Tag Archives: camping

Let’s Get Motivated Photo #3

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Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it. ~ Maya Angelou

This photo of Mount Rainier was taking on a camping trip on Anderson Island, WA. Such a beautiful and relaxing place to be. We were fortunate to spend some quality time with wonderful friends.

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Happy Monday! Critter Pictures at Potlatch State Park in Washington

Camping finds.

Little crab with an “X” on it’s back hiding among the rocks.

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Banded Alder Borer Beetle. Odd to see him hanging with the sea life.

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Looks like this dried up clam missed going into someone’s cooking pot.

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When we go camping…

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This entry is for another weekly photo challenge – “Narrow“.

When we go camping we often use the campground bathrooms as much as possible even though we have a bathroom in our camper. I usually do not have a problem walking down a path to the bathroom during the daylight but why does the path to the bathroom at the campground always seem so narrow in the dark?

At times, when I step out of our camper onto the trail to the bathroom, I get that claustrophobic feeling that the ferns and the leaves of the bushes are closing in and that something is watching me. Not necessarily a person but possibly an animal. Could be some raccoons scurrying around in the garbage or maybe owls hunting for mice. It’s always eerily quiet late at night in the campground. A snap of a twig could be a big mountain cat or a bear looking for food. It could also just be paranoia.

Am I the only one that feels this way?

Camping Craziness

Getting ready for camping, whether Boy Scout camp or our own family camping, is often stressful. No matter how many days in advance we insist on getting started on packing, we are usually not ready until the night before and sometimes the day of.

Boy Scout Summer Camp begins tomorrow. It’s our youngest son’s first time attending a full week of camp. Luckily, my husband and our second oldest son will be going to camp as well, but this means that all 3 needed to prep.

Our youngest son started to gather things and pack earlier this week, but he still had a few items missing, so with my husband’s help he finalized his pack tonight.

My second son is also still finalizing his packing tonight. He started packing in earnest last night. He’s a bit more experienced at getting ready for camping. I’m still praying and hoping he doesn’t forget to pack anything.

As for my husband (the Scoutmaster), he’s been working on gathering things earlier this week for the Troop but also had paperwork and emails to finish on top of a full week of work. He’s still running around packing his stuff while ensuring our youngest is ready. I think it’s going to be a late night.

This is just 3 out of 6 of us packing for a camping trip. At the moment I cannot imagine prepping for 6 of us and a dog to go on a camping trip.

We purchased a camper a few years ago. We pretty much got tired of the “blue tarp” camping. No matter how prepared you are to tent camp in Western Washington, you can always count on getting soaked at least a few times during camping season. While the boys have no choice to tent camp when out on scout trips, we felt our family trips should be as relaxing as possible.

This year my husband is still insisting we plan a family trip in the camper for this summer. I wouldn’t have to worry about packing for my husband and our boys but we also have our dog and our now one year-old daughter. We’ll of course need to take extra gear with us. For example: play pen, sleeping pad, things to keep her entertained, etc. This is on top of the dog crate and the normal camping paraphernalia. Our “just the right size” camper, I imagine, will seem very small.

Our controversial solutions are 1. Kick the older boys out to camp in a tent. 2. Sell this camper and purchase a bigger one. 3. Let’s rent a suite at the Great Wolf Lodge and pretend to camp. 4. Not go.

For one, while I wish we could sell our camper and purchase a bigger one, realistically it would not be a financially smart move for us. Two, renting a suite at the Great Wolf Lodge would be fun, but it would be great to take advantage and do awesome outdoor activities in the nice summer Washington weather. Three, it would be easy to just not go on a camping trip but I know I would fully regret not experiencing all the fun we could potentially have. Especially sharing our love of the outdoors here in this beautiful state with our daughter while making so many more wonderful memories as a family. So I think our only camping solution is to kick the older boys out to camp in a tent. Sorry boys!!!