Pancake Jack, Jack and Jill: #18: April Mixing it up on San Juan Island

kids driving the ferry

In April Pacifica, Issei and I went on a camping trip to San Juan Island, which lies out in the Straights of Juan de Fuca, connecting Puget Sound to the Pacific Unlike other parts of the west coast, the Spanish heritage is not linked to the mission trails El Camino Real…instead it was a named after a Greek explorer, Ιωάννης Φωκάς, who may or may not have sailed up to the region some 400 years ago from Aculpulco. Unlike Aculpulco, San Juan Island is usually rainy and cold in April, but there is always a small chance of sunshine. We rolled the dice, hopped the ferry, and it turned out gorgeous.

For our first night, we had the campsite all to ourselves…set up camp, and wandered around on the little beach beneath, and launced driftwood boats out into the water as the sun set. The next day we explored the town of San Juan, which takes about 1 hour, or less if your kids are riding on razor scooters, more if you like to check out the Whale Museum. That afternoon, friends arrived and joined us at the campsite, and we all stayed up late until the stars came out and a fox ransacked food we carelessly left out while we went stargazing.

The next morning we served up pancakes. And the one after that. For this trip we tried out two sets of instant mix…Bisquix and something from the discount supermarket. As expected, they tasted exacltly the same, but our chefs tried two different recipes: add water, or add less water. The pancakes took a backseat to some of the delicious sides we prepared…fresh eggs from a local farm, and an assortment of top-shelf bacon and sausages. On morning 2, we even had savory leftovers…Dutch-oven-roasted pork. Yum. With 8 kids and 5 parents, we all ate well, then tried to burn off the calories racing and chasing around in the sunshine.