Saint Edward's State Park

I have a bucket list of places in Washington especially in western Washington that I want to go and see. I'm always up for a family adventures and my absolute favorite thing about living here is that there are so many gorgeous places to explore. One place that has been on my bucket list for awhile is Saint Edward's State Park. It is at the top of Lake Washington so it was about a 45 minute drive. It was going to be a 60 degree day and I have been itching to go out and explore and be in the warm weather so I packed up a picnic and we enjoyed the day exploring this amazing state park. It was an old Catholic seminary in the 1930's and then they sold it to the state of Washington in the late 1970's. The seminary was created into a hotel/resort recently and the grounds are gorgeous. It has history and so many trails to explore, a beautiful walk down to the water, and an amazing playground.

We first picked the trail that looked like it had the most use and it led us down a steep path to the water. The weather was wonderful! The walk down was so pretty and green and the view from the lake was stunning.

Our walk down

We found this little sand cove that was surrounded by trees that our little family claimed while we were there. There was sand to play in and trees to climb on. Baylor quickly took her shoes off as soon as we got to the water to get her feet wet and feel the sand between her toes, Paige was happy to climb on trees and rocks and make creations in the sand, and McCall was happy to be held and touch the water.

We took a different trail back up. It was much steeper and harder but was shorter. There were stairs on it so Baylor was happy. It was definitely Nate and I that were the ones that were out of shape. Then we had a nice picnic with an amazing view of the seminary.

Then Paige and Baylor had lots of fun on the playground. It was such an awesome and unique playground! I walked around with McCall in the stroller while Nate walked around with Paige and Baylor and took pictures of them. Once McCall fell asleep, Nate and I switched and the girls had fun showing me around.

McCall got to try out a baby swing for the first time ever once she woke up and she loved it!

 Our own little puppy! :)

Then we made our way to the grotto which has this amazing rock structure and was a garden for the priests to pray and meditate at.

Then we took the time to explore the inside of the seminary. Three of the upper floors are hotel rooms. The main floor has this beautiful art gallery.

And the basement level has pictures and the history of the seminary. It was a pretty cool building to walk through and you could feel the history of it.

It was such a beautiful day- the first of many family outdoor adventures for this year!