The saga of this camping trip is not really a one-paragraph tale; it's more of a collection of mini-stories, best told by the plethora of pictures I took. Some memories from our camping trip:
- We played at "our private beach" which was super close to our campsite last year. We still affectionately called our private beach. It was smaller than the other river access point at the campground, so we had it to ourselves any time we wanted it. We spent an evening and a gorgeous long morning there, playing in the river, admiring the scenery, and basking in the sun.
- This was our first camping trip that we brought enough food AND managed to cook it right. Aka, this was our first camping trip that we weren't starving by the end. Haha, we're learning!
- Family sleepover in the tent! Thankfully the D-shaped zipper on our tent door zipped up high and Amber couldn't reach it and escape. So at a late bedtime, Jeff and I left the kids to frolic and giggle for two hours and eventually drop off to sleep before we joined them. It saved us a whole lot of Amber-pummeling, and the kids fell asleep faster without us there.
- The mosquitoes came out at dusk, and since were partying in the tent, Jeff and I retreated to the van in wimpy surrender. The first evening, we relaxed in the back of the dark van and talked until bedtime. We talk plenty in normal life, but we rarely block out an entire evening where we just sit together and do nothing but talk. It felt nice to be so un-distracted and present. The second night, we were exhausted and we watched a movie in the van.
- I had a few grains of sand between my toes after the first day on our private beach, and when I went running the next morning, I got a BLISTER between my toes from the sand rubbing! It made me feel like such a rookie! I can't remember the last time I got a blister during a run. Hah.
- We took two twisty-curvy drives up towards Mt. St. Helens and all felt a little green around the gills by the end. Amber fell asleep eventually and only puked once from carsickness...
- During a nausea management stop on one of our drives, I tried to teach Rose how to pee in the woods without a toilet, with hilarious results. After coaching her unsuccessfully through a couple of different positions, I finally stripped her from the waist down, told her to take a wide stance, and let it loose. HAH! Jeff and I were cracking up.
- We took the long way home to try getting a glimpse of the mysterious Mt. St. Helens, but carsickness and fatigue (along with some significant road work) dampened our enthusiasm and we settled for lunch at the McClellan viewpoint. Unfortunately, the mountain was shrouded in clouds and we could only see the base peeking out. The view was still alpine-licious though, so all was not lost. And we saw Mt. Hood and Mt. Adams on the lonnnng drive homeward (6 hours of driving plus 1 hour stopped at a roadwork barricade). Jim Dale to the rescue!
Upon our arrival while standing at the campsite registration box, I immediately knew it was going to be a great week when we met Coco, riding in a motorcycle side car and wearing his very own doggy-goggles and decorative scarf collar. Coco's owner was very friendly in spite of his forked four-inch long yellow-white goatee. I love seeing the wide variety of people who find camping fun! I think Coco even had his own sleeping bag. Golden.
Ferns in the forest still feel so exotic to me, even after eight years of living in WA.
Sunlight beaming through the trees: heavenly.
We let Amby roam and explore to her heart's content. She was in heaven, little free ranger.
Hah-gogs! Hot dogs! I had a sandwich on hot dog night. Still can't stomach the things, although I did bring some meatless plant-based apple sage sausages which were tasty. I chased my vegetarian sausage with a ham sandwich though, so I'm not exactly loyal. I just really don't like hot dogs.
The dinner scene. We didn't even make a real fire this time; we brought charcoal and used that for all of our cooking needs. It was a stroke of genius. Camping out here is not like camping back east. You have to buy your firewood at the campsite, and everything is nearly always too wet to burn well. That's why we failed so dismally at camp cooking last year. Charcoal is our new camping buddy. We are still wondering why we didn't think of it sooner!
An after dinner hike was in order. Iron Creek Campground is surrounded by a 1.5 mile loop trail with access points to different campsites and roads leading off of it like spokes. It is an ideal trail for hiking with wandering children. They can wander and we don't worry.
I had fun with sunbeam pictures
This giant tree stump was fun to play in...right on the edge of a dropoff down to the river.
Family picture attempt #1 at this spot on the "big beach" of the Cispus River.
Traditional family tent selfie.
Bedtime comes much later on camping trips. The kids giggled, wrestled, and zipped sleeping bags over and over before finally falling asleep around 9pm.
Hiding from mosquitoes in the van.
Asleep at last!
As usual, Jay was the first one awake in the morning, unless you count me...I never really fell all the way asleep all night though, thanks to loud breathing and snoring from all four of my family members. The second night I scooted down and slept at their feet, away from their noisy heads, and I slept so much better. I was so tired that I probably could've slept sitting up at that point though.
Morning dawns on the Coleman Dome 6 Tent.
Yogurt breakfast! We brought a cooler and replaced the ice on day 2 to preserve our perishables. I gave Amber breakfast then headed out on my run.
Amber, five minutes after I finally got her wiggly body into clothes. Nature girl to the core! She didn't want to wear clothes, she wanted to wear her SOUP! (swim suit)
A chilly morning walk to our private beach while Jeff was out running.
Three Whites in the middle of some major green green green greenery.
Our private beach: the sun was warming the sand when we arrived, and the water was clear. Previous visitors built a crescent of rocks to create something of a swimming area.
