Mountains straight out of the water and waterfalls everywhere you looked.
August 2–28, 2026 · Pacific Northwest
Our summer
by boat.
A family trip from Lake Washington through the San Juans and Vancouver, then deep into British Columbia to Princess Louisa Inlet and Chatterbox Falls.
27 daysaway from home
WA + BCislands, cities & mountains
Sea Ray 40our floating home base
The trip
“Go north. Slow down. See what life feels like when the boat becomes home.”
This was our longest family boat trip yet. The big destination was Princess Louisa, but what we remember just as much are the little things between stops: dinghy runs, groceries, crab dinners, bike rides, cold swims, beach walks and sunsets from the back of the boat.
01
Lake Washington → La Conner → Spencer Spit
Leaving home
The trip started the best possible way: leaving our own dock and watching familiar water turn into a real journey. We ran north through the locks, fueled in Edmonds, threaded Deception Pass and settled into island life.
02
Beaches, dinghies, lighthouses and long sunsets
San Juan island days
This was the rhythm we wanted—short runs, shore exploring, little grocery missions, crab on the boat, paddling at sunset and plenty of time with nowhere urgent to be.
03
Vancouver
A city by boat
Pulling into Vancouver by boat made the city feel completely different. We traded anchorages for bikes, restaurants and kid stops, while the Sea Ray stayed right in the middle of the skyline.
04
North toward Princess Louisa
The coast gets bigger
Past Vancouver, the scale changed. The water got quieter, the mountains got steeper and every turn made the trip feel farther from home—in the best way.
05
Malibu Rapids → Chatterbox Falls
Princess Louisa
This was the centerpiece. We timed Malibu Rapids, entered the inlet, hiked through old-growth forest, explored the falls by dinghy and even got in the water. It was the place that made the whole trip feel bigger than a summer vacation.
06
Harbors, beach stops and one last sunset
The long way home
Eventually the bow pointed south again. We still had time for dinghy rides, harbors, sand spits, donuts on the boat and a few last golden evenings before the familiar bridges came back into view.
A few things we want to remember
The trip in six memories.
At anchor, fish tacos, nowhere else we needed to be.
Bikes, restaurants and kid adventures—without giving up boat life.
The doorway into the part of the trip we had been picturing for months.
Not warm. Definitely memorable.
The trip that made a much bigger family adventure by boat feel possible.
Summer 2026
We came home wanting to go farther.
This trip changed the scale of what we thought a family adventure could look like.