Battle Ground Lake State Park

In January, I had made reservations for last weekend at Battle Ground Lake State Park. Terry and I wanted to check it out last summer, but since the campground consists of only 35 sites, it was booked up every weekend. We were excited to hit the road on Friday afternoon and check out this campground for the first time. We left our house a little before 3:00 and headed south. We didn’t hit any traffic and made it there in about 3 ½ hours. It was a nice drive even though most of it was on the highway and I even drove for a little while.

Once we made it to camp, we got registered and headed to our campsite, site #14. It was a partial hook-up site, so as we unloaded, Terry also hooked up the water and electric. We decided on just having fried chicken from QFC for dinner since we knew we would arrive late. After getting the campsite ready, we decided to take a quick walk around the campground and go down to see the lake. It was a small lake with a lot of trails going around it. When we got back to camp, Terry made a nice fire and we both enjoyed some s’mores before heading to bed.

On Saturday, we woke up early and decided to go fishing. We found a nice spot on the lake near a picnic table and cast out our lines. Terry caught a small trout that we opted to give away and after about 3 hours of fishing, I didn’t catch anything. However, I did get some reading done. After a few hours of fishing, we walked back up to our site for breakfast. I made sausage and pancakes for breakfast. It was nice having the hook-ups as I was able to bring my electric griddle for the pancakes. They turned out really good. I also got dinner started. I had brought meat for chili verde, so put it in my crock pot on low for the day in hopes of tender meat.

After breakfast, we decided to go on a hike. We started on the upper lake trail and then did a loop on the lower lake trail. It was a pretty walk and since the lake was small, it didn’t take too long. Along the lower loop, we came across and eagle perched on a piece of wood in the lake. It seemed so close that it was unreal. There were also lots of momma ducks swimming around the lake with their babies following. When we got back to camp, I took a quick shower and then spent some time relaxing with Terry. We also took another walk around lake in the afternoon before dinner.

Dinner turned out great. The chili verde was very tender. I also made rice, beans and Terry helped make a salad. After dinner, we decided to head back to the lake. There was a little shop we stopped at along the way and got an ice cream to share. It was fun sitting by the lake, watching people and eating ice cream. There was also an eagle circling around the lake which was neat to watch.

When we got back to our site, I decided to make a fire. Terry really wanted to give me advice and I told him to give me a chance. Amazingly, I did end up with a nice fire. We roasted some marshmallows and had s’mores before heading to bed.

On Sunday, we woke up and decided to try fishing again. We got off to a later start, so the place we were the previous day was taken. Luckily, we found a nice spot along the lower lake trail. There were some rocks we were able to sit on while we fished. We didn’t catch anything on Sunday; however, the eagle had better luck. As we were fishing, we could watch an eagle circle the lake. It dove down a few times and finally came up with a fish in its talons. I had never seen an eagle catch anything before, so it was quite exciting.

When we were done fishing, we headed back to our site where I made veggie scramble for breakfast. After eating, we slowly started to pack up our gear to head home. We stopped quickly on the way out of the park and dumped the tanks before hitting the road. We made it home without incident. It was a nice, relaxing weekend away; however, I don’t know if we will plan another trip to Battle Ground Lake since it was over 3 hours away and not as special as we were hoping.

Ferndale Graduation Weekend

Last weekend, Terry and I headed up to Ferndale for Dylan's graduation from Ferndale High School. It's amazing home much he has grown since in my head, I always remember him around this age:

We had a nice weekend at my parent's house. We arrived late Friday night as we had to head up from Monroe after the Timber Tamer's BOD meeting. On Saturday morning, my mom left early to attend Dylan's graduation ceremony while my dad, Terry and I all went out to breakfast and then picked up a truck load of hay. Terry had been pestering my dad for a few months now about trimming some low growing trees over the driveway, so they took advantage of the pile of hay to do some tree trimming before unloading it.

The afternoon graduation party for Dylan and two of his friends was a success. It was fun seeing my family there and catching up with people. Terry did a good job of mingling and found out my mom's cousin's husband was selling his motorcycle. We hung out for a few hours before eventually returning to my parent's house.

Terry initially wanted to come home early on Sunday and go to church at Renovo. However, after talking to Brad about the motorcycle, we decided to go look at it. In the morning, we searched online to get a better idea of if the price he was asking was reasonable. We weren't really in the market for a bike yet, but had been talking about getting one and this fit our criteria perfectly. After some searches online, the bike was a deal. We couldn't find anything for the price he was asking and with the low mileage. It is a 2004 Honda VTX 1300 with 3542 miles.

