Summer vacation finally got here, and I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to arrange camping trips. We recently bought a little tent trailer, and I’m discovering that it is very difficult to just spontaneously go camping on a weekend. People apparently start booking the reservable camp spots months in advance, way before we realized we were going to be able to get a trailer. My husband, sadly, doesn’t get summer off, so if we want him to come along, it has to be on the weekend.
But I’ve cobbled together a few reservations for various locations over the next couple months. We may have to switch spots every night – and we will know better for next year to plan way in advance. But we will be camping!
We did a couple of test runs in nearby parks to make sure we knew how everything works. We’ve learned how to turn on the propane heater, attach the side mounted camp stove, and made lists of things we need to organize the very minimal storage.
And saw some pretty beautiful scenery.
Our dog, Theo, who is rather a neurotic and barky mess, has proven better at camping than we thought he’d be. He hates strangers and cars and bikes, but it turns out he is a big fan of woods and nature walks, and he’s been willing to keep a little quieter so other campers aren’t bothered.
So I think this camping experiment is going to be a success once we work out all the kinks.
When not endlessly searching through the Washington and Oregon state park reservation systems, I’ve been sitting down at the sewing machine and am making more X and 16 patch blocks. Nights in the forests get chilly – we are going to need a bunch of quilts! It is motivating to get back to the fabric.
(P.S. That is Mt. St. Helens in the mountain photos above, our local volcano. The visitors’ center at Johnston Ridge is wonderful – we’ve been going for years to see the recovery proceeding since the eruption. But it turns out no dogs are allowed in the national monument. Yet another thing we’ve newly learned about camping – check ahead where and when pets are allowed.)
