Camping Trip

Steve and I went on a camping trip with the young marrieds group this weekend. We tried to find a regular campsite, but all of the group spots were taken! So some friends of Sara and Jason's offered us the back yard of their cabin in the Gorge to camp in. Everyone took off separately Friday night after work. Stephen and I arrived latest of all--he gets off work at 7, and there was still dinner to get and last-minute running around to do. We didn't end up leaving until 8:30, but we made good time and arrived at 9:45.

We had my mom's 6-person tent to set up (that really only fits 4). My mom, sister and I used to camp in that tent every summer on the Oregon Coast with family. It was fun to get to use it again. The tent memories live on! Steve and I set it up with the help of Alyse and Robert's high-power lantern and a flashlight. It went okay--one of the pieces had broken, but it wasn't a problem. It created a great exercise in communicating, though, which we're studying in our small group right now. :) "We have three short bars and no long bars when we should have one long bar and two short bars," I lined it out to Stephen. When he didn't catch on, I clarified: "One broke."

As we set up our tent, the rest of the crew was talking in a circle around the campfire. We learned that we had missed a few things in the 2 hour delay. Since we're studying fighting in marriage right now, they had decided to "count" all the couples fights that happened over the weekend. So when Stephen asked Ethan if he could help him figure out how to inflate our air mattress, Ethan flatly refused and Rachel scolded him with, "ETHAN!", and the rest of the group called out, "That's number one!!" We joked that of course it would be Ethan causing the first fight.

Disclaimer: Ethan was totally joking when he refused, and we all knew that. :)

We started with 1, 2, 3 and 4 in counting the "fights," but quickly lost count and probably skipped a few sets of ten here and there. :D It was fun.

Another thing Steve and I had missed was a snippet of conversation in which Jason had talked about how Sara always asks completely random questions associated with details she doesn't understand, and he's learned to just say, "...Do you really want me to answer that?" I gather they all thought it was hysterical, and I think it's pretty hysterical too, and it's become a staple in our group much like, "We've got ember!" from the last trip. These are the reasons God puts friends in our lives. :)

Once Steve and I set up our tent, we were able to join the circle at the fire. Much of our weekend was spent just sitting around the fire chatting with everyone, and our group's repertoire of inside jokes as a group is chock full now. :) It was great camaraderie.

We fit in some adventures too though!

On Saturday after breakfast, no one was really sure what to do. But Ethan (of course) had researched great hikes around the camping area and told us about one he had read about that wasn't too far off and not too terrible of a hike, from all accounts. Alyse, Robert, Hannah and Jordan opted out of the hike but Jason, Sara, Ethan, Rachel, Stephen and I were up for it. So we sprayed on the Deet and rubbed in the sunblock, put on our hiking clothes (however loosely defined!) and headed out in two cars to the site. Ethan had directions and both cars had GPS units, but none of us knew the area--and no two GPS units ever agree on one route to get somewhere! We ended up driving well past a turnoff and getting somewhat lost. We pulled off onto a random forest service road to look at our options. I grabbed our GPS unit and compared the road names in Ethan's directions with the road names on the GPS map and figured out how to get to us to where we were going. We led the way in my PT and covered poor Ethan and Rachel's car in dust as we drove the forest service roads to the hiking place.

The hike was beautiful, but tougher than we expected it to be! It didn't help that it was 85 degrees outside. I was sure glad I'd happened to wear my loosest-fitting shirt that day.

The hike was a total of 4 miles long (there and back) and 300 feet in elevation. The waterfall was 250 feet tall--smaller than Multnomah, but still very impressive! Stephen got some fantastic pictures.


The beaten path only went this close to the falls--there wasn't really a conceivable path up to the very top. Nevertheless, Ethan and Jason decided they wanted to go all the way to the top. I would have liked to go to the top, but wasn't really interested in risking life and limb for it. But Jason and Ethan did, in fact, make it up to the top tier of the waterfall--and discovered there was yet another tier above that! They attempted to get there, but the path got a little too risky even for their comfort... So they were contented with the middle tier.


