Deception Pass is a strait separating Whidbey Island from Fidalgo Island in the northwest part of Washington. It connects Skagit Bay with the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The famous Deception Pass Bridge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. Deception Pass State Park was established in 1923 when part of a military reserve was transferred to Washington State Parks. You can read more about Deception Pass State Park here.

We decided that for our first adventure in the camper van we would stick fairly close to home and just go for one night… it seemed like a good starting point! After all, we’d never taken the kids camping! What a blast we had! Our first trip was early-April 2021 and we lucked out with beautiful weather. It was chilly, especially being near the water, but sunny! We hadn’t booked a camp site as we traveled mid-week and were kind of winging it! We spent the afternoon enjoying a couple different beaches. Our first beach was just below the bridge on the South side of Deception Pass State Park – accessed from the North Trail. The girls enjoyed collecting rocks and drawing words in the sand. The beach was fairly protected from the wind which was nice.

Next we decided to go explore the Sand Dune Interpretive Trail. It’s located off the parking area at the West Beach and is the perfect trail to explore with young kids. It’s also stroller friendly and there are bathrooms at the start. It’s only one mile loop, level, and takes you through varying habitats from sand dunes to lichen covered trees. There are several signs throughout the trail that provide information about the vegetation and animals unique to this area. We were even lucky enough to see a bald eagle. Plus the path boarders the beach so after the trail pack a picnic and enjoy endless fun of sandcastles or driftwood forts!

We camped in the main camping area and most of the sites are somewhat private feeling and many have some bushes between sites. We had easy access to bathrooms, picnic table and many sites are partially shaded. That would be great for summer, but it was definitely chilly in early April. To take advantage of the sunny weather we decided to eat dinner down by the water and enjoy the sunset. A huge perk to the van as it’s so mobile and you don’t have to spend a bunch of time setting up camp. We parked with the back looking out over the Strait of Juan de Fuca, opened the table and camp stove and made dinner while the girls played in the driftwood. Perfect! After watching the sunset the temperature was plummeting quickly so we headed back to the site to head to bed. We don’t have a heater in the van yet, so it got down to 37 in the van at night. The big girls were fine in their sleeping bags and Ry moved into bed with us to stay warm around 11pm. Luckily we can remote start the van from the key fob so we were also able to run it for a bit at night (we didn’t have anyone right next to us) and first thing in the morning. We had plenty of blankets and were pleasantly surprised how well everyone slept! It will definitely be nice to get a heater installed for future chilly nights and more comfortable camping year round! Overall it was a great first overnight in the van!

In the morning we enjoyed some delicious oatmeal, coffee and hot chocolate. Then the girls and I walked to the beach while Jordan packed up the cooler and breakfast items.