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. :)
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment