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One can volunteer to give lighthouse tours at Cape Disappointment and get a free campsite for the summer months. We’re thinking of doing something like this next summer to avoid the hassles of summertime travel.

Sunday July 26 – Not disappointed with Cape Disappointment.

Today we’re at Cape Disappointment State Park at the very southwest corner of Washington State. While we’ve had a disappointing trip in getting here, we are all but disappointed now that we’ve arrived.

Cape Disappointment – Trixie and Eddie see the beach for the first time since leaving Florida last fall. I’ve never seen such excited dogs!

We left Jasper on Monday, July 21st and drove the scenic and much slower route to Vancouver, i.e. Highway 99 and not the Trans-Canada Highway. It’s about 550 miles and slow going so we spent two nights along the way; the first at a commercial campground in McClure BC and the second in Whistler BC. Whistler is only 80 miles north of Vancouver and home to the 2010 Winter Olympics, a fact we didn’t know until we arrived. As you’d expect, Whistler is full of ski resorts, condos, upscale hotels and expensive restaurants. We stayed at the Whistler RV Park ($46 US) south of town and all I remember is paying $5 for a 7 pound bag of ice.

Cape Disappointment – T&E never stopped running on the dog friendly beach during our entire stay.

Vancouver is huge.

We arrived in Vancouver on Thursday July 23rd and stayed 3 nights at the Tynehead RV Park ($34 US), a commercial park that sits in a residential area just east of downtown. We thought we needed a big-city fix but didn’t realize just how big Vancouver is until we got there. We drove downtown Friday afternoon and found ourselves in rush hour traffic on the way home. It reminded us of our working days and once again reaffirmed our decision to retire early.

A couple admires the sunset at Cape Disappointment.

Cape Disappointment – A great place to spend the summer.

Traveling during the summer months is hard. With kids out of school, the state and national parks are full of vacationers. Last summer we were on the east coast where campgrounds are not as plentiful so we made reservations for most of June through August. This summer we’re out west and even though we have many more options, finding a campsite with hookups for a hot summer day can be difficult. We did get lucky and secured 4 nights at Cape Disappointment. A fellow camper says sites here fill up 6 months in advance. We’re already planning for next summer.

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