First Summer Camping

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend! Mine was really busy–but very fun. Last I left all of you, Michael and I were planning on going for a bike ride. Our friends had already left our place and we were meeting them later for camping at Seaquest Park in Washington. We felt like we had some time to kill before we had to pack the car and head North.

The weather was gorgeous–like almost 80 degrees. Sunny, not a cloud in the sky. We wore our short sleeved cycling jerseys and did not need our tights! I slathered on the sunscreen and we climbed on the bikes. The plan was to just do an hour long loop through the neighborhood, basically Michael’s commute. We got to an intersection and Michael said, “Hey why don’t we try this other street instead?” I said sure. We turned right and then I saw the humongous hill! It was HUGE. I powered down and tried to make it up the mountain. I got about 3/4 of the way up the hill and had to give up. I got off the bike and walked up the rest of the way. It was killer. 🙁

We did about 35 more minutes of biking and I think I burned about 400 calories or so. I was disappointed with my performance on the huge hills but to be honest I haven’t been on the bike much lately. Hopefully that will change.

Time to pack the car!

Camping

We met Rachel and Jeep at the campsite.

The sight was nice and secluded. The only downside were the mosquitoes. Rachel and Jeep stayed with the campsite while Michael and I went for a short nature walk. We realized pretty quickly that we were tired from that morning’s bike ride and the packing, traveling, etc. We headed through the Yurt Village and back to the campsite.

We kicked back and read our books and chilled for a bit. We were starting to lose daylight so we put the books away and decided to have some adult beverages and play games.

The boys worked on building the fire.

Manly Men!

Rachel and I pulled out snacks. Ironically, we brought almost the exact same food! She brought carrots and hummus with crackers and green peppers. I picked up some hummus at Whole Foods and packed pretzels, Ak-Mok crackers (same as Rachel), and carrots.

I was REALLY disappointed in the hummus I brought! Whole Foods FAIL! It was supposed to be jalapeno and garlic hummus. It tasted strangely like a tomatoey-bean dip instead. Bumm-er. 🙁

The boys had the fire going and Jeep and Rachel (who ALSO brought bratwursts for dinner–talk about mind readers) grilled theirs on the fire.

Grilling

Michael has a grill/cooler combo and we used that to grill up our bratwursts.

Dinner was great. We ate the dogs with jalapeno chips and the veggies. It was awesome!

Camping Dinner

We played several rounds of Scattergories and Apples to Apples.

We had a great time and played until it was dark and we had to use our head lamps.

Then it was time for S’MORES!

Smores!

I had a few and called it good. We sat around the campfire talking for several hours. It was a lot of fun and much needed after the stressful few months I’ve had. I crawled into the tent and fell asleep almost immediately.

Sunday morning, Michael made scrambled eggs for breakfast and grilled the last bratwurst. I made tea and toast with laughing cow cheese on it. Michael and I split the last bratwurst.

Breakfast

We decided to play another round of Scattergories and then played Outburst. Then it was time to pack up the site!

Rachel and Jeep headed back to Seattle and we drove an hour or so back to Portland. If we had stayed another night, I would have wanted to go hiking up by Mount St. Helens. The campsite we were at was only about 30 minutes away from the mountain.

Michael and I got home and unpacked. I headed to the pool to get in my swim. It felt really good. I watched the clock and just swimming half-assed I swam 1/2 a mile in 20 minutes. That’s a pretty good time I think. The next time I swim, I’m going to NOT half-ass it and actually try to swim as fast as I can. I realized something recently about cross-training: IT WORKS. When I was training for Reach the Beach and riding all the time, I noticed that overnight my running abilities increased. I was suddenly faster, no longer sore the next day, and didn’t get tired while running. I attribute that change from cross-training. Now, with BOTH the cycling and running, I see that my swimming abilities have increased as well. I’m the fastest I’ve ever been. Now I wonder, is that going to help me with a triathlon?

QUESTION: How was your weekend?