Just my luck...

So, Terry and I are set to leave today on our longest camping trip yet. The plan is to leave after work and head into eastern Washington and then start heading south. Tomorrow we want to visit Crater Lake and on Saturday we are set to arrive at Eagle Lake (near Susanville, CA), where we have plans to camp for the week with Terry's family. It should be fun, but I am sick.

I was up most of the night last night with a cough and runny nose. Every time I got up, I would take a swig of nighttime cough syrup and then head back to bed. I hope that I get better soon and pray that Terry doesn't catch whatever it is that I have.

I will try and keep everyone posted on our trip. Good luck to Marc and Jen who plan to conquer Mount Saint Helen's this weekend!

Waterfall Weekend

We decided to head up to Ferndale to spend the day with my mom since it is her birthday next week. Terry and I drove up on Friday afternoon after a fun date. We had dinner and saw the movie Stepbrothers. It was the funniest movie I had seen in a long time.

On Saturday, we spent the day with my parents. In the end, we helped them with a new water feature they were building in their backyard. We had to leave before it was finished, but I can't wait to see the finished product in person and not just in pictures.

Zoey helped dig too

Terry and I

Almost done

Mount Rainier National Park Camping

This weekend we decided to attend the 1st annual Renovo camping trip. We had reservations at Ohanapecosh campground, which is located on the southeast side of Mount Rainier National Park. Terry and I had the camper loaded and left Spanaway around 1:45 on Friday afternoon. We headed south on Hwy. 7 to the Nisqually entrance of Mount Rainier National Park. There was cloud cover on the drive, but once we entered into the park, the clouds slowly started to dissipate. This was our first trip into the national park and the views were breathtaking. We stopped a viewpoint at Ricksecker point and took a couple pictures. From there, we continued our trip until Reflection Lakes. At the lakes, we stopped again for some photos. Finally, we made it to Ohanapecosh campground. Even with our stops, it didn’t take too long to get there. We arrived at camp and started unloading around 4:20. Marc and Jen Olson got to camp shortly before us (they actually passed us at one of the viewpoints). Our sites where right next to each other in E-loop. We were in site E005 and the Olsen’s had site E002. The Christianson’s (Scott, Holly, Jillian, Kendall and Lola) as well as Paige and Connor were already there and had their tents set up when we arrived.

Everyone congregated to our site as we were setting things up. We had a few snacks and chatted while we got things organized. Megan and Eric showed up quickly and unloaded, then left to head to her grandparent’s house for the evening since they lived nearby. After everything was unloaded and in it’s weekend home, we decided to take a quick walk down to the river. Marc, Terry and I got a little behind from the rest of the group, but eventually made it to the bridge for some quick photos.

Once back at camp, we decided to barbeque some hot dogs for dinner. Gage, Marc and Terry also got the fire going. At 9:00, we all went to the amphitheater for the evening ranger talk. The lady talked about some of the trails in the area and about the plants of Mount Rainier. The kids seemed to enjoy it. Back at camp, we got out the marshmallows and made some s’mores before heading off to bed.

On Saturday morning, we woke up early. Scott was already up with Lola when Terry and I got up. Terry made some coffee and we relaxed as everyone else slowly woke up. People slowly started waking up and coming over for their morning caffeine fax. Scott made some Chilean tea that we sampled which was actually quite good.

For breakfast, Holly cooked bacon, and then I made pancakes while Jen scrambled some eggs and Megan put out some fresh fruit. Once we had our fill of breakfast, we packed up our gear and decided to go for a hike. It was a perfect day for a hike as the sun was out, but it still wasn’t too hot.


Our first destination was Silver Falls. It was a very pretty falls about 1.2 miles from our campsite. From there, we hiked up to the Grove of the Patriarchs, which had a suspension bridge over a creek that we had to walk across one at a time. In the grove, we were able to find a little spot by the creek where the kids were able to play in the water. We relaxed there for a bit before heading back past Silver Falls on a difference trail, past some hot springs and back to camp. Overall, we were gone for about 4.5 hours and did about 5 miles of hiking.

We decided on an early dinner once we got back to our site since everyone was hungry from the hike and we didn’t really have lunch. I brought stuff for chicken fajitas and refried beans that I cooked on our large griddle and Jen put a taco salad together. It was good and definitely hit the spot after the day on the trail. The boys once again got a fire going so we all relaxed and talked around the fire.


The Christianson’s had to leave on Saturday night as they had a busy day planned for Sunday and had to get home. After they departed, we all sat around the fire and made s’mores. Terry and I both took quick showers before heading to bed.

We slept in later on Sunday than usual. Marc was up making coffee when we got up so Terry joined him while I enjoyed some hot cocoa. For breakfast, I cooked the leftover pancake batter and warmed up some tortillas, while Jen scrambled eggs with ham and bell peppers for breakfast burritos. After we were done eating, we slowly started packing up our gear. Zeus and Roxy were cute playing with each other as we were packing. I never would have thought that Zeus’s girlfriend would be a pit bull. It was hard leaving as we had such a nice weekend.

We ended up leaving camp a little after 1:00. On the way home, we stopped at Box Canyon and walked the 0.5-mile loop. After that we drove through Paradise before heading down the mountain. We also stopped at Narada Falls and walked down to the viewpoint there. It was pretty and from the viewpoint we got a little wet from the spray of the waterfall. Then, we got back into the camper and headed home. Even with our stops, we made it home around 4:30. It’s amazing to see such beauty so close to home.

