camping tales

I like this whole bringing-a-laptop-and-upload-cord-on-vacation thing. I can keep you all updated from the road. :) Of course, all of these photos are SOOC (straight out of the camera) because I don't have my usual photo-editing software. But, vacation calls for taking it easy. So here you have it, a photo montage of 3 days and two nights of camping in central Oregon.

To break up the long drive from Danville to Sandy, we stopped to camp near La Pine. We had the quiet, picturesque, riverfront campground all to ourselves! Not only was it peaceful and beautiful, but the kids could be as loud as they wanted with no fear of waking the neighbors at 6:30am. :) It was a great camping trip, complete with two of the best nights of camping sleep ever! And even the port-a-potty smelled nice. (Seriously).

Within 10 minutes of arriving at camp, Sam was covered in dirt and soot:

Camping with colitis is totally possible. Just takes some advance planning. Grateful for aidell's all-natural sausages which make for a greg dinner by the river, when coupled with red grapes and carrots:

Our little fishergirl! Maddie became quite the expert fly-fisher and Daddy fishing buddy on this camping trip. I'm not sure who is more passionate about fishing now: Maddie or Ben! It is seriously the sweetest, most exciting thing to see my girl and her Daddy enjoying fishing together!

Here is a close-up of the general state of Sam while camping: 

At any point in the day, he was completely covered in camping dust. He would rinse off in the river and then run right back to his dirt piles and roll around. It was quite a sight to behold!

S'mores are a necessary part of any good camping trip (though, not for Mama). No sooner than we had finished dinner on the first night did Sam pull out the bag of 'mallows and ask for help. Good thing he's so darn cute and hard to resist.

Early in the morning, by the fire, dirty, tired, but content:

Early on the second day of camping, Sam was playing in a grove of trees by the river. I was taking pictures of the kids playing but started to move closer to Sam when I saw him scale these two trees right over the water. I was not at all surprised when he slipped and with a quiet splash, entered the fast-moving, frigid water. Luckily I was right there, and he was able to grab onto the bank grasses, but even after immediately whisking him to safety, he was drenched from the nape of his neck to his toes. And shivering. (this was after MULTIPLE discussions on river safety, the fast-moving water, the fact that there are falls downstream, etc. But we all know 3 year-olds lack the wisdom and maturity necessary to make decisions to avoid climbing trees near open water).

The spot where he fell:

Later that afternoon, Sam and I hung out at camp while Maddie & Ben hit the Fall River for some trout fishing. Five hours later, they'd caught a beautiful fourteen-incher, perfectly sized for dinner for four. Ben was practically glowing as he described Maddie fighting the fish. Maddie was basking in the joy of a river rainbow, plus her Daddy's pride. Sam just wanted to get a look at that fishie up close.

As you can see, Sam lost most of his clothes by the second day. He decided a pull-up (or nothing) was fine for camping, Lord of the Flies-style. Filthy, filthy, but happy little boy.

That night a huge storm rolled in, complete with thunder, lightning, and the pitter-pat of raindrops on the tent fly. Thank goodness for an amazing, dry, secure tent and the sound of a good, hard rain, to send us off to sleep. In the morning we packed up camp and headed west, past the Cascades, to Warm Springs, where we stopped for lunch, a bathroom break, and to cast a few flies.

Now we're safe in Oregon and glad to be with family! Stay tuned for further OR adventures!