Camping in Florence

We quickly followed up our first camping trip of the year with our second. I think this is the first time ever that Michael and I have gone camping two weekends in a row, and I'm not sure if we will do it again. It was fun, but tiring and I got even more behind on housework than I usually am! ;)

Our friends, John & Amy invited us to camp with them at an "off highway vehicle riding area" campground seven miles south of Florence, OR, called Driftwood Campground. What the "off highway vehicle riding area" part means is that we were able to take our ATV and Michael's dirt bike to ride in the dunes. In the past we've gone either to Brownscamp which is on the way to Tillamook, or to Sand Lake which is very close to Tillamook. Michael has dreamed of riding the dunes ever since he heard about them. Besides that, he had not had a chance to ride in a couple of years, so you can imagine how much he was looking forward to the trip.

The Hays met us at our house the morning of the 9th, and we finished loading their van and our truck and trailer with 2 kids, 1 dog, 4 adults, 1 ATV & 1 dirt bike plus a mountain of supplies to get us through the next 3 days. We spent the next few hours traveling down I-5 South, stopping at a park in Corvallis for a quick lunch before hitting the road again.

When we pulled into the campground, it was clear we had left the warm sun behind us--the skies were overcast and it was definitely cool outside. I was glad I'd brought lots of warm layers! Our campsite was right between two other sites and it was mostly just sand . . . the kind that sinks up to the ankles and always makes me feel like I'm walking around in a giant ashtray. :)

We spent the next couple of days lounging around the campfire or in our tents or taking rides out in the rolling dunes. John and Connor got to ride with Michael and experience the thrill that comes with speeding through the sand on a machine with no seatbelts.

I always love watching Michael when he rides--he comes back with flushed cheeks and shining eyes, reminding me of a small boy at Christmas. Maybe someday we'll have a house in the country with enough property that he can go riding anytime he wants and I can see that look all the time. But for now, we'll take what we can get.

More pictures from the trip:

Camping in Skamokawa

My parents wanted to get out of Vancouver over the Fourth of July weekend because their little dog, Sadie, always gets so freaked out at the noise of the fireworks in their neighborhood. They found a campground in Skamokawa, WA, and invited us to rent a yurt and join them for a couple of days of r n' r. I have wanted to try a yurt for a long time, and I had to laugh when mom told me that the yurts in this campground had heat and electricity. I teased her that that was not "real" camping, as the last few times I have been in the woods, I was backpacking, which means I was filtering drinking water from a creek and peeing behind a log. :) All kidding aside, I thought it would be fun not to have to haul everything I would need for a few days in a pack on my back and I knew that we would eat really well with my dad acting as the primary chef for the weekend.

Michael and I both got off of work in the early afternoon on Friday and raced to get ready for the trip. We loaded the trunk of our car with more stuff than it's ever seen before, installed Flynn in the backseat and hit the road about 5pm. Traffic was understandably not that good with everyone and their dog (including us!) trying to leave town for the weekend. We only stopped once to give Flynn a potty break and rolled into the Skamakowa Vista Park campground at 7:30pm.

When I talked to Mom about the trip before we left, I thought she had said it was on the coast. What I discovered when we arrived is that it is near the coast (not far from Astoria), but is actually perched on the edge of the Columbia River. Still, I had packed lots of warm clothes because anything near the water in Oregon is likely to mean overcast skies and colder weather and I was glad I did!

Mom and Dad had a lovely chicken dinner with roasted red potatoes and garlic bread ready and waiting for us when we arrived and it was SO nice not to have to cook dinner or figure out what to eat. I was so happy! We chatted for awhile, and went for a short walk near the water, then turned in for the night. Flynn finally settled down on his bed (he had been a bit stressed out by riding in the car) and Michael and I made our bed on the lower bunk of the bunk bed in our yurt. There was also a futon-type couch that could make into a bed. Our yurt was a 20' circular building made of poles and heavy-duty canvas. It had 3 "windows" built into its sides, a window in the door and an octogon-shaped window in the roof. I liked being able to see the sky and the treetops from my bed.

