We went to Cape Disappointment State Park, WA on the Long Beach Peninsula last weekend on a one night camping trip. It has been a pretty mild summer this year in the northwest and last weekend was probably the hottest we hit this summer - around 80 in Seattle and hovering in upper 70’s in the coast. It was a perfect weather for camping. It has been 6 years since we moved to Seattle area. We keep discovering new place in Washington state every year that takes us up by surprise with its beauty and diversity in landscape. I only wish the summers here were longer and hotter to enjoy these places more.
We did most of the packing and cooking on Saturday morning and hit the road around 11:30 AM. It is a good 4 hours drive to reach the park. I drove most of it and it was an enjoyable drive. We stopped quickly on the way to have the packed lunch we carried.
Our camp area was nice and sheltered. It was just perfect - not too open, not too secluded. The campsite had good facilities too - decent restrooms with hot showers and there was also a camp store. The charming little town coastal town Long Beach is about 3 miles from the park also. The best thing about the site was that it was right next to a beach. Yes, the beach was walking distance from our site.
After all the list making and packing we took the sleeping and cooking stuff but had left our packed suitcase with clothes, on the bed back at home! We put up the tent, rushed to the town to get some clothes and toiletries. It was quite manageable after the quick run of shopping to buy the absolute necessities.
We enjoyed some delicious homemade ice cream flavours in a shop, checked out the town, stopped on a view point on the way back in the park and called it a day.
At night we made camp fire, cooked dinner outside and cuddled inside the tent to read books as the air got chilly outside. It was really cold late at night and early in the morning. But we were prepared with inflatable beds, sleeping bags and enough warm comforters. And all through the night we could hear the waves crashing in the beach. We came out of our tents around 7AM when the sun was already out and it was getting warm outside. For breakfast we made pancakes, eggs and tea outside (the camp store was open early in the morning and they had milk) , S rode his bike around the camp area, after which we packed all our stuff back in our van. Then we hit couple beaches nearby within the park itself. S totally loved the beach, the sand, picking shells and making sand castles but stayed clear of the waves though. We picked a very short hike to a lighthouse which S enjoyed, and had awesome views of the beach.
It was time to eat again and we went back to Long Beach, strolled down the strip and enjoyed some good seafood. The beach in this town also allows you to take your vehicle (that is if you have a 4x4 that will drive on sand) all the way to the beach and park it. Yes, it is a drivable beach and there are just too many mean sea gulls hovering for food there. Even though it looked tempting and cool we did not trust our mini-van on the sand.
Grabbed some coffee, souvenirs and we headed back to Seattle. S slept halfway through the drive again and we were home before 7 PM on Sunday.
This was our first time camping, (planned and executed just by us without friends or family that is) and I am quite proud of us pulling this off by ourselves! We had a great time and Cape Disappointment Park it definitely is a great place to camp.
If you are looking for places to camp in Washington state, check out this site: http://www.parks.wa.gov/parks/
We did most of the packing and cooking on Saturday morning and hit the road around 11:30 AM. It is a good 4 hours drive to reach the park. I drove most of it and it was an enjoyable drive. We stopped quickly on the way to have the packed lunch we carried.
Our camp area was nice and sheltered. It was just perfect - not too open, not too secluded. The campsite had good facilities too - decent restrooms with hot showers and there was also a camp store. The charming little town coastal town Long Beach is about 3 miles from the park also. The best thing about the site was that it was right next to a beach. Yes, the beach was walking distance from our site.
After all the list making and packing we took the sleeping and cooking stuff but had left our packed suitcase with clothes, on the bed back at home! We put up the tent, rushed to the town to get some clothes and toiletries. It was quite manageable after the quick run of shopping to buy the absolute necessities.
We enjoyed some delicious homemade ice cream flavours in a shop, checked out the town, stopped on a view point on the way back in the park and called it a day.
At night we made camp fire, cooked dinner outside and cuddled inside the tent to read books as the air got chilly outside. It was really cold late at night and early in the morning. But we were prepared with inflatable beds, sleeping bags and enough warm comforters. And all through the night we could hear the waves crashing in the beach. We came out of our tents around 7AM when the sun was already out and it was getting warm outside. For breakfast we made pancakes, eggs and tea outside (the camp store was open early in the morning and they had milk) , S rode his bike around the camp area, after which we packed all our stuff back in our van. Then we hit couple beaches nearby within the park itself. S totally loved the beach, the sand, picking shells and making sand castles but stayed clear of the waves though. We picked a very short hike to a lighthouse which S enjoyed, and had awesome views of the beach.
It was time to eat again and we went back to Long Beach, strolled down the strip and enjoyed some good seafood. The beach in this town also allows you to take your vehicle (that is if you have a 4x4 that will drive on sand) all the way to the beach and park it. Yes, it is a drivable beach and there are just too many mean sea gulls hovering for food there. Even though it looked tempting and cool we did not trust our mini-van on the sand.
Grabbed some coffee, souvenirs and we headed back to Seattle. S slept halfway through the drive again and we were home before 7 PM on Sunday.
This was our first time camping, (planned and executed just by us without friends or family that is) and I am quite proud of us pulling this off by ourselves! We had a great time and Cape Disappointment Park it definitely is a great place to camp.
If you are looking for places to camp in Washington state, check out this site: http://www.parks.wa.gov/parks/
Sounds fun! Pictures please!
ReplyDeleteWill send some soon...
ReplyDeleteYou made it good. It's rarely awesome life story about an experience in camping. What camping tents did you used for this outdoors stuff?
ReplyDelete