After that vacation, we had two days at home before leaving for a 3-day weekend camping at a bluegrass festival where my husband’s band played. We had a great time in spite of lots of rain. I got out the whistle and played at our tent when it was too muddy to set the dulcimer up, and several people came by to see what the instrument was. Many even made positive comments. Maybe I’m getting better. 
Now we have a week before Alaska Fiddle Camp < http://www.anchoragefolkfestival.org/fiddle.htm >, a.k.a. musical nirvana – 5 days of total immersion in music. 
I’m planning to take a whistle class and a dulcimer class.
Sarah
(edited to add the link for Alaska Fiddle Camp)
After we were done, one of the campers came up and thanked us for playing and described my whistle playing as “moving” (I really had a hard time not laughing) Ive never had my playing described like that before
Too cool Sarah!