Click here to see the rest of my pictures from the weekend!

Millersylvania State Park

We left for Millersylvania State Park on Friday afternoon around 3:00. When I mapped out the location, I found we could take back roads to get there and it was only a little over an hour away. We had everything loaded and the tanks filled as this was our first trip that we would be using the camper without hook-ups.

We arrived at camp around 4:15 and headed to our site, #132. It was the ADA site, so was located across from a bathroom, but was relatively private. Terry and I set up camp and then decided to take a walk to check out the other sites. We first went to the full hook-up loop. I was glad we didn’t have a reservation there since most of the sites were in full sun and it was in the mid-eighties so we would have melted. There were a few full hook-up sites that were set back in the trees so we noted those for future visits. We then walked thru the standard sites and found a couple that we wouldn’t mind having in the future, however, we were very satisfied with the site we ended up with.

Once back, we decided to have dinner. For dinner, I brought basil, sun dried tomato chicken sausages that I barbequed and we ate with salad. It was good. Since it was so hot outside, it was nice having a crisp salad for dinner. After dinner, we took a walk to check out Deep Lake. The lake was fairly small, but there was a concession stand and boat rentals near a roped off swimming area. We headed back to our site after visiting the lake where Terry made a fire. We sat by the fire for a while before heading to bed.

On Saturday, we both slept in until 8:00. Terry boiled water for coffee and I made a cup of tea while we woke up. It had cooled off over night, but we were prepared for another warm day. For breakfast, I made sausage gravy, biscuits and scrambled eggs. It was yummy, we are finally getting a hang of baking the biscuits. We still have to flip them half way thru, but they are coming out less and less burnt every time.

After breakfast, we decided to go for a hike. The small brochure they gave us when checking in showed a bunch of trails on the north side of the campground. Once we started the walk, we realized they trails were definitely shorter and easier than expected. We were out for about 2 hours, but it was more of a walk, then a hike. Most of the area was between trees and very pretty. There were a couple boardwalk areas we had to cross and a few muddy spots. Terry and I were able to go around the mud patches, but Zeus chose to walk thru them.

The trail we took brought us to the lake. Zeus was quite dirty, so Terry washed him off in the water. There, we met another couple that was teaching their dog Jake how to swim. It was amazing how deep Zeus would walk into the water to get a treat from the other people. After Zeus was rinsed off and had a chance to play with Jake, we headed back to our site.

We hung out at our site briefly and then decided to head back to the water. We changed into bathing suits, packed a small bag with some water and walked back towards the lake. We decided to rent a small boat and go rowing on the lake. We got a 9-foot Livingston for $12/hour. It was a lot of fun. We rowed over to the other side of the lake and were able to beach the boat and get out and do some swimming. It was nice there since there wasn’t anyone else around so we felt more comfortable in the water. Zeus even swam out to me while I was in chest deep water. The lake felt nice and it was good to cool off in the water. After our refreshing swim, we rowed around the lake. Terry did most of the rowing so I was able to relax and work on my tan with Zeus. It’s nice that he doesn’t mind the water, or mind being on a boat.

After the boat ride we walked back to our campsite. We decided to have an early dinner then go back down to the lake for an evening swim. For dinner I made chicken fajitas. They turned out pretty good. When we were done eating, we rode our bikes back to the lake. Zeus still doesn’t enjoy being in the trailer. The sun was started to set, so a lot of the shoreline was becoming shaded. We found a little sunny spot and both took a quick dip.

When we got back to our site, Terry made another fire. We both got comfortable and sat around the fire for a while talking. I enjoyed some s’mores before heading to the camper. We both took quick showers before heading to bed.

We slept in again until nearly 8:00 on Sunday. For breakfast, we had the leftover chicken fajitas with scrambled eggs and made breakfast burritos. I think I liked the chicken for breakfast better than dinner. After breakfast, we slowly started packing up our gear. We left camp around 11:00 and headed home. The weather was warm and we got amazing views of Mt Rainier as we drove east. We made it home to ninety-degree weather and wished we were at the lake. I am glad we had a nice weekend and we found another park close to our house.

Click here to see the rest of my pictures from the weekend!

Weekend Preparation: Millersylvania State Park

Terry and I are excited to check out another new state park this weekend. The weather has been amazing, and it's suppose to stay sunny throughout the weekend. We are going to be at Millersylvania State Park in site #132 for two nights. The park is located a little south of Olympia on Deep Lake, which ironically isn't very deep. I mapped its location and it is about an hour away from our house. The best part is we don't have to take any highways to get there so we won't have to worry about traffic when we leave on Friday.

July 4th Weekend

So, a lot happened over the weekend. Terry and I went up to Ferndale on Wednesday. We spent Thursday preparing my parents' house for my grandma's wedding. Then on Friday, was the annual 4th of July party and Terry and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary. On Saturday we went to Green Lake in Seattle and participated in the Milk Carton Derby. We were sure busy, but had a great weekend.



The highlight of July 4th had to be when my cousin attempted to launch a bottle rocket from his behind. It would have worked better if he actually tried with a bottle rocket. Here are some of my favorite weekend pictures.

Don't Try this at Home

Joey & Michael

Dad, Jaclyn, Danny & Joey

Jaclyn & I

Our Milk Carton Entry, the Mooonster Truck