What I Read While I Was Camping: Weekend #2, at Deception Pass

So, quick query for you: when I mentioned that I was going camping two weekends in a row, did you believe me? Well, here I am, back in Tacoma and all the better for half-an-hour's worth of scrubbing off dirt and grime in the shower, following the promised three days spent out in the middle of the forest in a campground in North Whidbey. 

While we originally were planning on making it a four-day trip, we made the impulsive decision on Sunday, July 4th, that we might as well be home for Independence Day: at least that way, I wouldn't have to worry about my poor cat being spooked by all the fireworks! Granted, we made this decision at like 4 o'clock in the afternoon, so it's not like we were deprived of a beautiful, full day of hanging out in nature... and of course, getting another book in. 

Here's where we went, what we did, and how much I managed to read along the way! 

Where we went: Deception Pass State Park

Located on the northern half of Whidbey Island, WA, Deception Pass State Park is easily accessible by bridge, which means that despite my best attempts, I was once again deprived of a summer day ferry ride. Boo! 

But while the island itself is fairly easy to find, the state park itself was a little more difficult. Recommendation: follow your Google maps directions to the best of your ability, but once you start getting closer, keep your eyes peeled for some of the brown signs that designate the natural area. Your final turnout will be thanks to a nondescript brown street sign, at a random busy intersection. Make sure you don't miss it... and furthermore, make sure you're not trying to find your campground at night! 

This state park is equipped with towering old growth trees, several sprawling beach areas, a rentable ampitheater area, and great views of the waters around Whidbey. The campsites we stayed at were great, with a lot of room and tree cover, but not all of them are built the same way, so make sure you do a little Internet (or in-person) reconnaissance before you reserve your spot! 

Across the Fourth of July weekend there were a LOT of families present, with a lot of rambunctious kiddos, and a lot of noisy dogs. If you're looking for a quiet, tucked away campground, this probably isn't the fit for you, but if you're looking for a fun environment to take the family, it's a good match!  

What I packed:

Emperor Mage (The Immortals / Daine #3), Tamora Pierce

Here for It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America, R. Eric Thomas

Disability Visibility: First Person Stories from the Twentieth Century, ed. Alice Wong 

You might recognize Emperor Mage from my camping list last weekend. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to read it over the course of the week, like I had originally intended, so I packed it along for the ride again this time! Here for It and Disability Visibility are - as you could have probably guessed - two more titles I plan on using to fulfill some squares on the Seattle Public Library Summer Book Bingo ("Black Joy" and "Activism / Social Justice," respectively), and I was absolutely in the mood for some memoir action, so those made the journey too. 

What I actually ended up reading:

I completely finished Here for It, by R. Eric Thomas, in less than 24 hours!

 It was only about 10pm on Friday night, and my parents were ready to go to bed. Thanks to the debilitating heat wave that closed out June, and what we were told by the rangers was a regional shortage of firehouse workers, there's a full burn ban in effect on state park lands through September, so any hopes we had of s'mores and campfire stories was absolutely shot; plus, with the relatively cold nights out there next to the water, they were looking to head to bed early to escape the cold. But for someone whose brain is hardwired to get tired sometime after or around 2am, that wasn't going to be in the cards for me. Instead, I decided to do a little bit of reading, in the hopes that my horizontal body position and limited access to my phone would trigger the insomnia-ravaged parts of my brain to say it was sleepy-time mode. 

Did it work? Absolutely not. I am a notoriously poor sleeper on camping trips, and for all my efforts, I received what I realized after the fact was an intense 3:30am panic attack in my sleeping bag, instead. But at least I got about four chapters into my book! 

I finished it all the next day, shortly after lunch, and in spite of the fact that one of my younger siblings drove in to join us for a day of hiking, beach walks, and camping hummus. 

I was able to tackle Disability Visibility, by Alice Wong, in about two sittings. 

Because Saturday had been such a successful day of reading for me, I was excited to jump into my next book right away. But, I ultimately decided to save the rest of the day for hanging out with my sister and enjoying a little bit of family time, especially when it came to spending some time by the water. 

So, Sunday dawned bright and early - because, again, I did not sleep, and the sun woke me up at my usually ungodly hours of 7am - and I got to reading as soon as my brain had decided to boot itself up again. 