Ethan picked Rachel some yellow flowers at the very top of the waterfall and brought them down to her. :) And then he made a show of presenting them to her: "Not everybody could have gotten you these flowers!" he said. I wished Stephen had gotten a video of Ethan presenting them to her; it was hilarious.

The hike exhausted most of us. Sara, Rachel and I all took long naps when we got back to the campsite. Ethan and Jason went on yet another hike...which, in Sara's words, was more like "wandering." They made their way to the smaller falls (30 and 100 feet) near our campsite and went swimming in the creek.

Saturday night around the campfire was my favorite part of the trip, especially after midnight when we got really goofy. Everything was funny. We also did a bit of planning for the young marrieds group though--trying to figure out how it's all going to work when we are no longer "young marrieds." It was kind of sweet to think of the lot of us growing old together. I can't explain how much value the group has been to Stephen and me, and I think everyone in the group feels the same way. It's so great to have them.

Sunday was packing-up day. We were in no hurry to leave, though, so we just packed our cars and then spent the last few hours enjoying the time. Stephen and I tried to go see the falls at the campsite, but couldn't find the path. Jason, Sara, Ethan and Rachel joined us, and Jason did his very best to find the path he and Sara had taken back in December when they were there, but in the middle of summer, it was overgrown with blackberry bushes and horsetail weeds. Jason got down there and back up, but none of the rest of us really wanted to attempt it. We got to see it from a distance--I was sad we didn't get to see it up close. But apparently we're going back to the cabin for a winter retreat! So we might be able to go see it then.

The last thing we did before leaving town was visit an ice cream parlor in Stevenson. Best ice cream I had tasted in a while! Their scoop sizes were enormous too. Their "Single" was pretty much a triple mashed into one giant scoop. The sizes we got were "Kid One Flavor Size" and "Double Kid Two Flavor" size. That was about all I could've eaten! It was delicious.

At the very end of the time at the ice cream shoppe, Ethan proposed an idea to the group. He'd never been to Mount Hood and had heard that you could drive around the base of it. He wanted to do that and invited everybody else to come too. My answer was an instant, "No, no thanks." Didn't even consult Stephen--whoops! But I was just exhausted. I needed to go home and crash--and Stephen, I think, did too. So we parted ways--Steve and I headed home, Sara, Jason, Ethan and Rachel drove around the base of Mount Hood.

Beach Day!

Stephen and I spent yesterday at the beach with our young marrieds group. It was exhausting, but a lot of fun!

Here are some highlights, and later a story:

• At 2 p.m., Six of us drove an hour and a half to Neskowin Beach in a truck and a car. Two others met us there in their own vehicle. It was overcast but not too cold, and didn't rain on us a bit!
• Jason and Sara brought wood, which Jason and Ethan carried in a tarp about a half mile through the sand to a spot within the high tide line but at least 50 feet from the water. A passerby told us that the low tide was at 6:00, so high tide wouldn't be until midnight. "We'll be long gone before then," Jason said. Famous last words.
• My husband jumped at the chance to dig out the fire pit. The rest of us stood around watching him go (I took a video) and making remarks. We decided he must've been a mole in a past life. :)

