Campout

August 2016-- family campout.

We made it to Diamond Lake this year for our camping experience. It has now become one of our favorites. Even though it was quite a long drive, with many "how much farther?" questions from the 6 year old, there was plenty to see, and plenty of time to talk. We did see a car accident that must have happened within the half hour; that was pretty sobering.

We got there in time for the kids to set up the tent with Dad while I got dinner together with some helpers. The yellow jackets decided they liked our taco salad, so we had to move our supper time inside the tent. Once we were done the visitors left and we came out in time to go down to the lake for a beautiful sunset. A campfire, with s'mores and a game helped end the day.

  Brrr - the nighttime is cold there! Even though we weren't all feeling rested the next morning we went on bike rides. Little K. is now pretty much a pro on her bike without training wheels. That was an exciting moment for me - now we can go on rides as a family!

We explored the campground to find that we were maybe one of five campers there. It was so quiet and peaceful. In the afternoon we headed over to Crater Lake; we hadn't been there since we had our exchange student way back in 2004. What a beautiful creation! God is quite the artist.

I have a terrible fear of heights. It affects my stomach, my knees .... They literally do go weak. Well, looking down at Crater Lake was great, for a little bit. But I can only handle so much. Driving around the rim of the lake was ok, I closed my eyes as the Mr. handled the road. But by the time we went to see the Pinnacles, I was at the end of my tolerance level.

The others wanted to get out and walk the trail to look down in the canyon there. Yes, the pinnacles are very cool to see, but I had a bit of a meltdown. Embarrassing for me to have my kids see this, but I've come to finally realize I won't be able to go on the Amazing Race after all. My sweetie took good care of me, and had me down to the flatlands on the way back to camp in no time. This was an "Oh Lord, Thank you Jesus" drive. I was glad to be coming down from the heights, but then a kind park ranger pulled over our truck. Seems that the Mr was going too fast for the speed limit there. But thankfully he just gave us a warning, not a ticket. Amen!

There were no bees that evening, so we enjoyed supper around the campfire with the final round of s'mores. And since we knew it was going to be cold, we were better prepared with our blankets!
Day three and it was almost time to go home. I forgot about this third day feeling from last year, the one where we all say, I wish we had another full day here! But we had time for more bike rides before we cleaned up and had lunch, then broke camp. We decided to visit the resort nearby and rent paddle boats. The Girl Who Swims was thrilled to be out on the water. Even though the wind was picking up and making it pretty choppy, they had a great time!

Another long drive home (with a necessary stop at Dairy Queen ) and another car crash on the opposite side of the freeway, but we made it home, happy, dirty, and thankful for hot water, warm house, and no bee visitors for supper.