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Camping at Lopez Island (II)

At some point we’ll post pictures from Prague and Maui, but it’s always so much easier when you’re pulling together the happenings from a weekend away. In the case here, it’s our second annual camping trip on Lopez Island with the Kizers. I don’t know that we ever really intended it to be an annual, but we’ve now done it two years in a row and we talked about doing it next years with our little ones in tow. They just announced a few days ago they’re expecting a boy on New Year’s Eve… so maybe this turns into a family tradition of sorts.

The camping itself was a better time than the last go ’round. We enjoyed ourselves last year, but the ridiculous amounts of rain made it a rough go. We did get a bit of rain this year, but it was mostly at night and didn’t prevent us from getting out to see the area. We didn’t really do anything major, given Melissa was seven months pregnant, but we also didn’t sit on the couch for two days. The San Juan Islands are a beautiful part of this state (and country) and I can see us visiting and/or camping there more often.

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Camping at Rainier (I)

Camping Trip_August_2015_0005We interrupt all these travel posts to talk about something a bit closer to home. This one is about an August weekend camping in the rain at Ohanapecosh Campground in Mount Rainier National Park. I was really excited because, in 17 years together, Melissa and I had never been camping. In fact, Melissa has never been camping in life… or at least, that she remembered. Part of the reason we never went is because I believed camping had to be in the back country and Melissa wanted a proper bathroom. I finally caved and reserved a tent site six months in advance, which you generally have to because Pacific Northwesters are all crazy about it and they go that far in advance.

Unfortunately, the weather was not on our side and it rained a lot that weekend; the first rain we’d gotten in quite a while. I don’t think we would have gone had we A) not reserved so far in advance, and B) conned some friends into going with us. They were very good sports and joined us, despite the impending rain. The weekend consisted of a short hike, a drive up to Paradise, the challenge of waterproofing a 15 year old tent with tarps, and starting a campfire with an umbrella. We probably won’t camp in rain like that ever again, but I think we’ve started a cool new tradition. Now we get to spend the winter updating our gear. Fun!

P.S. – Go here if you do not want a cell signal for the weekend. It’s like living in the 90s. :-)


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