• We learned that dryer lint is a very good fire starter!! Steve and I brought a Trader Joe's bag full of it. We used about a third of the bag--that was a pretty decent depletion.
• We made LOTS of trips back to the cars through the sand, continually forgetting things in the cars. Sara beat us all with 4 trips total to and from the car--8 treks through the sand altogether. Go Sara!
• We got our fire going and realized that the combination of really dry wood and a strong ocean wind was going to make for a very short-lived campfire! So we built a berm on the windward side to protect it. Several of us walked around the beach later, picking up driftwood for the fire. Ethan tried to bring an entire log, longer than he was tall. He managed to stand it up on its end, but got no further. :)
• Ethan, who had brought hiking boots for just such an occasion, decided immediately that he wanted to climb up Proposal Rock nearby. Jason opted to go with him and my husband jumped in as well. Unfortunately there was a small river flowing to the ocean water that they had to find a way to cross over get to the rock. They doubled the length of their journey to the rock by going backwards along the river to the smallest part to cross. By the time they reached the rock, my husband had decided not to climb up it but just to take pictures at the bottom while Jason and Ethan hiked up. I don't blame him.
• When Stephen had finished taking photographs, he attempted to cross the river at the widest part, which "didn't look too deep," and learned about halfway across that it was much deeper than it looked. He turned back (good for him!) to look for a more optimal spot to cross, but soaked his jeans through! My poor love... Thankfully Rachel had extra towels for him to cover his legs with as he sat by the fire. His jeans had dried by the time we left.
• At about 6:00 we realized that the water seemed to be getting awfully close! We were obviously misinformed about the time of the tides... Sara stuck a stick about 20 feet from us and declared, "When the water reaches that stick, we're moving camp!" Robert adamantly claimed that we were fine; that we could probably stay there for another three hours. So the rest of the day there was a friendly battle between Sara and Robert for who was right about how long we could stay at that campsite and stay dry.
• Jason and Ethan came down the rock not too long after. The peanut gallery watched in great amusement as they looked at the water surrounding most of the rock, not sure if they should attempt to go through it or not. Jason threw a pebble in to try and test the depth of the water. Eventually they decided to just travel around the side of the rock as they had done before and jump off where there was little water. They still had to cross the river, however... Ethan, in his hiking boots, went straight through the shallower, rocky part without hesitation, soaking the bottom of his shorts and part of his shirt. Jason took his shoes off and waded carefully. Ethan, of course, had brought an extra change of clothes. Boy scout of the year.
• At 7:30, the tide was only about 10 feet from the stick, and we decided that that was enough, and moved camp another 50 feet in from the edge of the water, right at the edge of the visible tideline from the previous high tide. Most of the boys were dismayed at the idea of "wasted energy" since the fire was still going well. So Ethan came up with a solution: "It's still got ember. As long as there's still ember, we can start a fire with the wood we have going already." So the boys carried glowing pieces of wood between two cold pieces of wood from one campsite to the other. Ethan cheerfully called out, "I've got ember!" and it became a catchphrase for the rest of the day, repeated many...many times. :)
• Even though the sky was overcast, the sun broke through as it was setting, at about 9:00. It was beautiful.

• I got to play Frisbee with Sara, which was a blast--it's been WAY too long since I threw a Frisbee around!

Okay, now here's the best story.

The tide continued to rise as we sat by our second campfire. We talked and chatted, occasionally glancing out at the water. We watched the water splash up against our berm, to the sound of Robert's insisting, "We'd still be dry!" Then a BIG wave came up and washed entirely over our first campsite...and kept coming.

I remember seeing the water's edge bubbling up to us, WAY too deep and fast, and knowing more than thinking it was going to cover our campsite. I snatched my purse, and all of a sudden our little sitting, chatting group was a running, screaming group being chased by the water. The wave coursed over our campfire and soaked everything sitting on the ground! I feel like I screamed bloody murder--but I figured out later that I did it, not for my sake, but as an alarm to anyone who hadn't seen it the same time I did.

Nothing was destroyed and nothing was lost. Jason's jacket got a little wet on the bottom (it was hanging on a chair), and some stuff got wet. Our paper bag of campfire food got soaked on the bottom. I was SO glad I had thought to grab my purse!!

That had to be the best part of the whole trip, in the sheer hilarity of it.

One last bit. The campfire, wind, smoke and salt killed me. :( My eyes and face hurt so bad when we got home, my hair felt awful, and my body was worn out from running and walking and carrying things in the sand. It was late, late, late--about 12:30--but I couldn't go to bed in that state. Even after washing my face to alleviate allergies, I was miserable. I had to take a shower. I tell you, that long, hot, luxurious shower was the best decision I've ever made. It felt soooooooo good... Lovely!

Tomorrow Stephen and I take off for his parents' house and we are leaving from there for New Jersey for a family reunion on his mom's side. We'll be gone until next Sunday. Pray for safe travels and a good trip for us.

My grandma's surgery went well last week, but please continue to pray for healing and a quick recovery for her, and energy and strength for my grandpa to support her. Thank you!!