Showing posts with label Camping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Camping. Show all posts

8.09.2008

Gone Camping - Redux

We're off for our final camping trip of the summer. This time we travel two hours east, into the Cascades, to lovely Lake Wenatchee.


We're tent camping, again, on a primitive site in Lake Wenatchee State Park. Picture me here:

That's our actual site. I imagine we'll set up our 4-person blue and grey tent in the area to the right of the table. We also have a screen-enclosed room that we'll set up over top of the table area, with some lounge chairs. That's the fire pit off to the left. And our old grey Volvo wagon will be parked in front. No doubt C's bike will be splayed around somewhere. We're not too far from the water. I've been told they have killer bugs at Wenatchee, which could be a problem for me. Put me in a room with 300 other people and set 5 mosquitoes loose on the other side of the room, I'll be the only person there with bug bites—and I'll be covered. But I'm relieved that we'll have the shelter and privacy of trees this time, so I don't expect to get blasted by relentless wind and cold like we did at Pacific Beach.

I'm taking more knitting than I possibly will be able to complete in 5 days. Already prepped to go are
  • Continental Maizy Lace Socks (I just reached the heel)
  • all the swatches for the Portland certificate course and conference workshop
  • the shop samples of my Tweedy Cabled Cap and (still-to-be-designed) matching scarf for the classes I'm teaching in November
  • 2 stealth Christmas projects
  • an as-yet unselected new sock pattern
I just looked at that list again and realized how insane it is. Maybe I'll only bring 1 of the 2 stealth Christmas projects!

Of course, all sorts of things have come up today to make us question whether we should go at all.

First, one of our dogs had an emergency trip to the vet this morning for what turned out to be 2 really really bad infections (I won't give the gory details, but I will tell you he's not happy about wearing diapers—especially not "cute" ones with pink and blue paw prints. . . I can't say that I blame him. He's a DOG, for cryin' out loud, not a baby!) He's on 3 medications and a special prescription diet, but he'll still be accompanying us on the trip.

Second, after dinner C started complaining about not feeling well. She had me feel her forehead. Felt fine. Five minutes later, she's barfing all over the place. We're pretty sure it was a one-time thing. Maybe a strange combination of food. She has a tendency to mix orange juice with things it just wasn't meant to go with. As with the dog, she will still be accompanying us on the trip, too.

Pleasant day at our place. Full of amazing sights, sounds, and smells.

If anything goes wrong in the morning, and we believe either the dog or the child should not go camping, I will stay home with the invalid and will send J off with all others well enough to enjoy the trip. It wouldn't be the end of the world, as far as I'm concerned—it would give me a lot more dissertation-writing hours per day than I get with everyone home—but let's all cross our fingers that it doesn't happen.

So I'm hanging out the "Gone Camping" shingle until next weekend!

6.29.2008

Gone Camping!

The family is taking a much-needed break. We leave today for Pacific Beach. Imagine me here:

That's our actual campsite, courtesy of the Washington State Parks website. And yes, that's the ocean just beyond the picnic table... Yay! We'll be pitching a tent and putting up a screened enclosure by 2pm. It's been about 15 years since I last camped. The last trips were to the Outer Banks. I've psyched myself up for this first-time with C, all-family, camping extravaganza!

It will be nice to have a break from the oppressive temps in Seattle this past week. Today we hit 89 degrees in our house. (No air conditioning here because you normally don't need it for more than a week each summer.) Fortunately, the ocean-side forecast says 68 degrees and sunny, with a nice shoreline breeze!

I'm taking lots of knitting, some spinning, and some design projects. Truth be told, the knitting was packed before my suitcase. And yes, I'm also taking some stuff to read for the dissertation—but no computer.

See you again around Independence Day!