Deception Pass - Beatty Family Pacific Northwest Trip 2015 Part Four

If Kalaloch was my bliss-inducing-favorite campsite, Deception Pass felt the most homey. It just felt easy and restful in my soul to be there. I have always wanted to show my family this place, ever since Darin and I passed through in 2002, crossed the magical bridge and saw the swirling waters and took showers at the state park.We had reserved a large family site (two conjoining sites, with a third across the camproad) and so all the kids could kind of run loose and free. It was big and dusty and we were surrounded by berries and we had two long picnic tables pushed together for meals. 

Ah, home sweet home.

As soon as we arrive and start to set up camp there's nothing like a couple of ice cold beers out of the cooler for motivation.

At this point in the trip, play areas come first!

And we're all happy to settle in for awhile!

A little walk at eveningtime to wander paths and catch the sunset.

Me and the younger set of Beatty gals. I think the world is lucky to have these little girls who will be growing up to be women. What a tribe of spirit and creativity and love. 

Oh sleepy sun, you never fail us, nor your immeasurable painted skies. When the sun sets and the open western waters stretch before you, you feel kin to orca and osprey and seal. I imagine all of life loves a good sunset.

I wish I could remember that next morning at Deception Pass. I wish I wrote every detail in my journal, not so much to report back here in this log (although you know me....) but to help me revisit heartily and completely as possible, in my imagination. I want to remember who fixed what for breakfast, what books we read, what sticks the girls gathered and what doodles they drew and where Bella took them and where Oey explored. Next year I'm bringing a daybook and making notes throughout each day of pertinent details. For now I will have to content myself knowing that coffee was boiled and drunk, and a misty sky grew light around us, and children played. It was the chilliest day of our trip and we were in heaven.

We spent the first half of the day exploring Anacortes, a town that Darin and I have been to a few times over the years and fell in love with long ago. We've made memories at Shipwreck Days and the What the Heck Fest, watched shows in the Croatian Club and at Causland Park, not to mention the Department of Safety, drank beers at the Brown Lantern, swam in a community lake making friends, camped in Karl Blau's backyard. All of this music and art and comraderie in the middle of such a beautiful place has created something of a personal Anacortes mythology for me and it was so nice to be back. I felt somewhat familiar with the streets but the murals are hipper and the Business has downsized and moved. 

It started drizzling rain and we were kind of frolicking down the streets.

Darin had just introduced Lucy to the concept of Sasquatch. They are painted everywhere in town, and this particular "girl" one was getting an apropos addition while we watched. That sealed the deal, Sasquatch is a new favorite around here. And of course, we perused the bookstore for awhile, perfect rainy day hideout!

We were all kind of scattered around the town taking our time, but finally most of us came together for a cozy lunch at Village Pizza. I have similar pictures of Darin and I eating here in 2002, and while their decor has certainly changed, that classic sign outside has not!

I guess what I love about Anacortes is that for the short time you are there, you really do feel home. Walking my tots up the carpeted steps in the Village Pizza building to the bland empty catering room upstairs, I felt like I worked there and was just comfortable to let them run around a little bit. Crossing the streets in the rain, I half expected to wave at a familiar face. Down at the harbor, the Lady of the Sea seems to bear her lamp for me. Maybe it's a deja vu thing, or maybe just a little bit of magic.

Back at camp we were lazy and relaxed for a while.

Playing peek-a-boo.

We headed down for a leisurely stroll along the beach. Tootie found a dinosaur egg and I taught the girls to make sand angels. Marisa found the teeniest most perfect little crab. Bella collected handfuls of shells and, on the way back, Amy collected handfuls of blackberries. 

I love how you turn and suddenly walk into thick, ferny, wet, primordial forest here. The pastel wash of the shore gives way suddenly to dark, lush green. Little bridges in between, havens hidden in every branch and cove.

"There is a delight in the hardy life of the open." Theodore Roosevelt

Back at camp, Bella surveys her stash.

Tootie guards her dinosaur egg.

We all fall in love with thimbleberries and salal berries, especially my two girls who eat them voraciously.

And we even go for a little ride around camp in the back of pop's truck!

Next morning, on our way out of camp we stopped to cross the famous bridge and take in the view. We spotted a couple harbor seals down below in the spiraling waters and then we were all on the look out; I even thought I glimpsed a big fin come up out of the water. So much to see from up above, so much to see from down below. You really do feel your breath come in surprised bursts, looking out from the fresh water to the ocean, feeling all that life and history and spirit that dwells there in the space between. Land and sea, earth and sky, it all comes together here.

But it's scary up there with a baby! Look at the space under those rails. Yikes. We held our little ramblers tight.

After beautiful Deception Pass, we were on our way north and east, a relatively short and absolutely breathtaking drive up Washington's scenic Highway 20 heading to North Cascades National Park. On the road again, with the best little unexpected roadside stop...up next.