Camping at Moran State Park

I have to start by saying that I completely understand WHY people say Moran State Park is the best family camping in the state. It was AMAZING in so many ways. Of course, the 85 degree weather helped a little too, but we all agree, we could go back every year forever and never get sick of it.
Tuesday morning we headed off, the van TOTALLY packed out. I love the picture below. It totally captures my three kid's personalities.
We drove about 2.5 hrs up to catch a ferry to Orcas Island in the San Juans.


This would be the first of MANY bald eagles we would see on this trip.
The kids loved the Ferry ride. We don't do it much.
As soon as we arrived on Orcas Island, we drove the length of the Island to get to Moran State Park (which is only 14 miles away). We drove past our campsite by about 4 miles and drove to the top of Mt. Constitution at 2,400ft. It's the tallest point in the San Juan Islands. From it, we could see the Canadian Rockies all the way down to Rainer (which are 300+ miles apart).

The view was absolutely amazing. Breathtaking!
Pictures don't do it justice. There was also a stone tower made in the '30s to get even a slightly higher view.

After that, we went to set up camp. Our campsite was RIGHT on the lake side, where in the following days we would literally see a Bald Eagle fish right off our shore.
Very, very happy to be camping!!
Of course the fire is the big draw for the big kids.
The kid's camp up with a new game called "Mountain Goating", where they would climb along the hillside and set up courses for themselves. One of the many examples of why I love having my kids outdoors.
After dinner, we went a 1/2 mile down to the Day Use area where there was swimming and a playground.
The kids were still a little stir crazy from the drive and so we went on a small hike to a few waterfalls.......at 8:30 a night. I love camping.
This was Cascade Falls, 75 ft tall. Again, this is maybe just under a mile from out site.
Everyone got in a played in the waterfall, a first for our kids.


Who picked out a WHITE outfit when we are camping!?!? We decided it was a sign we were having a good day.
As the sun set, it only got more pretty and the best part........no bugs!!

No bugs, but definitely some other friends.........

In the morning, we had a nice, big camping breakfast.
I was having a hard time getting Morgan to look up, so I eventually said, "Morgan, look, a dragon". But apparently my older kids are as equally tricked.

We drove to another lake (2 miles away) called Mountain Lake where there is a 4 mile loop around the lake shore. At the end of the lake, there was a small dam that we crossed over.
Kind of fun to look back at the lake at eye level.
Will and I both felt it was the most beautiful forest walk we'd been on. It was amazing.
Because it's an Island, and probably sees some good winds, there were lots of trees down that the kids could play on.

Beautiful hike!
.........but the girl's started to drag their feet a bit.........
After our hike, we went back to go swimming and play.
Peyton always quick to make friends. This little girl is actually from Olympia. Crazy.
After a few hours of sunshine, we checked out Rosario Resort and Marina. We had heard there were fun tide pools to explore.
And there were.......with a million PURPLE star fish. I had never seen one before.
Never ending adventures!!
Back at the campsite, the boys did a little more swimming off this log right off our spot.
I was happy as a clam, reading a fantastic book by the shore.
The next morning, we woke up, sat by the lake having some breakfast, and planned more adventures.
We drove to another state park 10 minutes away called Obstruction Pass. On the way, we saw another bald eagle eating our of the steam a little ways off the road.
We did a small hike down to the water. It was again, beautiful!!
But what was really fun was there were literally hundreds of star fish, crabs and jelly fish all over the shore. Beach combing at it's finest. We had to be so careful when we walked to not step on something.
And we had the entire beach to ourselves. We loved being on an island. :)
Morgan was a little cautious with some of the critters.
These jelly fish you could see their organs inside them. Eww!
Gotta get a good look at Morgan in this picture. She's the next Rambo!
After a few more hours of swimming (and bridge jumping) we had to go catch the ferry back to the mainland.
We had the absolute BEST time. We love camping anyway, but this particular spot was so incredible!! We can't wait to go back!

Here are a few quick videos. One is before we left of Morgan watching our fireworks. It's a little dark, but it totally captures my love of watching a child experience something new.

The other one is the view from the top of Mt. Constitution, which was way more impressive in person.............