On Wednesday (July 27th), I woke up feeling adventurous. We had planned a camping trip at Mt. St. Helens National Park for Thursday, but I felt so zesty on Wednesday that we packed up and went a day early. It was our first-ever family camping trip with kids, and we had FUN!
A quick warning: Jeff brought his camera. I brought my camera. Between the two of us, we took over 300 pictures! This post has plenty of “posts-within-the-post” to keep `em all organized.
[Side note: ok, I just counted, and there are 68 pictures on this post—woah, that’s 20% of the pictures we took. Overboard? Maybe. This post has taken me a few HOURS to do. It’s no picnic being the family historian]
First Stop: a random viewpoint outside Goldendale, WA
On a 4+ hour drive in a tiny Honda Civic with 2 small children, you’d better believe we made a few stops before we reached our final destination. Technically, this was our second stop because we stopped in Goldendale to get the makin’s for smores. But after that, we stopped at this viewpoint for lunch. It was wind turbine central. These things are HUGE.
Where we were: picture the rectangle of WA state. Goldendale is at the very bottom-middle of the rectangle. It’s pretty…golden-brown out there. The wind was hot and dry like an oven, and the sun was baking us.
Sun, wind, and sky. That’s all you’ll find in southern Washington. Thank goodness for sunglasses and Harry Potter books on cd. I’d say Jim Dale is the real wizard.
Stop #2: We like viewpoints. Can you tell?
Once we pulled into Mt. St. Helens National Park, we were still an hour’s drive away from our campsite. We stopped to change diapers, empty bladders, and enjoy the volcanic view.
Jay liked it. So did a crowd of foul-mouthed, boastful biker “dudes.” grr.
Rose’s first volcano. So special. Speaking of volcanoes, she peed right out the leg of her diaper, soaking me straight to the skin while we were standing in awe of Mt. St. Helens’ big-ness. I had to change both Rose’s shirt and mine.
Every time we stopped, Jay tried to keep driving. At this viewpoint, he found a quarter and plinked it into our CD player like a piggy bank. Bye bye, Harry and Jim. We had to drive the last hour PLUS the 4 hours home sans-story cd. It was only really a hardship when we got back to the brownland, but still.
Stop #3: Ape Cave
Finally, we made it to a place we had planned on visiting. Last summer, while I was ultra sick and pregnant, Jeff and his cousins all explored Ape Cave. It was good to finally see it. However, I must say that it was too dark for me to really love it. Dark drippy cold places with lots of things to trip on aren’t my favorite. But the idea of it is totally cool: Ape Cave is a mile-long underground lava tube. Jeff carried Jay and I carried Rose. It was tricky walking in the dark without tripping and squishing Rose flat. So we didn’t take any pictures of the blackness in there…
Here’s Jay in his “special light,” as we called the headlamp to persuade him to keep it on. It actually worked.
Jay actually rode in the basket while we were in the cave, and Rose was in the front-carrier. When we came out, we let Jay run along the path and we gave Rose her first taste of The Basket.
Stop #4: Kalama Horse Camp—our campsite!
I know, we don’t have any horses, but we picked this campsite because it was the closest one to Ape Cave. We arrived at the site around 6pm.
We gathered wood and whipped up a weenie-roasting fire in next to no-time. I love love love camp fires and cooking on them…
…but it has been a few years since Girls Camp, and I burnt our potato-carrot foil dinners. We salvaged what we could and then roasted brats and hot dogs.
Meanwhile, while I was burning dinner, Jay had a blast playing in the tent,
and cute little Rose toasted her toes.
Of course, no camping trip would be complete without Smores! Jeff and I are all about quality and decadence when it comes to desserts. So we didn’t just get plain ole Hershey’s chocolate for these bad boys. We put Reese’s on a graham cracker and toasted the cracker over the fire while the Reese’s slowly melted into a puddle of peanutbutterychocolate goodness. Then we roasted a marshmallow the normal way, put it all together, and mmmm, lip-smacking, sticky-sweet deliciousness. I may or may not have eaten 4.
Have you ever heard of a Giant Reese’s bar? We discovered it this week, and it was perfect for our Reese’s smores.
Jeff found a perfect graham cracker-toasting, chocolate-melting stick.
Jay liked his first smore.
“Stop” #5: Tent Time!
I would say bed time, but Jay didn’t fall asleep till nearly 10pm. Jay and Rose had fun wrestling in the tent together.
Rose tipped over, and Jay tried to help her up.
He kind of overshot it a bit.
