Our Family Camping Trip at Moran State Park

I have the fondest memories camping with my family as a child. My folks took my brother and I all over the Pacific Northwest in a tiny old truck camper. Singing songs around the fire, playing Cribbage with the grandparents and learning to ride our bikes with no hands. 20-some years later, now that my brother and I are both married, and my niece is two, we decided it was time to air out the old sleeping bags and go camping together once again.

This time around, we arrive by motorcycle! My brother was kind enough to haul our camping gear in his car.

In late September, campsites at Moran State Park are first come, first serve. So we felt pretty darn lucky to have Vintage Island Vacations save us a prime waterfront location. You've already seen Country Rose, where my folks slept. But you haven't seen Bambi, the Airstream, where my brother's family stayed. It was cozy and plush inside, but nowhere near as cute as the Canned Ham. To save money and have an authentic camping experience, Hal and I opted to rough it in the tent... as rough as you can get with a blow-up air mattress inside!

One morning, we woke up at the crack of dawn (which took some major convincing on my part) to watch the sunrise from the top of Mount Constitution, the highest point in the San Juan Islands. Boy am I glad we did. It was a crisp sunny day and from the top of the stone observation tower, you could see all of the surrounding islands, the Cascade mountains and the coast of Canada! That stunning panoramic view was worth losing sleep for.

Moran State Park is the perfect place to camp, because there's so much to do on the island within a 15-minute drive. One day, we took the ferry to San Juan Island, where Hal and I went for our anniversary, for hard cider and apple brandy tasting at Wescott Bay and San Juan Island Distillery, soaking up some end-of-summer sun in their neighboring fields and orchards.

On another beautiful day, we wandered around Eastsound, Orcas Island's quaint downtown, for bookstore browsing, boutique shopping, and a spectacular dinner at Cafe Olga. We even caught the tail end of the Seahawks game at a nearby bar!

But the best moments were at night. Around the fire. Where ukuleles were strummed, s'mores were roasted, and my favorite little girl fell asleep on my lap.