What I didn't realize when packing these two books, was that I had inadvertently chosen two different, difficult kinds of personal testimony: Here for It details Thomas' personal journeys of being black in white spaces, and being gay in religious spaces, while Disability Visibility is a collection of firsthand accounts of various forms of abledness, and the ways they intersect with personal reflections on heteronormativity, cisgenderness, race, politics, and more. 

While both were engaging for different reasons, I tore through Disability Visbility with fairly singular-minded focus. With only a short break in the middle for a hike around the campgrounds, scouting out other enviable campsites with my mom, I quickly returned for the finish. In total, I read this in about two sittings. 

Trip Highlights:

There's never going to be a point in my life where my primary direction doesn't point towards the dinner table, and this trip had some of my favorites: hummus plates have rapidly become a part of my family's camping staples - because of their low amount of cooking time and exceptionally delicious payoff - and while we didn't take a lot of time for patriotic reflections during the weekend (because we banned our mom from packing a surplus of American flags with which to ring the campsites) I did make some Rice Krispies treats with colorful sprinkles on top. 

Something else to note: the campgrounds for this state park are absolutely crawling with various kinds of wildlife. During our stay we saw repeat instances of robins and crows, chipmunks, and as you can see in the picture below, plenty of rabbits! They were relatively avoidable campground buddies, and didn't cause much commotion around the tents, but it might be worth noting to cover up food that you have on the table, lest some particularly adventurous birds seek some sustenance of their own. 

Hands down one of the funniest animal interactions I had during this trip, involved a very unusual noise: while awake around 5am during one of the mornings on our trip - again, I am not a good sleeper - I heard what I thought was a large pig grunting. I couldn't believe that there would just be wild hogs venturing through an area that's as well-populated as Whidbey Island, state park or not, so I shot up in my sleeping bag and immediately zipped down the window. I couldn't see anything! But I knew what I had heard... so in the light of morning, after breakfast, I decided to do a little internet sleuthing, and found out that apparently, the Brandt's Cormorant - which are native to waterways and islands around the PNW - has a unique birdcall that sounds like an oinking pig! Sure enough, while down at the water around sunset that day, we saw a huge group of them clustered together around a partially-submerged rock a little ways out from shore. Not quite as fun to look at as baby rabbits - again, look at the tiny thing! - but still a very cool animal interaction. 

 Another camping trip, another state park... another beachfront sunset! This one was about as well-attended as Camano Island's, but had the distinct benefit of having a substantial amount more coastline from which to take in the view. My favorite places to watch weren't even along the rocky-sand coastline - the position most of the other observers took - but actually from some of the rocky cliffside trails afforded by the park. 

This was actually a fairly routine activity during our first camping trip, as well, but was much more often put into practice during our time on Deception Pass: what do you do when you deprive a lot of trivia-loving nerds a television and internet access across a weekend of camping? Get massively competitive about tackling crosswords. Handwriting be damned, my brother and I battled over who would serve as scribe during morning, afternoon, and bedtime bouts of crossword clues, and overall the experience has done perfectly well to put us back into practice after about a year of not doing any crosswords at all. 

What I'll finish off before the next trip:

I'm so happy that for the second weekend in a row, I was able to cross two more books off of my Summer Bingo sheet! After a less-than-auspicious start in June, I was glad to check off two titles before the fifth of the month... especially because - don't tell anyone - but I'm actually trying to see if I can get through TEN titles total in July. I know it sounds like a crazy attempt, but if I manage to keep up my track record for the next couple of weeks, with two books a week, I might just get it done, or at the very least, put myself in a decent position for August. 

Thankfully for my personal sanity and sleeping habits, we've got a bye-week from camping for next weekend, which I'm planning on using to spend time NOT confined to a tent with my parents and younger brother in the middle of nowhere. Instead, I'll try to do my best to not only tackle the much put-off Emperor Mage, but also tackle the fourth book in its series, Realm of the Gods, as well! 

That way, maybe I'll be able to pack a Romance or Fantasy or two for my next bout of camping, just to keep myself on a good schedule. After all, I'll need something engrossing to read during all that time I'm not sleeping. 

Any camping trips planned for your summer vacation? What have you been reading so far this summer? Let me know, in the comments below!