Summer Camp Part 2 took place at Camano Island – I’ve booked a site at this campground for the past three years, but have cancelled in prior years due to weather or soccer or packing fatigue (camp trip prep loses is luster come end of August…). But this was the year! We loaded up our Forester the day after school got out and made the relatively quick drive up to the island. Isaac and I got right to exploring the “amenities” while Shane and Juliette set up the tent. Isaac always makes quick work of figuring out the fastest route to the nearest bathroom and water spigot.
We ate our tried-and-true first night tacos and then bee-lined down to the beach, as the mosquitos were thick at our site.
The beach, though! Not a bug in sight. Just rocks, surf, sun.
Prime PNW!
Isaac will enter any driftwood fort without a single thought to stability. Juliette, though, likes to give the roofline a good look before she settles in.
All clear.
We lingered for awhile, none-too-eager to return to the bugs up the hill.
Eventually, though, s’mores were requested, so we headed back for dessert and fireside books. The skeeters were still at it, so we zipped ourselves into our tent before nightfall. I don’t mind an early turn-in!
We breakfasted at our site the next morning, but then we set up second camp at the beach, partly because of the bugs, but also because…beauty.
We tossed rocks and hunted for crabs and colored on shells. We largely had the place to ourselves.
This is the kind of magic that happens when the iPads are left at home…
Eventually we packed it up and headed into town to look for a place to watch the US-Australia World Cup game. The rule about no-screens-on-camp-trips has its exceptions…
We did a little more exploring on the island after the game and then went back to our tent for an afternoon siesta.
The concept of “quiet time” is still very hard for Isaac, but Juliette is usually up for playing along with his tent shenanigans.
Once it became clear that the walls of our tent could no longer contain this kid’s boundless energy…to the beach!
Again, we set up second camp near the water, and again felt like we had this piece of paradise to ourselves.
Beach bits tic-tac-toe…Juliette really upped the ante on resourcefulness!
We snapped a family pic to memorialize our perfect evening and as we loaded our cooler in the car to head back to the site, Shane asked, “What if…we just packed it all up and drove home tonight?” I resisted at first, as I’m not in the business of camp trip single-nighters, but when we considered the fact that there was zero traffic on the route home at 9 pm and that we could enjoy our breakfast the morning sans moquitoes, the deal was sealed.
Let’s get outta here.
Clean sheets and a sleep-in, still with a collection of solid gold beachside memories? Nailed it.