Water means swimsuit for this girl, no matter how far below 70 the air is--thank goodness for that warm sunshine!
River sparkles
Leaf over river. These are my works of camera art, with appropriately obvious artistic names.
Digging in the dark sand.
Throwing rocks and sunbathing.
Amber's angelic blonde curls, backlit by morning sunlight alllllmost convince me of her innocence. Then she throws a handful of sand at me and bites my shirt. Tokens of affection? Possibly.
The return of the runner. The kids were happy to help sweaty Jeff wash off in the icy mountain snow-melt river.
Beach yoga, all the more amusing when Jeff does it by a mountain stream.
Rose joined in
One of a tiny handful of pictures that I did not take. That rock was my happy place on the private beach. It was fuzzy and soft with dry sunwarmed moss, and I had an excellent view. (photo credit: Jay. He took about 15 of these pictures before I could barefoot-rock-hobble my way back to him and snatch the camera back.
About to retrieve the camera from Jay. He snapped pictures from the minute I handed him the camera to the minute I took it away from him.
My boy surrounded with some of nature's best.
This tree had so much personality, I was surprised it didn't walk away.
Our afternoon exploratory carsick drive landed us at Iron Creek Falls, which we accessed via a 500 foot trail with plenty of scrambling and dust. We were all too tired by then for much more of a hike, so this was perfect.
The waterfall roared and frothed in a satisfying way, and we felt the mist cool our skin.
Leaving the waterfall. Apparently there's a way to get behind the waterfall, but we were probably not up for the challenge with Amby in tow anyways. That water was fast flowing, cold and deep!
Late afternoon back at our campsite: sunlight on trees held me spellbound while the kids ate a snack.
I was trying to figure out what I wanted to say about the way this view made me feel, and Jeff's aunt Eileen (my aunt-in-law? whatever the official relationship, I love her!) wrote a Facebook comment on this picture. She said "Light I believe is meant to amaze us, heal us, and give us the energy to get our work on Earth done. I'm so glad you know how to appreciate it." YES! My most cherished kindred spirits are sensitive to the beauty and symbolism of light.
Blurry but irresistible. Truth of motherhood: the best smile-pictures are usually blurry. I save them anyways.
Dinner, night two: our last supper at Iron Creek Campground (for now). Pork was on sale at El Mercado last week, so I prepped pork-tater-carrot-ranch foil dinners and Jeff used his expert novice charcoal skills to roast them to perfection. It was SUCH a welcome change to have a hearty hot non-hot-dog meal out in the woods! A first for us. For folks who love the great outdoors as much as we do, you'd think we'd be better at wilderness food prep! Baby steps.
Potty run! Our campsite was about 300 meters from the potty. Amber loved running in the middle of the road to get there. Camping with a potty training two year old was a nightmare on day one, then she adjusted and the other seven undies I packed were not needed.
SMORES: in two days we managed to polish off an entire bag of marshmallows. It wasn't a huge bag, but it was still a whole bag! And I only ate two or three. Amber was sly and sneaky, snatching mallows with her dirty little hands every time I blinked.
Reese's inside a marshmallow: sugary sweet delight. I don't love plain roasted marshmallows, but shove a Reese's in the middle of it, shish-ka-bob it, and toast it to melty perfection and I'm sold!
Back at the giant log balance beam after dinner.
River dropoff on one side, forest on the other. Motivation!
The evening sun caught that cold clear Cispus River and turned the water blue. It looked bluer in person--the trees reflected green onto the water and confused the camera slightly. It was still gorgeous.
Stressing me out, dashing towards the rapids. The rocky shore dipped down to deep fast-flowing water here at the bend in the river. But the sunlight on her fingers and curls!
Big beach family photo attempt #2: better.
Herding the crew away from the water to give the fly fishers next door some privacy.
Smooshy tent faces! The kids loved playing in the tent, even when it wasn't bedtime.
One last picture before we left on Day 3, in front of the biggest tree by our campsite.
As I have mentioned, we took the long way home. We had been camping mere miles from Mt. St. Helens for two nights and still hadn't seen the lady herself, so we took up a viewpoint quest on the way home. That meant going up, over, down, and around. We were hoping to do a hike at Lava Canyon, but reality in the form of a carsick barfy Amby veered us off to the McClellan viewpoint and then home.
Unfortunately, Mt. St. Helens was hiding in some clouds. The view was still sweeping and the air was still alpine fresh and sun-warmed though, a perfect place for a picnic lunch. You can see the base of the mountain just below the clouds.
A quick pic from last time we stopped at McClellan viewpoint, six years ago:
Oh, my babies! Jay was barely two, and Rose was such a sweet little squishy 5 month old. You can see the mountain better in the background of this picture than our more recent ones.
And since I'm on memory lane, here's the Lahar Viewpoint (where we were headed before Amber barfed), six years ago. Hard to believe that six years ago was our first time camping with kids.
Two--no, three--more:
The inaugural family tent selfie!
Ok, back to 2017.
Tickle fight! I always lose.
How family camping trips really affect us.
Flying Amber!
Better luck next time, McClellan.
Picnics are for roaming while eating.
Me too, Rose-girl. Me too.
2 comments:
Have you ever heard of sun water?
Carissa--nope, I haven't.
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