Day 216

One of the things my dad wanted to do this trip was to go to the San Juan Islands and go on an excursion to see the orca whales. We loaded up the crew and drove to Anacortes to catch the ferry over to Friday Harbor. After walking around Friday Harbor, we had lunch at the waterfront and then boarded the whale watching boat. It was to be about a 3 hour tour. The whales had been spotted around Vancouver Island, so we headed over there. Unfortunately, since it took a while to find out where the whales were, we only had a few minutes before we had to head back to Friday Harbor. It was a long day, but everyone had a great time.

Day 137

We have been staying at the Moran State Park for our weekend away of family camping. This park is fabulous with many family activities. It has many miles of trail hiking in various levels of difficulty. The hike we choose to do today was around Cascade Lake. It is nearly 3 miles and we walked about half of it. Andy was a rock star and walked the entire way with very little complaining. Little brother managed to fall asleep in the carrier for most of the hike. As we are walking around the lake, we come across the tree that has been growing along the cliff. It looks like a bonsai tree on Miracle Grow.

Day 136

One of the cool things God created on Orcas Island was Mount Constitution. It's 2,400 feet above sea level and the view is just WOW! You can see all the way to Canada on a clear day and back down towards Seattle, although not quite that far. One of the gals that was up there offered to take a family photo and even though it's all camping glamorous, it could just end up in the Christmas photo. Or not.

Day 135

This morning I got a phone call from my husband asking what our plans were for the weekend. This weekend was wide open with possibilities and one of those choices was going camping on Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands. The weather looks promising with sunny skies, so why not. We hurriedly packed the car, the boys and the dog and took off for a weekend of family fun.

For those who are not familiar with Washington state, going to the San Juan Islands takes a bit of time and knowledge of the ferry schedule. Luckily, Mike went online to find out that we need to catch the 6:30 boat or wait 3 hours for the next one. We made the ferry and settled in for a bit of a boat ride. The boys were troopers about the long car ride and were rewarded with some time to run around the ferry. I believe this was Aaron's first ferry boat ride as well. They really enjoyed "sailing" as Andy put it and I think the photo proves it.