Orcas Island

Girl Meets Dirt’s traditional preserves are a beautiful homage to Orcas Island’s unique history of orcharding. Founder Audra Lawlor moved to her “farmette” after leaving a Wall Street job in the downturn, and hasn’t looked back since. You can pick up her preserves (all made with island fruits) at gourmet shops around the country, but she reserves the small-batch specialty stuff for the island. The shop is open weekdays from 9am-5pm, but you can also call ahead to arrange a tasting—the jams make great souvenirs, and she also sells a gorgeous little selection of home goods like hammered copper pots and wooden serving boards, which are also made locally.

Leanto operates several campsites on Orcas Island, each one outfitted with a canvas lean-to plus a real mattress, bed, and picnic table, with wool blankets and checkered tablecloths that look straight out of Moonrise Kingdom. The result? All of the good parts of camping (remote landscape, crackling fire, fresh air, family bonding) without any of the tiresome planning and packing.

One of the most gorgeous camps we've ever seen, Four Winds Westward Ho is nestled among the San Juan Islands in the northwest corner of Washington State. This camp's roots date back to 1927, which means there are plenty of enduring traditions. All campers wear a uniform and gather regularly in front of the main lodge's fire to sing songs, play music, and swap stories. Not surprisingly, water sports are big here. Four Winds owns its own sixty-two-foot yawl, The Carlyn, which takes campers on day and overnight sails. Land activities include archery, basketball, pickleball, woodcarving, poetry, and gardening. For girls and boys, ages seven to eighteen, for four weeks; there's also a junior session, which is a one-week trial.