Camping Trip!
This summer we decided it was time to really get back to nature with the girls and try some real camping. By this we mean actually hiking away from the car, setting up a tent and sleeping in it overnight. This took some planning however. First Daddy and the girls journeyed out to the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness (about an hour from Portland) and set up our tent in a spot which had been scouted out the year before. It was about a 20 minute hike from the car (when we said "real camping" we didn't mean to imply too much). The plan was to return to this site the following day, secure in the knowledge that things were all set up. The problem was that when we got home Mommy was lying in bed with some kind of gastrointestinal bug, most likely the result of poor manual hygiene on her part. So we decided to postpone the trip a week and hope the tent would remain where we left it....
This was that first site, by the way, which the girls had fun setting up:
Elsie even carried a pair of shoes in her backpack:
Anyway, the tent was still there the following weekend. It turns out Maggie's explosive diarrhea could not have picked a better time to surface because we ended up escaping a brutal heat wave and moving the tent to an even better spot by the river. Behold:
Daddy and the girls looked on while Maggie went into Outward Bound Instructor mode and cooked a wilderness gourmet meal.
Later that evening the Wang family showed up and we ate marshmallows by the fire...
Breakfast by the river!
Then it got hot and the girls took off their clothes for the rest of the day. Julian, like D-Hawk, did not succumb to peer pressure.
Theo and Julian played.
Let the swimming commence!
Ah yes, it was a nice cool way to get out of the hot city. Late in the day we packed everything up and realized we need to work a little on paring things down.
Theo demanded a ride back to the the car and luckily Maggie was back to 100% Vining strength!
13 comments:
I think what I admire most about this post is that a) you went out and had an experience, b) you documented it, c) you shared it, and d) you did all of the above without using archival footage or the photography of others. Excellent.
What I do not like about this post is the fact that you have made up abunch of stuff about your wife. This will be taken care of as soon as I return home.
Also, I want to commend Maggie for her hygiene. This is the first I've heard of her illness (sorry to hear it!) and am so impressed that it wasn't passed on to my family or anyone else. Amazing.
This is the best camping story I've ever read and I read it at bed time just when it's fun to think about families having good times together. Thanks you hardy Vining/Bradfords !
P.S. The setting looked a lot like Grand Lake Stream to me.
Hey Pete and Anonymous -
Every time I write a comment I have to fill out a page of info and then have a "verification code" sent to my cell phone. This is such a pain in the neck. Does everyone who comments have to do this ? How much longer can we stand for it ?
Gran Kathy! Not sure why you have to get something sent to your phone. Can't you just use the word verification below the comment box?
MAVVER, next time you should have LongA build you a river-bidet out of rocks. You could take off all your clothes, like your daughters, and just let the deuce loose!
of course I use the word verification but it rejects my password. Then i have to go to the "sign up here" page, fill it out using the same ol pass word and THEN I have to type in my cell phone number and get a secret code sent to my cell phone and THEN type that in and THEN I can go back to the comments page and leave a comment.
kathy
by "word verification" it means for you to type in the random letters in the picture above the box - is that what you're doing?
Oh it's Grand Lake Stream, and rafts and little girls in little silver shoes! Wish we were there . . .
yes I have been doing everything right except when I have to go to the "sign up here" place I've been so furious I've been typing in swear words so maybe that's why they make that call to my cell phone.
Laura has the right spirit about this camping trip. I do love those silver shoes in the woods.
ox, Kathy
Grand Lake Stream has water in it.
WB
Water that moves, that is.
WB
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