Michael slept like a log Friday night (poor guy was tired!) but I had no such luck. There were 4 or 5 other neighboring yurts and some of their occupants did not seem aware of the posted quiet hours from 10pm to 9:00am. To say that I did not get much sleep is a massive understatement. I finally knocked on the door of one of the yurts to ask them if they would please go to bed soon. I tried to sleep but mostly got angrier and angrier as I watched the sky brighten through the little window in the roof. I was also worried about Flynn having an accident in the yurt, so I kept waking up when I heard him moving or sighing. I let him out at 5:30am and then I think the most I slept was an hour or two before waking up at 8:00am to let him out again. Michael felt bad when he woke up and saw how grumpy I was from not getting any sleep--mostly I think he felt bad that he slept through all the racket and I was like the Princess and the Pea. :)

I felt better after having a special breakfast of eggs, hashbrowns and toast courtesy of Chef Dad. The sun made an appearance and I felt even better! We played a few hands of UNO and snacked on chips and homemade salsa. Then it was time for an afternoon siesta of snoozing in our lawn chairs and listening to the birds tweet all around us.

Dinner was chicken skewers thanks to my local New Season's meat counter--we had both teriyaki & thai peanut skewers. I thought they were great because they were already prepped and seasoned and ready to be thrown on the grill. I had made a quinoa salad with corn, tomatoes, black beans & red peppers and Dad had prepared his famous macaroni salad. For this weekend, I was definitely off of my special diet. :) There was no way I was passing up Dad's macaroni salad if I could help it.

Later that night we enjoyed a campfire and made s'mores before heading to bed. I was really hoping for a quieter night so I could get some sleep and I got my wish. It was quiet and I slept until Flynn got up around 5:30am wanting to go out. Then I went back to sleep until 8:00am--heaven.

We had a lighter breakfast Sunday morning--bagels for the men and oatmeal w/fresh blueberries for Mom and me. Michael and I cleaned up our little yurt and checked out at noon, then spent a few more hours hanging out with Mom and Dad at their campsite and playing a few more rounds of UNO. We had hot dogs for lunch with more of Dad's salsa and chips (and macaroni salad!). Then everyone sang to me and we ate chocolate cake to celebrate my birthday.

The trip home was much faster than the way there because there was a lot less traffic. Flynn seemed calmer on the way back home too. I guess after spending the weekend camping with us, he realized he was not going to the vet or the kennel. :) He was, however, in dire need of a bath after spending so much time lounging in the dirt!

All in all, it was a fun weekend and I was glad to spend some relaxing hours with some of the people (and animals!) I love.

Father's Day Dinner

Michael and I headed downtown on Saturday afternoon to meet my parents for an early Father's Day dinner celebration. There's a little Chinese restaurant called Ling Garden that we all love and it's conveniently located about halfway for everyone. Mom and Dad got there first and got things rolling by ordering some appetizers--pork w/dipping sauce and shrimp egg rolls. I added to that by ordering some veggie egg rolls and then we got down to the serious business. :) Dad got the Kung Pao chicken (he loves the hot stuff!) and Mom ordered chicken chow mein. Yum. Michael had beef broccoli and I got my favorite cashew chicken dish. Needless to say, everyone ate VERY well. Dad opened his Father's Day gift and we all ooohed and aaahed over it. It was a candy box sampler from our recent trip to Spokane and our visit to the Davenport Hotel. Michael and I each bought a box of the decadent goodness for our respective dads. My dad looked pretty darn happy about it!

We took some pictures before heading home for the evening . . .


It was fun spending time together!

Our Garden, Part II

The weekend after we returned from Spokane, our friend John and his little boy Kaiden came over to help us get rid of some of the dirt in our backyard. We accumulated quite a large pile of it when Michael was putting in the French drain, and there was just too much of it to spread around the yard. Besides that, the dirt is really more like clay and isn't any good for gardening.

The boys got to work with shovels and worked up a sweat filling our wheelbarrow, then emptying it into the trailer that Michael and his dad built years ago. Michael and John had spent a previous weekend reusing old boards from our deck to build sides for the trailer, so the clay-dirt was well contained and ready for a trip to the dump.

Kaiden had fun helping me water the garden and running back and forth along the boards that were the improvised wheelbarrow ramp.

When the boys came back from the dump, they said they'd been surprised to learn exactly how heavy the load was--5,000 pounds or over two tons of dirt!! They were, in fact, 1,000 pounds over the recommended limit for the trailer, but didn't find that out until the truck was weighed at the dump. They both attributed the extra weight to water trapped in the clay-dirt.

It was nice to see the yard without the huge pile of dirt. Now on to building the new deck!