camping – Page 2

Camping at Lake Simtustus

The family met up with Mimi & Papa (Grandpa Doug and Grandma Debbie) at Lake Simtustus this past weekend for a longer getaway. Mimi and Papa drove down with their camper and us over from Portland with ours on Thursday. Lake Simtustus RV Park was relatively quiet the whole weekend, but especially on Thursday night, where one of the most poignant sounds during the night was the sucking made by the sucker fish cleaning muck off the dock.

We’re just getting our camp setup routine down and were able to help Doug & Debbie with theirs as well. Two very different experiences – and while their camper was far more comfortable – I’m glad I’m not the one who had to drive it down the narrow roads to the camp site. Once we got all set up however, the camp site was very cozy and offered a wonderful view of the lake and basal-column layered hills.

We rented a pontoon boat on both Friday and Saturday and combined some fishing, sailing, and splashing. Barley even got to swim a few laps around the boat before getting too tired. Doug and Michelle both caught some pike minnows on Friday, but only Ella came away with some delicious trout. Luck changed Saturday and I was the one who pulled in two fish. No one seemed too disappointed by not limiting out, partly because half the group got their fix by swimming in the somewhat chilly reservoir.

As usual, the food was excellent. Every meal provided for fun family time and no one finished the evening hungry. Especially after s’mores.

It’s hard to explain the beauty of central Oregon to folks who don’t get the desert. The plethora of birds, fish, deer, and the mingling of sage & pines nestled between the buttes of basalt might just be appealing to people who know the desert. Regardless, it was a wonderful weekend with family followed by a lethargic start to another work week. No one could agree on who wanted to stay camping the most.

Cape Lookout Campout in May

Last week, the 1st-3rd grade classes at Ella’s school did a field trip campout at Cape Lookout as a wrap-up to their habitat study. Michelle and I went as chaperones and Maddie tagged along as well. The campout was just an overnight trip, so we tacked on a couple extra days and stayed through the weekend. Best choice ever.

The school part was a lot of fun. As chaotic as you’d expect 30-ish 6-8 year olds to be, but fun. There was a scavenger hunt, lots of activity time, beach time, a boat sailing event (they made boats in class), and a lot of exploring. The kids seem to have had a blast, and Ella was particularly bummed when it was bedtime on Thursday night. A large group of students had devised a forest fort, set up guard posts, and worked to fend of other groups, spies (me), and do catch & release with prisoners (including me). But eventually, that group had to go home.

Which left us in a beautifully sunny, nearly empty campsite. The girls and I made several rounds about the campsite, peaking in to yurts, climbing nurse logs and stumps, and hitting things with sticks. Then, with no fanfare at all, Madeline started riding a bike without any training wheels. Once she got going, there was no stopping her. At first, she needed help getting started, but after a good half-dozen loops, Ella showed her how to start herself. The riding went on and on.

Then, our friends Eric, Erin and Remi arrived from Portland (beating back traffic and construction), just in time to see the sunset. We had a lovely fiesta meal and enjoyed some s’mores and beers by the fire before the kids needed to crash. The next morning, we headed to the beach after some pancakes and spent several hours in the sand. Digging, cross-word puzzling, and daring each other in to the cold Pacific. We returned later that evening to build a fire on the beach and make dinner over the fire. It was spectacular and no one got burned.

All told, it was a fantastic weekend. The coast was gorgeous (70-80F) and sunny with very little wind. We stopped by Tillamook and got some ice cream for the ride home. More camping to come.

Quick trip to Stub Stewart in April

We packed up the camper and left town last Thursday and drove to Stub Stewart near Vernonia, OR for a quick camping trip. Turns out we had reserved the wrong weekend, but there were a couple less-glamorous spots left. We set up camp quickly and Michelle did a quick tele-conference while the girls played at the playground. It was cold that night, and it seemed that Maddie and Barley took turns waking up every hour, so I was a bit of a slug the next morning when I drove back in to Rock Creek to work half of a day. By the time I got back, the nice sun had gone and a chilly wind had driven the family inside the camper.

One of the other kids in the “neighborhood” invited the girls to go Bigfoot hunting. The kid’s description of bigfoot was all over the place, and MG grew concerned about the carnivorous monster that they were searching for. The girls left a food offering of plants, which sadly, was still there the next morning.

We set up the awning for the first time on Friday and didn’t take it down because it had been so calm. Around 2am, the wind came up and started to shake the camper. Next thing I heard was the awning buckle and hit the camper. I went outside and couldn’t find the awning. I walked around the camper and discovered the poles on the back side. The awning had flipped over the top of the camper. It took some time to flip back over and take apart, folding the wet, nearly frozen mess back in to the storage bag. Noticed that other campers around had stowed their awnings, but most of their awnings were mechanical. The next morning as we packed up camp, we discovered that when the awning had flipped over, the frame hit the roof so hard that it put a hole in the fiberglass. D’oh.

stubstewart6

Spring Break Camping – Memaloose State Park

Trip number two for the new camper was a quick jaunt up the Gorge to Memaloose State Park. The park is between Hood River and The Dalles. It was a nice enough place, but the lack of leaves on the trees meant there was a constant presence of noise from the interstate and from the UP trains. This site was pretty deserted save for a few mega-coaches where folks largely stayed inside. Not much for other kids to play with, and the playground wasn’t the greatest. Luckily, we found other things to do. Plus lots of time on the tire swing.

