Recently Logan and I went camping with some friends! We were so excited! The last time Logan went camping was *years* ago and we went to Mount Hood and we only lasted one night (it was not a great experience, so I don’t think I even wrote about it here). But I looked back and found two other adventures from when he was a toddler and…yeah, they were adventures.
We stayed at Battleground State Park Campground near Vancouver, WA. It was the first time I’d been there and it was a nice getaway!
So anyways, the night before we were supposed to go I read that they just started a burn ban. I’m not surprised, but I was disappointed. Camping without a campfire is just such a bummer. I have so many awesome childhood memories about that and I want my kids to experience it. Sadly, climate change is making that hard.
The campground we were at had two sections. The traditional section had some cabins, RV sites and regular campsites where you park your car with you. Our section was “primitive” and you had to carry your stuff in. We didn’t know that, we thought we’d be able to unload our car, and then have to move our car to the parking lot. Sooooooo we had to walk almost 1/2 mile up a hill to our spot, carrying all our stuff.
It was brutal.
Thankfully some people let us borrow their wagons to help with some of the stuff but still. Note to self: camp in the other section next time!!!
Despite that, our site was REALLY nice. The primitive section was very private and quiet and our site had a partial view of the lake. It was beautiful and peaceful.
We put up our tents and immediately went swimming in the lake–which was super popular. But it felt soooo nice on a hot day after lugging gear up a hill about 4 miles. (We’d originally planned on going on a hike around the lake and decided we got enough walking.)
After that we were going to start making hot dogs for dinner when there was a huge CRACK! And then a CRASH! A giant branch (probably about 6 feet long?) fell from the sky and ripped through one of the extra tents we set up!
It was crazy! Thankfully no one was in there and no one got hurt. It was nuts!
Definitely memorable!
After dinner we went swimming again and then roasted marshmallows. We played some UNO and went to bed.
The next morning we had breakfast, cleaned up our site and went swimming again. Despite the air being a little bit cool, the lake was warm! It was fabulous! Two days of lake swimming. <3
Then it was time to head home. We had a great time and we want to go again next year (but choose a different camp spot)!
How is your summer coming along?
Marianne
Such a beautiful place.
Lisa Eirene
It was really pretty! I definitely want to go back to that lake and it wasn’t too far away.