This Memorial Day week we rented a Dodge Journey and headed to the San Juan Islands to take in some kayaking off of Lopez Island before settling in at the Lakedale Resort on San Juan Island for Ella’s 1st camping trip.  I brought my digital Nikon, but as I mentioned in the previous post where I am beginning to Explore Film, I brought along my Hasselblad 500 c/m and Contax 645 with the intent of shooting 90% or more of the trip with those.  Mission accomplished.

Our trip really began with a ferry from Anacortes, WA to Lopez Island.  I LOVE FERRIES.  A recent Port Gamble Engagement Session might have been one of my favorites ever simply due to the fact that I was able to ride the ferry and make some frames.  Did I mention that I love ferries?

After exploring the quaint and pastoral island for a bit, we headed over to Spencer Spit State Park and headed out for a guided kayak tour around Frost Island.  It was Ella’s 2nd time in a kayak and her first in the open waters of Puget Sound.  She loved it!  We were out there for 2.5 hours and worked up an appetite that could only be sated at the very divey, but altogether great Galley Restaurant and Lounge.  Time to ferry to San Juan Island.

The last time I was on San Juan Island was for the Roche Harbor Wedding of Wendy and Brett and it had been far too long.  After our big day on Lopez, we arrived quite late in the black of night and were all very tired.  As the two tents we had packed both belonged to Sasha’s father and I’d never set them up before, Sash made the great executive decision of booking us into a luxurious canvas tent in the glamping portion of the property.  Win.

In the morning we packed out of the glamping tents and moved down the trail to what would be our ripstop nylon encased shelter for the next two nights.  The question still remained as to whether Ella would be keen or capable of making it through the night in her own tent.  Wait and see.  But before nightfall, we had an action-packed day consisting of a rowboat trip around one of the 3 lakes, a tie-dye t-shirt making activity, renting a Duffy 16 electric boat out of Friday Harbor for a jaunt around Brown Island and a camp-cooked meal consisting of some Thai whiskey and Coke (a favorite from our honeymoon in Thailand) to start and culminating in s’mores roasted over a roaring campfire.

To avoid the incessant threat of aggressive bees before things began to warm up, our plan was to quickly get on the road to explore the island. Here are a few morning scenes around camp:

The morning before we’d run into a girl named Lucy and her family staying at Lakedale for their 2nd consecutive summer whilst visiting from L.A.  Besides being a super-sweet cutie, Lucy and Ella share the EXACT SAME birthday.  Figure that.

Whilst out adventuring, we stopped at the San Juan Vineyards along the road for a quick taste.  One of the blends they featured was called Mona Vie, named for the camel grazing across the street.

We next turned our attention to visiting the Horse Shu Ranch for a little giddy up.  Ella’s horse was named Cowboy and turned out to be a sweet little horse for a nice half hour trek around the pastures and through the woods.

Then it was time to head back to town for a final rendez-vous with Lucy before we all headed our separate ways.  But before then, it was ice cream from the Friday Harbor Ice Cream Company.

We had a blast and can’t recommend Lakedale enough… They’ve got family cabins, a lodge, 2 Airstream trailers to rent, tent camping, RV camping and glamping in giant, well-appointed canvas tents – Something for everyone.  Add to that the daily activities for kids, the three lakes for swimming and boating and you’ve got yourself a winner.  And another tidbit of information… Ella slept through the night in the tent without incident both nights.  Based on that and all the fun we had, we plan to return next year for sure!