Deception Pass

We embarked on our first camping trip of the summer this weekend. We literally have been thinking about this trip for a year. Last summer when we went camping with several other families we picked to camp together at Deception pass this summer. I was really excited about the trip and all the different areas there was to explore, hanging with friends and making memories camping with the kiddos.

The trip took some hits along the way though. The three other families bailed. A big bummer...camping is just more fun with other people around for the little people and the big people.

Campfires got banned. An even bigger bummer. Camping with out a campfire just pretty much doesn't feel right. The politics behind the whole thing ticks me off to boot and is just plain silly/wrong.

We had a busy week before leaving and I felt really unfocused on camping prep. The weather was warm here and I was having a hard time preparing ourselves for cooler weather, plus no fire. I felt like I had just gotten good at meal planning with a campfire and now had to rethink everything using our propane stove.

The whole trip seemed to have a big dark cloud hanging over its head.

None-the-less we packed up and headed out Friday afternoon where found ourselves heading into a 2 hour ferry waiting line. We quickly detoured out of that plan and then found ourselves in bad, bad, bad traffic. Oh ya...that darn gray cloud...it's still there.

We arrived, set up camp and went off exploring. It was odd to come back to the camp site and not make a fire. Even more odd what to do with ourselves after eating. We all just headed to bed.

Friday night brought rain, very little sleep for myself and early rising kids. Saturday morning, I was ready to pack up and head out. Kenny was willing to stay, so stay we did.

Eventually the sun came out and we got a lot of great exploring in. The one thing I can say for sure is Deception Pass is a beautiful area, tons of cool places to hike and see.

Deception Pass bridge in the background. One of the scariest bridges I've ever driven on! 

 Walking under the bridge didn't help my bridge fears either. 

I wasn't stepping foot on that thing! Kenny and Shane went a few feet on it. 

Views every where! 

We found this map on one of the trails and the kids were obsessed with it. 

Saturday started out cold, but warmed up quite a bit. 

All of a sudden we were hot in all of our layers. 

 Awesome tide pools.

Dipping their feet in the water.

Saturday night we went to the park amphitheater and listened to The Bowman Boy's perform. They did campfire songs (minus the campfire) and had the audience participating. It was really a lot of fun. Afterwards it was another 8pm family bedtime.

The rain arrived again Sunday morning. Packing up to go home in the rain was interesting, but we did it. We got back home around 9:30am. Just not a lot to do in the cold, rain with out a fire. Stupid burn ban.

It was a tough camping trip in my book for a variety of reasons. In the end though we survived, made memories, enjoyed exploring a beautiful area and through the kids eyes they had a great time.