The Second Annual Family Trek to A Great Place to Celebrate Summer’s Events

Last year we rented a five bedroom, three bath house in Manzanita on the Oregon coast and we had an awesome time. The weather was perfect and we had a day on the beach in the sunshine and a rainy day at home by the fire reading and napping. It was so much fun, we vowed to have one of these major get-togethers every year. This year we are going camping. We all love camping, but we haven’t ever gone all together to the same place at the same time. And this will be the little ones first time sleeping outdoors in a tent and eating dirt and throwing rocks in a stream and eating s’mores. It will also be my first venture out after the Brain Fart.

We chose a campground fairly (60 miles) close to home down by Estacada along the Clackamas River. It has amenities like flush toilets and hot water and a host that supplies really expensive firewood. We reserved three campsites that will accommodate five tents. Six if you count the little play tent for the kiddies. We’ll be close to water and the restrooms and a safe distance from the river and the road.

There will be singing around the campfire and we'll have music with guitars and harmonicas. We’ll hike and swim and fish and nap and play games (Scrabble, Cribbage, and Dominoes are some of the favorites). We’ll watch the toddlers explore nature and have a chance to play with all the aunts and uncles. We’ll share community meals and take turns planning menus. For personal down time, we’ll have books and puzzles. And Laura and I will have our knitting.

Here’s a tip to remember: When you pack up your camping gear at the end of the season and put it away in the storage building where it will later be buried by craft supplies, snow removal tools, Christmas decorations, outgrown baby toys, unused appliances, and other detritus of our lives, try to remember what the boxes/bags look like. I just spent the morning moving just about everything in my storage space until I found my camping gear. I was looking for a milk crate with my camp stove, etc. It turned up in a dishpan inside a plastic bag.

We’ll be off on the last day of July. We’ll be celebrating my 72nd Birthday, Debbi’s 40th Birthday, and Andy & Laura’s 3rd Wedding Anniversary. If I can remember how to post this, it will be on the blog. Not sure anyone is still reading it.