The week was largely preparing for our camping trip over the weekend, back to La Pine State Park Campground, this time with the kids. We packed the trailer to pull out on Friday afternoon.
We got to the campground about 15 minutes after check-in time. The campsite had a great location and driveway length for us and an additional vehicle. However, it required backing uphill. It was a challenge.
We managed, though, and then unhooking the trailer was an additional problem, caused, of course by the slope of the driveway.
This is what our campsite looked liked from the street.
Some of the trees in the site are amazing!
We managed to fit the RPod, the truck and the kids’ car all in the driveway. There was plenty of room for the tent.
I had installed the toiletries storage pockets in the wet bath of the trailer. It worked out well.
I’m still having trouble with the convection features on the oven, but I got it to cook the food.
The first night’s dinner was pizza. We made three. This was the dairy-free version, a requirement of two of our party.
We got in some knitting.
We went on hikes each day. It was great for the dogs and the boys.
The dogs watched the ground squirrels. This one helped himself to three pieces of kibble before being startled into leaving by one of the dogs.
Among the wildlife seen during hikes were these geese.
The boys had lots of craft activities to keep them busy.
We had a fire a couple of nights and the final morning.
One of the sights we saw over the weekend was the “Big Tree.”
It was indeed big; mostly fat, but also tall, but since a storm no longer the tallest in the park. It may be the oldest, however, at an estimated 500 years.
The boys hadn’t seen the off-leash area before, so we went there to let boys and dogs run. We met some other people and their dogs. (That cloud of dust to the right is, of course, Dusty!)
The “men” in my family needed a nap each afternoon.
The rainy Sunday found us feeding all six people inside the RPod. It was…um…cozy. (I put some cushions on the step stool to sit on at the end of the table.)
Sunday it rained. We thought the boys needed to have some time away from each other. Johan watched “The Secret Life of Pets” on my iPad in the RPod.
Soren watched “Ice Age” on Alexa’s iPad in the tent.
Later everyone came back into the RPod to play games.
The pups hung out in the bed.
All weekend, we enjoyed close interactions with the ground squirrels. I snapped this photo of one of our neighbors in the doorway to his townhouse.
I thought this was the best photo taken during the camping trip.
The last night, I lay in bed with the pups while Charlie brushed his teeth and changed into his PJs I snapped this photo of our by now messy but still cozy RPod, as seen from the bed.
That's the fridge with stuff piled on top (we need to put up some shelves) and you can see the oven in the galley area. That cord went to the small heater (that of Winnemucca days) we used to keep warm during nights that could dip into the 20s.
Monday we packed up and checked out. It was shockingly east to hook up! We did it before our hike, so we would be ready to head out by 1:00 PM. The sloped drive, which had so vexed us when we were trying to unhook seemed to work to our advantage when getting hooked up again!
While Charlie was at the dump station taking care of the dump process, I went across the street to the trash/recycling area to dump some things we didn't want to take home, a good use of my time. Otherwise I'm not needed until the end of the dump procedure, when I apply hand sanitizer to Charlie's hands and hand him a paper towel. (He uses gloves, but there's always a risk during the dump procedure.)
We arrived home about a quarter after two Monday afternoon. The next couple of hours were spent unloading the RPod and leaving the fridge turned off with its door open to defrost. This is most likely our last camping trip for the season, so everything had to come out.
The camping trip wasn’t all that happened this past week, however. Earlier in the week was Charlie’s birthday. He was somehow able to blow out his candles, in spite of his advanced age.
It was (as it is every year) "Talk Like a Pirate Day," and I had adopted a pirate theme, giving him a scroll with directions to follow to find the treasure (his present), although he got to choose from the options of keelhauling, walking the plank and feeding the fishes. He chose the present.
That night, we had a Madroña pop-up meeting (basically a wine-themed online party with some instruction/background given by the host and vintner.) We surprised Charlie with a big happy birthday, with decorations and party hats. They're a great bunch of people with a common interest in wine and a shared appreciation for this particular winery.
While I was getting ready for the trip, my new phone arrived. I had to set it up, but the Apple people helped me do that, and the CREDO people helped me transfer my eSIM so I could get calls and use the other services offered by my phone carrier. It's a little bit bigger than my old phone, but I've been using it for nearly a week now, and I'm seeing some advantages with the iPhone 14, including consistent cell reception at the campground, where I couldn't get a reliable signal during our previous stay.
While we were packing for our trip, Sandy was finding things to take out to the yard, because…why not?
What's in The Doll's Storybook: In Scary Things, the girls find something definitely not Christmassy among the Christmas decorations.
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