The weather never quite turned great – though briefly on Saturday the sun came out fully and the temperature reached nearly 60F. We went to Hood River to refill a propane tank and pick up a growler from Full Sail, then took scenic highway 30 back. Stoping at the Memaloose and Rowena viewpoints made for some spectacular views of the Gorge, and even a peek down at our campsite.

The girls and I tried geocaching only to be disappointed at the tiny little cache we found. Instead of being bummed, we bushwhacked our way back to the campsite, adventuring down some basalt cliffs (to them), through some scrub oak stands, and occasionally around and over some blackberry thickets. It was fun, and the girls seemed to enjoy the route finding.

We’re in love with the camper. It is spacious, the kitchen works well, and it has a furnace, which we used much of the trip. It never got as cold as our first trip to Stub Stewart, but it never got as warm either. Luckily, we were able to pack the camper away dry this time.

Camping as a family

This weekend Ella, Madeline, Michelle and I took our first camping trip as a family. We were actually camping with a group of college friends celebrating 10 years of friendship and stuff. The camp site was at Horseshoe Cove Campground, on Baker Lake up in Northern Washington. It was quite the haul, as I’m sure our friend Joe can attest. He rode with us from Portland to the campground and back wedged between two car seats. He did a great job of keeping the girls entertained, and seemed in good spirits about the whole thing. I later figured out the ratio of travel to camping at something like 15.5:36. We’ll have to work on those numbers, especially with the ‘lil ones.

In many ways, this camping trip was a test for the future of camping for our family. We all made some sacrifices, especially when bed time came and it became clear that neither Ella nor Madeline were going to sleep in their designated areas. All 4 of us ended up sleeping on a double air mattress that leaked. My butt and hips were touching the ground at almost all times during the night, but my mass helped keep the rest of the family reasonably inflated. We also tested the early stages of a camping kitchen, and things went quite well. I learned yet another way that my mother showed her love too; by her doing camping dishes. Without a good place for them, camping dishes are wretched, especially without a dog (he stayed home… no room in the car). I may boycott bacon on camping trips from now on despite how good it was on Saturday morning with some home laid eggs and coffee.

Our friend Clem and his daughter Talia also came on the trip so Ella had a playmate the entire time. She seems to have had a blast, which is a relief. Not only that, despite a 2 am outburst, the girls were quiet during then night and I think our friends largely forgive being woken up so early by kids. We were rather worried about the whole kid thing since we’ve been doing camping trips for a decade now that were..rowdy. Turns out that’s normal, and the two camp sites near us fit the same profile, and they were even louder than us.

I bought a fishing license in hopes that we could enjoy some trout for dinner on Saturday night. I had no luck though until after dinner, though the 4″ trout wouldn’t have been much of a meal. So I put it back. Ella actually watched me catch the fish and release it, and she wasn’t scared or upset. She even got to reel in a few casts, which I think she rather enjoyed.

So besides the great comfort of old friends and the joy of seeing them all again, I think I’m just tickled that the trip went so well. It will embolden me to camp again, and soon. Here’s some photos.

Ella’s first camping trip

Back in April, we scrapped a camping trip with my parents because it was 50F and raining. We thought it would make for a miserable first camping trip for Ella to be stuck in the volkswagen for two days. So, after aligning all our schedules (Hilary’s too) we picked this weekend. My parents, Ella and Barley went over to Nehalem Bay State Park on Friday morning, and Michelle, Hilary and I met up with them after work.

3 minutes after we arrived, Ella vomited twice. She’d woken up with a cough that morning, but was fine until around 4pm, when she started to slow down. She perked up a little after some tylenol, so we stayed the night, and it went fairly well considering. She didn’t vomit again, but woke up 3 separate times with the saddest, most haunting vibrato crying I’ve ever heard. But after 3 interruptions, we all fell back to sleep for about 4-5 hours.

The day was quite nice, though overcast and cool. We had a great breakfast then rode our bikes in to Manzanita for coffee and more children’s tylenol. The town has changed quite a bit since our first visit in 2002, but it’s still a charming place. After returning to camp, we ate lunch and goofed around a bit while Ella got a much needed nap. We tried some kite flying, reading, and relaxing.

The campground is about 1.5 miles south of town and is really pretty swank. We happened to be there at the same time as a Winnebago View/Itasca Navion Rally, so there was this erie twilight zone feeling because all the campers there were the same. Nice folk though, and they were quiet, so there were really no complaints.

After Ella’s nap, her coughing had gotten worse, and our prospects for a rougher night convinced us to head home after dinner. I know sounds like all we did was eat, but that’s a pretty important part of camping, isn’t it?

Having a physician for a father has it’s benefits, so we knew that it was in fact croup that she was afflicted with and how to deal with it. She sounded pretty rough for most of the weekend, and it was clear that she was in pain when coughing at times. Luckily, the tylenol and ibuprofen allowed her to enjoy herself and she would go from being morose and in pain to her busy self in cycles throughout the day.

Despite the illness, camping again seems promising. She was kind of confused by the whole sleeping bag thing, but we’ll get it down. I didn’t take any pictures because my camera was in Michelle’s purse, and I kept forgetting to retrieve it. Luckily, my mom, dad, and sister all had their cameras.