After a chilly morning, we were ready to head back. Thanks to all the food we ate, most of our packs were much lighter. Sorry, Theresa!
the river near “the narrows”
crossing the bridge
But the sun came out and it warmed up quite nicely for our hike out. So when we got back to Grandpa and Grandma’s, we were all ready for a shower.
If the road to Bull of the Woods doesn’t open soon, this may be where we go next year, too…
When we got back from backpacking we headed down to the creek with Dad, Grandma Ide, Amy and the kids, and Frank and Ada to cool off a bit.
The water was a bit low, but it was nice and cool down there and was very relaxing…
the pump house
it looks like command central in there
Stella loved it
Charlie is ready to swim (sort of)
the kids all played on the opposite bank
Ada enjoyed it, too
and Dad taught her how to skip rocks
visiting with Grandma before heading back
Later that evening we had Mexican food for dinner and celebrated Amy’s birthday (a little late). It was fun to get to see everyone!
LOVE the tableware!
Ada watches from Grandpa’s arms
lighting candles
Amy gets help blowing them out
Then we spent the rest of the week at Mom and Dad’s. We worked on the trailer, went shopping around town, I spent one day fabric shopping with Amy for our newest project and the next day with Theresa. We went to Foobon’s, out to eat dim sum, ate dessert at Pix, and then went thrift store shopping. On Saturday we had supper with the Paulsons and went to the Ide family reunion on Sunday at Silver Falls.
Uncle Dennis introduces our family slideshow
the family tree
It was a great week! But it’s good to be home…
This year the boys and I decided to camp on Walker Island again. Chris took the morning and afternoon off to help us get set up and take us out skiing and tubing.
Shortly after arriving on the island, a group of kayakers pulled up with a pontoon boat. It was a tour group from Rainier, OR heading for Astoria on the coast. While we’ve never had neighbors before on Walker Island, I have to admit it was nice to have people close by overnight.
The water was like glass and so both Zack and I took the opportunity to head out on the water. I haven’t skied much in the last 17 years, but I did pretty well if I do say so myself. But after all the spelunking the day before, my legs got fairly tired (which I realized about halfway through my circuit). Thankfully, not wanting to fall is a great motivator to stay up even when you’re legs don’t want to. :o) Zack did great on the tube and got a nice ride!
After taking Chris back to the dock, we headed back to camp to do dishes and enjoy a campfire. Despite the ban on beach fires, we went back home to get our firepit. It just doesn’t seem like camping without a fire.
Our very nice neighbors had extra very yummy lasagna that they shared with us and a couple of the guys played football with the boys.
A gorgeous sunset and a very starry sky made for a perfect ending to our first day at camp.
Tuesday was a beautiful day! We spent the day fishing, set crawdad traps, digging holes and swimming. The water was like glass and there was only a slight breeze. It was perfect!
our camp from the high tide line
our camp from the low tide line
the tide was really low
the prettiest ship we’ve seen on the river
one of only two crawdads we caught all week :o(
Will buried himself (with some help)
Peter and this year’s hole
Andy and the only fish caught all week
the mud monster
We had some neighbors come in during the afternoon, but they spent most of the day out in their boat and we didn’t see much of them.
Chris brought us some items that we needed, the most necessary of which was the bee trap. The yellowjackets were terrible! Any time we ate or cooked, there they were. Although my soaking pots and pans made very effective traps, the real trap had over 150 dead bees in it when I cleaned it out at home!
better trap
Zack expertly drove the boat over to the pilings one last time to check the trap before taking Peter back to the dock to go home. But unfortunately it was empty again.
Wednesday was a very hot and sunny day! We spent much of the day in the water or in the shade (or trying to make more shade). We also were very diligent to putting on sunscreen after having a miserable night thanks to sunburns from the day before.
There was lots of ship traffic which made for great surf for playing in. It was almost like the ocean except that it was warmer and not salty. So I guess it was actually better than the ocean.
We also got day-neighbors yet again, but they didn’t stay long. The wind really picked up in the afternoon when the tide started to come in. It got so windy that we decided to move camp to the other side of the trees where there was no wind. It took a little bit of work but was well worth it.
windy camp
not windy camp
After supper we went and picked up Chris so he could spend the night with us. It was well after dark by the time we got back to the island. So we set up the telescope and checked out some stars and planets before bed. Andy and I even got to see two shooting stars!
