Orcas Island - Moran State Park

Last Thurs. thru Sun. we went to Orcas Island and camped at Moran State Park. Orcas Island is part of the San Juan Islands just northwest of Seattle in Puget Sound. What a fun time. This blog will be a long one...hopefully not to boring.
The only way we could get there was on a ferry (always a fun experience). Once there, we had lunch at the Sunflower Cafe. I guess once they have you on the island you are trapped. We had planned to eat on the way to the ferry but hoped to hit a Wendy's or something on the mainland. We were running late and did not want to miss the ferry so had to wait and eat on the island. $60 dollars later we were still a bit hungry. Oh well, we ate good for dinner.

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The last couple of camping trips we have tried to pre-cook our meals (Sloppy Joes, Tacos, etc.). So far it has been great because we do not have to spend a bunch of time prepping while in the woods. The only problem is we are pretty thin on ideas of what can be prepared prior to arriving at camp. Any ideas out there?


The first night we were exploring the campsite and came across a trail that led to Cascade Falls. It was only 1.1 miles to get to the falls and the night was still early so off we went. We made it to the falls and it was worth the hike as you can see from the picture. The kids got a bit excited to go and explore and Preston went too fast for his own good. He took a tumble down a hill and landed face first into a log. What could have been a true disaster turned out to be a bump on the side of his eye and a bruised ego. He was careful after that for at least a good hour. :) One other thing about Preston. He loves to lead the family when hiking. No matter where he starts in the group he is very quickly at the head. And he sets a very quick pace that we all have a hard time keeping up with.
The island is full of black tailed deer. Apparently there are no natural predators so they are everywhere.

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The next day was the "Big" day of the trip. Once we woke up we went to the tallest point on the island, Mt. Constitution. It is only a couple thousand feet in altitude but the view it amazing! We met some folks from Utah on top. They were the ones that took the pic of the Fam on top (Mt. Baker and the Twin Sisters are in the background). Later that day, we had booked a guided sea kayak tour in Puget Sound. There is a great little bed and breakfast in the tiny town of Olga called the Spring Bay Inn. Sandy, the owner / operator was our kayak tour guide. What was supposed to be only 1 hour ended up turning into 2.5 hours. We got to see some star fish, harbor seals, bald eagles, raccoons and all kinds of water birds. She also took us across a channel to Obstruction Island. Getting there was not too bad. Coming back we had to fight the tide and wind. At one point Stacy and Christopher actually started going backwards. Sandy was a park ranger in another life and knew a bunch about the natural world around us and was able to give us great info along the way. The whole experience was amazing! I wish we could have taken the camera with us but there really is not a good place to stow it while on the water. At the end of the vacation we asked the kids what their favorite part was and they unanimously chose the kayaking. After kayaking we were pretty much dead, so went back and played cards.

Saturday we spent a bunch of time near our campsite at Cascade Lake. We rented some boats and paddled across the water. While out on the water the most amazing thing happened. We witnessed a bald eagle swoop down and catch a fish about 20 yards away from us. We were lucky enough to catch a couple of pictures as it flew away. Later that night we went back and the kids had a ball playing on the park toys. In between we went on an easy hike to Obstruction State Park. It is a beach with some campsites and tide pools.