Since we’ve been married my wife has told me of this place on the Puget Sound that she visited once in her youth. She always made it sound magical. I wasn’t sure what stood out to her more, the trip up and back or the stay on the island. Well, we just rediscovered this place (or at least she did). As a family we just spent a few days on this island in the San Juans and it was a joy.
There are places on this earth that you enjoy and say, “yep, there really is a God and he did an amazing job of creation for my joy.” We have now experienced a few more of those places. This island certainly is one of them.
On Tuesday evening, after a fun filled day in Seattle, we ventured onto a ferry with our car from Anacortes, WA to Lopez Island. It was about a 45 minute journey with the moon glistening off of the ocean.
Our van’s first ever ferry ride.
After arriving on the island we made our way over to Leslie’s family’s property. It was right on the beach. We set up camp and slept for the night.
Our view from the door of our tent was amazing!
That next morning we got to get our bearings straight and explore the property and the island. We had a large area of grass that looked out onto the sound. There was a walkway down to the waterfront with our own private waterfront access. There was a slew of kayaks there for our use during our stay. We also brought up the paddle board.
There was a shed full of kayaks for our use while on the island.
Wednesday I took off for a bike ride around the island to explore and check it out. Mostly, I was in search of a descent wifi or cellular signal to do some work. I didn’t have a lot of luck, but the ride was well worth the 20 miles around the island.
The coves and little islands off of the coast of Lopez Island were so fun to see and explore. I’d love to learn more of the history of this place.
Just off of the coast of the property we were staying was a little nature reserve, a few islands out afar, and some amazing water. These are not tropical islands, but the islands of the San Juan’s are really cool with their northwestern flair of evergreens.
The kids named this small island “Seal Island” because of the herd of seals that had made their home here. There were at least a dozen. The kids had a lot of fun kayaking around this little island.
We had fun taking the kayaks out and about.
This island is seemingly all private property. But each piece of land is large. Many have their own little gardens or farms.
Throughout the island you could find these little fruit and veggie stands. They were an honesty policy purchasing system. Also, a lot of egg carts as well.
Flying kites right at the coast. Tough to beat this. This was the property that we stayed on.
The final night that we were on the island they had caught a basket full of crabs. They boiled them on the beach in sea water and there we ate them. Best crabs I have ever had. It was a lot of fun to have my children there ripping into crabs, cracking them with rocks, and ingesting them like candy. It was a lot of fun.
We are a family of six that loves to travel. We enjoy traveling, serving, learning, and most importantly, being together. Together, we have been to more than half of the United States and several different National Parks and Monuments. We are happy to share our adventures with you!