It reminds me of my old bike, and sits low. I sat on it and was able to keep both feet on the ground. It is a lot heavier then my old bike, but I can't wait to drive it. Terry and I did take a quick ride around the block at my parent's house and it was really comfortable. I felt like I had a ton of room on the back. Terry rode it home and even took it to work today. I can't wait to go on some rides through the mountains! It is very exciting that we have a bike again and I am glad Terry seems almost as excited as I am.

After getting the motorcycle, we relaxed with my parents for most of the afternoon. Grandma and Ed came over for an early dinner. My mom barbecued bacon wrapped filet minion and I made strawberry rhubarb crisp for dessert. We ended up leaving a little after 4:00. As always, we had a nice weekend with my folks and even came home with a little something special this time.

Carnation Tree Farm

After a long day in the sun on Saturday, Terry and I decided to head home from Monroe along Highway 203 thru Duvall and Carnation and then take highway 18 to 167 to our house. We like the drive thru the small towns and since we had the Jeep, it was nice to not have to drive it on the freeway. I am so glad we decided to take that way home, or we wouldn't have found the little gem I am about to describe.

Okay, let me start at the beginning. After the event and being in the sun for twelve hours, we found a cute Tap Room in Duvall for dinner. We both had a cold beer and some amazing sweet potato fries for an appetizer. Dinner was great as well. Terry said his blue cheese burger was the best he had ever had and I enjoyed the salmon special. We loved the small town charm of the bar and even ran into people from Operation Shore Patrol there. Recently, Terry and I have talked about the joys of moving to a small town and love to stop in them and relax.

So, after ordering, we asked the waitress, Shelly, if there were any lodging options around. We were both tired and the thought of driving just a couple minutes and finding a cute hotel would be better than driving another hour or two to get home. She didn't know anything in Duvall, but said that the owner of the Carnation Tree Farm, Roger, rents out the loft of his barn. She called Roger for us and it was available so we booked it for the night. We just couldn't resist at $65/night and only 10 minutes down the road.

We stopped at Safeway on the way and got some snacks (and aloe for my legs) and then continued the drive to Carnation. The barn was an old three story building and half of the top floor was turned into a cute loft. There was a full size kitchen, sauna, 3 small bedrooms and a balcony overlooking the tree farm. The building had a lot of charm and I know my description and pictures won't do it justice. We were both so excited about finding the place and plan on coming back for another visit. We were able to shower and relax the rest of the night, and didn't feel rushed to leave in the morning. We did head out slightly early to make church, but felt like we were able to take our time and enjoy the morning as well. It was such a unique place to spend the night and I am so glad we found it!

CORE 4x4 Event

On Saturday, Terry and I volunteered to help work our 4-wheel drive club, the Timber Tamers, work the obstacle course at the 2009 CORE Challenge III. The event consisted of a couple different courses (mud, rocks, etc) the competitors had to run thru and try for best time. Our club volunteered to man the big obstacle course. We had 12 club members out for the day. Terry and I ended up perched on a hill in the middle of the course and were in charge of timing the competitors since we could see both the starting line and the finish line from our vantage point.

We had to arrive at 6:00 to get set-up and organized before the competition started at 9:30. Once we got a few rigs thru, we realized since there was only one finish line, we would have to run only one truck at a time in case there was a problem at the end. We didn't want to take the chance of the second racer getting held up by the person in front of him especially since it was for time and the times varied. The quickest person to get thru made it in 1:58. The average was probably around four minutes. About one third of those that started the course, did not finish due to breakage. We did have some vehicles that would help them get un-stuck if needed and they clock would stay running. They only got a DNC if they broke and did not finish the race.

We ran rigs until 5:00 when everyone was able to get thru the course at least once and a couple rigs even got in their second pass for the day. By that time, I could feel that I got a lot of sun on my legs (in particular, the back of my knees and upper calve). Terry and I packed the Jeep up and left the event around 6:00. After being there for twelve hours, we were ready to get a cold beverage and some good food. We had a great time out there and really hope to be able to volunteer again.

Taneum Memorial Day Run

After some debating, Terry and I decided to spend Memorial Day weekend with our 4-wheel drive club in Taneum. Our Jeep was still in the shop, but we knew there would be some open seats if we wanted to hit the trails and decided it would be fun to go over there and hang out with our friends. There was talk of trails and campgrounds being closed, so Terry had the camper loaded on Thursday night so he could leave first thing Friday morning. He also towed up Mark’s Jeep for him so he wouldn’t have to worry about it on Friday afternoon.

Terry ended up leaving out house at 5:00 on Friday morning. It took him about two hours to get to camp. He was able to find a big area for the club to camp and spent the day setting up camp and hanging out with other club members as they arrived. I had to work on Friday, so rode up with Mark and Lori in their RV. We were able to leave their house in Sumner at 4:00 and the two hour drive ended up taking us four hours. There was a ton of traffic on I-90 over Snoqualmie Pass. We finally arrived at camp around 8:00.