Enter: the Daddy-pillow…
…and The Mama:
Finally, at 10:30pm, they slept. It seemed so cold for Rose’s little bare head, and I didn’t have a hat for her, so I used a blanket. It was rather a long night for us because Jay cried every time his sleeping bag came off (he got cold), and his crying made Rose cry. We slept in 2 hour bursts until about 5:30am when Jay and Rose were ready to take on the day.
By the way, here’s how I kept Rose warm: fleece footies plus fleece sleep sac plus a blanket. She stayed toasty. I was relieved because I have never been camping with a baby before and I didn’t want her to freeze! It was only in the 50’s over night, but that’s still chilly enough.
Once the children were asnooze, Jeff played with his camera,
and I brushed my teeth.
Stop #6: Good Morning, Sunshine!
Glorious early morning sun shining in the pine trees. I loved listening to the trees whisper in the wind. That is such a peaceful, therapeutic sound.
Early morning rosy red Rose-cheeks
Good thing Jeff brought his fold-up saw, because the only wood we could find was in long pieces.
We rocked the morning fire, and I cooked us up a nice big pot of oatmeal—and I didn’t even burn it!
Waiting for breakfast. After such a broken night sleep, we knew we were in for it with Jay. He was Mr. Emotional all day. (his bread was falling off his toasting stick here)
Breakfast is served! Oatmeal with brown sugar, cinnamon, and raisins in it. I ate mine with a fork. We have 2 hobo tools that each contain a spoon/knife combo and a separate fork. Jay and Jeff used the spoon pieces and I used one of the forks.
Family breakfast. It was still a tad nippy out there. Our campsite had a big ole picnic table and a horse corral and a place to park the car. Car camping is the easiest way with little kiddies.
Stop #7: Lahar Viewpoint
We packed up camp and went looking for an adventure. We found the Lahar viewpoint. It tickled Jeff’s photo-artistic fancy. Here’s what he did:
Jay played in the dirt for most of the time we were there. He got SO dirty, his jeans looked khaki.
I basked in the sun on a rock and watched Rose’s fascination with a pinecone, listened to the whispering trees and breathed in the sweet fresh air. It was definitely one of those simple-but-perfect, quiet moments.
Stop #8: Lava Canyon
The fun just kept on coming! Our last stop in the Mt. St. Helens Park was Lava Canyon. It was about a 1-mile loop trail around a gushing fresh river. Perfect for toting tots and taking pictures.
Our favorite trail sign
The suspension bridge was a RUSH.
I just clutched Rose to me and wobbled across—the whole bridge swung when I stepped on it, and there were GAPS in between each piece of wood. I could see the roaring river 30 feet below my toes through the bridge. Like I said, it was a RUSH.
Cool lava formations were everywhere
The water was the perfect frothy blue. I wanted to drink it. Don’t worry, I resisted the temptation in the name of micro bacteria.
It was shady at the beginning of the trail, so I forgot to put on Rose’s bonnet. Jay let her borrow his hat since he has more hair than her.
Rose seemed to get heavier and heavier as we walked. She leaned farther and farther to the side in the sling I was carrying her in. Then she fell asleep. Sleeping babies are much heavier than awake ones. I was sweaty and panting by the time I made it back to the car!
We ate our picnic lunch at Lava canyon, and then packed up and started the drive home. The little chipmunks were SO bold—they scampered around within a few feet of us! It kind of made me nervous, even though they are the cutest rodent out there. If I were a rodent, I’d be a chipmunk. I worked so hard the whole time we were at Mt. St. Helens to get a good picture of one.
10 minutes into the drive. zzzzzz
Stop #9: Horsethief Butte
We saw this on our way to Mt. St. Helens, and decided to check it out on our way home. It was blistering hot back down in the desert, so we didn’t stay too long.
Mt. Hood on the horizon (we were right on the Oregon border).
Horse-butt was neat, but we still had 2 hours of driving ahead of us, so we were on the road again after a short stop.
Last Stop: HOME
We took the road less traveled: Bickelton Highway. It looked like a shortcut home from Goldendale. Distance-wise, it was. But we drove a squiggly road down into a canyon and curved and wriggled up the other side, so it probably took a little longer than the tried-and-true way. It was actually fun driving in such a remote part of the state. There was a sign posted at the beginning of Bickelton Highway that said “no gas for 65 miles!” We were surprised to see TREES growing in the brown grass along the first 2/3 of the road. It was a random, different part of Washington. I’m glad we’ve seen it.
Driving, driving, driving
Eventually, I ended up climbing into the back seat and wedging my self between my children to keep the peace. It was a lot of car-time for them.
Travel-worn Rose
We drove through the lonely countryside for a long time and suddenly the Yakima Valley appeared over a ridge! Home, desert home.
Our family camping-getaway-adventure was some refreshing, plain ole good, wholesome FUN. And the chipmunks were awesome.