The First Leg
We arrived at Lake Tahoe last night after a couple long days in the car and a few minor "setbacks".
My goal was to leave Silverton no later than 9:00 so we would have time to set up camp and enjoy Crater Lake a bit. We left our house shortly after 9:00 but the trailer tire had a flat so we had to stop by Les Schwabs. We dropped the trailer off, picked up bagels, and went to Napa auto parts to get something Phil needed for the trailer. Long story short, after all was said and done (wrong parts, people needing to go potty, etc.) we didn't leave until 11:00.
The drive to Crater Lake was beautiful. It is fun to go though such different terrain. We went from the lush Willamette Valley to the high dessert. We loved Crater Lake. The rock formations, Mountain top meadows, wildflowers, and of course the lake itself was beautiful.
We arrived in time to quickly set up camp and start dinner...where we discovered something terrible (for me anyway, terrible is not in Phil's vocabulary). Four bags of groceries - all the dry food had not been packed (rice, canned goods, smores material, breakfast items, car snacks for the return trip, etc.). We didn't even have what we needed for the simple dinner I had planned. Luckily, I had my trip notebook that had everything I had written in it so I was able to review my menu plan and shopping lists to recreate a list of what was missing. Phil went down to the store and bought the condiments and we got dinner taken care of.
I forgot how "messy" camping is. This was our first camping trip with children. Evi's clothing turned an ashen gray from crawling around. The other two were running around having a blast and I am not sure a fire hose could have gotten the dust out. We all got mosquito bites (Phil especially, he is delicious). We were quite tired by the time the sun went down. Evi decided that she was going to cry and refused to quiet down so she slept in the car in her carseat and Phil slept in the driver's seat. He tried to bring her back once but with the same results. There are benefits and drawbacks to having a campsite that borders the bathrooms. The drawback being that for about 2 hours straight (9-11) it was very noisy. The older two children did great - they slept well (for the most part). Evi eventually fell asleep but woke up quite a bit. Phil and I did sleep but it was in minute chunks not hour ones!!
It was a little chilly in the morning so the children were happy to sit in a nice toasty car while Phil and I packed up and with no breakfast to prepare, we were able to leave camp by 8:45. Luckily, I had the car snacks packed for "the ride to" so we snacked until we got to Klamath Falls. We found a grocery store and restocked our dry goods. With bagels in hand and starbucks, we headed out.
The way Phil described the scenery was this, "It is nice to get out and drive through places like this so you can appreciate where you live." We couldn't figure out why people lived in these "desolate" places. We get the ranching (sort of) but what else do people do?? We decided that we would rather live in an apartment in Salem than have a hundred acres on that part of the drive.
We drove through Reno about 8 1/2 hours later (oh my!!!). The children were doing really well. They had watched movies, played at a park to stretch their legs, read books, colored in color books, and of course enjoyed numerous car snacks! The last hour or so was a nice drive - forested, streams, mountainous.
We got to our resort room 6:30ish. Phil emptied the trailer while I unpacked our stuff. The rooms are really nice. One has a small kitchonette, a table, and a hideabed. The other has a bed, a dresser, and a wardrobe. I set Evi's play pen up against the wall under some hooks and hung up a sleepingbag to make a leanto hoping that she might sleep better/cry less if she couldn't see me. We were all very hungry so after I crammed all the food in the mini fridge, I set about to make tacos. Then, I discovered that I forgot the taco meat. How on Earth can someone who spent SO MUCH TIME preparing and organizing have so many disasters with the food!!! We settled for quesadillas instead. I was exhausted and ALL the children went to bed very well!! Evi didn't cry at all (which she rarely does, even at home). We didn't hear a peep out of anyone all night long.
Today, we are rested, unpacked and settled in, and ready for adventure!!
My goal was to leave Silverton no later than 9:00 so we would have time to set up camp and enjoy Crater Lake a bit. We left our house shortly after 9:00 but the trailer tire had a flat so we had to stop by Les Schwabs. We dropped the trailer off, picked up bagels, and went to Napa auto parts to get something Phil needed for the trailer. Long story short, after all was said and done (wrong parts, people needing to go potty, etc.) we didn't leave until 11:00.
The drive to Crater Lake was beautiful. It is fun to go though such different terrain. We went from the lush Willamette Valley to the high dessert. We loved Crater Lake. The rock formations, Mountain top meadows, wildflowers, and of course the lake itself was beautiful.
We arrived in time to quickly set up camp and start dinner...where we discovered something terrible (for me anyway, terrible is not in Phil's vocabulary). Four bags of groceries - all the dry food had not been packed (rice, canned goods, smores material, breakfast items, car snacks for the return trip, etc.). We didn't even have what we needed for the simple dinner I had planned. Luckily, I had my trip notebook that had everything I had written in it so I was able to review my menu plan and shopping lists to recreate a list of what was missing. Phil went down to the store and bought the condiments and we got dinner taken care of.
I forgot how "messy" camping is. This was our first camping trip with children. Evi's clothing turned an ashen gray from crawling around. The other two were running around having a blast and I am not sure a fire hose could have gotten the dust out. We all got mosquito bites (Phil especially, he is delicious). We were quite tired by the time the sun went down. Evi decided that she was going to cry and refused to quiet down so she slept in the car in her carseat and Phil slept in the driver's seat. He tried to bring her back once but with the same results. There are benefits and drawbacks to having a campsite that borders the bathrooms. The drawback being that for about 2 hours straight (9-11) it was very noisy. The older two children did great - they slept well (for the most part). Evi eventually fell asleep but woke up quite a bit. Phil and I did sleep but it was in minute chunks not hour ones!!
It was a little chilly in the morning so the children were happy to sit in a nice toasty car while Phil and I packed up and with no breakfast to prepare, we were able to leave camp by 8:45. Luckily, I had the car snacks packed for "the ride to" so we snacked until we got to Klamath Falls. We found a grocery store and restocked our dry goods. With bagels in hand and starbucks, we headed out.
The way Phil described the scenery was this, "It is nice to get out and drive through places like this so you can appreciate where you live." We couldn't figure out why people lived in these "desolate" places. We get the ranching (sort of) but what else do people do?? We decided that we would rather live in an apartment in Salem than have a hundred acres on that part of the drive.
We drove through Reno about 8 1/2 hours later (oh my!!!). The children were doing really well. They had watched movies, played at a park to stretch their legs, read books, colored in color books, and of course enjoyed numerous car snacks! The last hour or so was a nice drive - forested, streams, mountainous.
We got to our resort room 6:30ish. Phil emptied the trailer while I unpacked our stuff. The rooms are really nice. One has a small kitchonette, a table, and a hideabed. The other has a bed, a dresser, and a wardrobe. I set Evi's play pen up against the wall under some hooks and hung up a sleepingbag to make a leanto hoping that she might sleep better/cry less if she couldn't see me. We were all very hungry so after I crammed all the food in the mini fridge, I set about to make tacos. Then, I discovered that I forgot the taco meat. How on Earth can someone who spent SO MUCH TIME preparing and organizing have so many disasters with the food!!! We settled for quesadillas instead. I was exhausted and ALL the children went to bed very well!! Evi didn't cry at all (which she rarely does, even at home). We didn't hear a peep out of anyone all night long.
Today, we are rested, unpacked and settled in, and ready for adventure!!
Comments
Post a Comment