I made some quick dinner since I was hungry when we first got there and then settled by the campfire. Terry and I both headed to bed early where he went to sleep and I was able to finish my book.

On Saturday, we got up and started to get ready for the day. Terry made some coffee while I cooked a sausage, spinach and egg scramble for breakfast. Terry decided to ride with Mark and I got to ride with Gary since they both had open seats. Once we left camp, we drove on a gravel rode for a while in order to reach the trails. The area was really pretty and there were some nice views of the surrounding mountains.

When we finally hit a trail, we crossed a wooden bridge thru a meadow and then had a few small hill climbs. We got to the top of one of the hills and then heard on the CB “my front right tire fell off” from Rock. Apparently, something happened to Rock’s front end and the passenger side tire sure enough fell off. The Tamers were hoping for an easy fix, but unfortunately, the part was broken beyond repair. The next best option was to get the rig to a point in the trail where a trailer could reach it. So, they were able to fab up a “skid” for the front hub with a tree branch and were able to drag the Toyota closer to the main dirt road. From there, Dan and Rock drove back to camp to get a truck and trailer to get the broken Toyota home. Once Dan and Rock left for camp, the rest of us (Rudi, Gary and Mark) decided to hit more trails.

Overall, the trails we ran were pretty mild. There were a couple difficult sections but the views were amazing. Rudi hit a tree stump on one of the trails and ripped a hole in the sidewall of his new tires. Luckily, it was a quick fix and then we were moving again. We hit a little snow but for the most part it was warm and dusty. After a couple hours, we returned to where Rock had broke to see there process. Dan-O was back with the trailer and had his rig loaded. We made sure they were able to get the truck onto the dirt road and then decided to find a trail so Dan-O could get some off-road action. Rock headed down the hill back to camp with the truck, trailer and broken Toyota while the rest of us went exploring.

We decided to take a new trail to check the area out and after a half hour or so, hit a dead end. Gary decided to give me a turn driving. His rig is well built and is basically a “point and shoot.” You steer the Jeep in the direction you want it to go and it goes there. It was a mild ride back to camp with a few sections of mud and snow. The funny thing was that I couldn’t easily reach the clutch. So, when it came time to shift gears, I had to slouch way down into the seat, change gears and then push myself upright again. I also learned how to start in gear and avoid the clutch all together.

We arrived back at camp around 6:30. Lori had put out some chips and dip that we snacked on before dinner. Zeus had stayed back at camp with the Lori’s and when we returned, his nails were polished pink. They said he didn’t seem to mind having his nails polished, but he didn’t like the smell. I just know they were giggling like school girls as they painted his nails. For dinner, I barbequed buff dogs and asparagus and also warmed up some chili. The buffalo dogs were really good; I will definitely do them again. After enjoying some dinner, we relaxed around be fire before heading to the camper for showers and bed.

On Sunday, I decided to stay back at camp and enjoy the sun with my book. I made breakfast for Terry and I before he left for the day. We had chorizo and eggs for breakfast. After breakfast, the guys loaded up the Jeeps and headed out for the day. I grabbed my book and laid in the hammock all day working on my tan. The temperatures reached 75 degrees at camp and I ended up with a nice tan. Around 4:00, I jumped in the shower to clean-up before Terry would come home. They ended up arriving back at camp around 6:00 and from what he mentioned, I didn’t miss out on much. It sounded like their day consisted of a lot of winching and snow. I am sure glad I stayed at camp in the sun and didn’t have to deal with the snow.

For dinner, I made some spaghetti with sausage and vegetables. After eating, we relaxed around the campfire for the last time. Zeus didn’t get much sleep in during the day, so as the evening came around, he ended up getting grumpy. We finally headed to bed around 10:00 to do a little reading before falling asleep.

On Monday, we woke up and slowly started to pack up camp. Everyone was loaded and ready to go around 9:30. We all wanted to get an early start for the ride home to miss some of the traffic that would surely come in the afternoon. The ride was going well over Snoqualmie Pass when we noticed Gary on the side of the highway. About 2 miles east of Denny Creek on I-90, his trailer blew a tire. We were able to get to the shoulder and help him change the flat. However, soon after we got moving again, maybe 10 miles, the other trailer tire got a flat. So, again, we found ourselves on the shoulder of I-90 helping change a flat. He did get lucky though. Gary only had one spare, but luckily, we had a spare tire for our truck that was the same size and bolt pattern of his trailer. After a quick stop, we were moving again. From there, we made it home without any other issues. It took us about 3 hours to get home which wasn’t bad considering we stopped to fix two flat tires.

Overall, we had a nice weekend away. I am glad I got a day to relax and look forward to going back to Taneum to check out the trails when there isn’t snow on the ground. We both can’t wait for the Jeep to be trail ready again!