Oregon Camping Trip

We last camped with the Thumas when Faith was about 2 years old. Given that it has taken us 5 years to get another trip scheduled, it would lead you to believe that we didn't have a good time on that trip. That would be false. We had a great time five years ago and when we finally got our schedules together enough to camp again this year we had an even better time.

The Thuma Family had the brunt of the drive. We tried to meet "in the middle" between Seattle and Boise, but the reality is that the location we chose was much easier for us to get to, only a 5 hour drive, compared to the 8+ hours of driving that Lisa, John, Quincy, and Jessa had to do. John found a campground near Wallowa Lake, which turned out to be a very popular camping area set around a large waterski/fishing lake and surrounded by little towns full of mini-golf, go cart racing, horse stables, and even a goldola ride. It was also right by a cool little town (Joseph)  that happened to have a great Mexican restaurant and a really yummy chocolate/coffee store. OK... so it was not real camping.

The Thumas brought not only their boat, but also one of the coolest camp inventions I have ever seen- a homemade camp sink constructed out of Home Depot orange buckets and lots of hardware. The kids could have happily played with the little foot pump for hours. We arrived around 5PM and set up camp while the kids explored the creek and woods nearby. Night one was hotdogs, brauts, baked beans and potato chips. Of course this was followed by s'mores. Since there was a burn ban, John also constructed a propane fire pit, so even though none of us smelled like burnt wood, we were able to enjoy a nice glow from the gas flame and roast marshmallows with the best of them.

Saturday was my birthday. We had a leisurely camp breakfast and then headed into town to explore. We ended up at a little Mexican restaurant at noon where we had two tables: one for adults and one for kids. Our waiter was, hands down, the best waiter we've ever had. He entertained the kids the entire time we were at the restaurant and kept all of us laughing with his jokes, slo-mo, dance moves, and more. After a quick stop to get coffee and chocolate we took the boat out on the lake. Nothing like skiing on my birthday! Jake also got up on skis and all the kids tubed (Actually, that's not true. Faith didn't want to even ride on the boat. We're still working on that anxiety thing!). After hanging out on the lake we headed back to camp where Lisa and John had dinner duty. My birthday dinner was DELICIOUS (of course) with Tri Tip, corn salad, watermelon salad, and homemade peanut sauce. Lisa had even made a cake for the celebration. We were in charge of dinner the next night and it was not nearly as tasty. I tried a new camping recipe for chicken enchilada nachos and while it was OK, it certainly wasn't something I would repeat! 


Sunday was another day spent on the lake watching the cousins splash around on floaties together and catching up with my sister and John. Lots of games of hide and seek ensued back at camp. We packed out early on Monday, since they had a long drive home and I had to get on an airplane for St. George Utah at 530 the next morning. We were all grateful for the time we got to spend together... and even though Brian started the trip saying that he was getting too old to camp and that this would be his last ever tent camp experience... by Monday he was already planning which gear to replace, what stuff we'd need to get rid of before our next camping trip, and how to make a camp sink of our own. Camping is a pain in the ass. He's right. But there's also nothing else quite like it.