San Juan Islands trek

We took our annual camp trip to Lopez Island. The big difference this year is that our Westfalia camper bus is crippled (running on three cylinders) and so we had to use the Outback. A tight fit what with two kids, a dog, a guitar, kitchen, camp gear... but we made it work.








The Outback has AC which is nice, and it cruises much faster than the Westy. The nice thing about tent camping was that we could leave our camp site and take the car on excursions and come back to a campsite that was set up and ready to use whereas with the Westy we always had to break things down if we wanted to drive anywhere.
















Life on the islands is for us always dreamy. It starts with the ferries, the water, the light and the birds and the spectacular surroundings.












The kids are endlessly diverted by the beach and the surrounding campground and the camp kids who come and go like the sea tides.











We saw sea lions at Shark Reef


















(the zoom on the camera came in handy there, click for a larger view);








each evening featured a stunning sunset, and in the morning (not every morning) we ate the famous Holly B's cinnamon rolls in Lopez Village.













The weather was great, even the spectacular thunderstorm on our last night was a kind of grand finale to a beautiful trip.









It also triggered some improvised dining arrangments. Since we had the only tree on the beach, a good thing in sunny weather but sort of problematic when there are lightning bolts being cast down all around you, we adjourned to the Outback were we felt safer. The Westy may be on the way out, but at that moment we all missed not having it.
K

P.S. you can see a couple more pics here at my photo blog.