Showing posts with label camping. Show all posts
Showing posts with label camping. Show all posts
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Monday, August 06, 2012
Lake Sylvia
Super Ultra Family Campout 2012 was a total success!
Lake Sylvia was a beautiful venue for our campout. I was initially not impressed - the lake is small, tree-lined, and not very far (5 minutes? maybe less.) from the nearest town. But it delivered big fun. We swam in the water right from our campsite as well as visiting the designated swimming area, the kids formed a tricycle gang and rode up and down the campground road, we paddled all around the lake and explored its nooks and crannies in our inflatable kayak, we saw otters, canada geese, and millions of newts, and we ate and drank and generally had a marvelous time together. It was everything a family campout should be.
Update: More pictures, collected from all the cameras on hand, can be viewed at Gabe's site: http://www.gabetaylor.net/General/lakeSylvia2012/
Bonus newt video:
Lake Sylvia was a beautiful venue for our campout. I was initially not impressed - the lake is small, tree-lined, and not very far (5 minutes? maybe less.) from the nearest town. But it delivered big fun. We swam in the water right from our campsite as well as visiting the designated swimming area, the kids formed a tricycle gang and rode up and down the campground road, we paddled all around the lake and explored its nooks and crannies in our inflatable kayak, we saw otters, canada geese, and millions of newts, and we ate and drank and generally had a marvelous time together. It was everything a family campout should be.
Update: More pictures, collected from all the cameras on hand, can be viewed at Gabe's site: http://www.gabetaylor.net/General/lakeSylvia2012/
Bonus newt video:
Monday, August 29, 2011
Sequim Bay Super Ultra Campout 2011
We had an amazing time camping at Sequim Bay for four days with the Ericsons, the Taylors, the Guzstiltzmans, Mark & Elna, and Keely, Silas and Semra. More pictures (from other cameras, as well as ours) can be seen at Gabe's site.
Highlights included:
- beautiful weather
- a beautiful, secluded group campsite, well away from the crowded 'regular' campground
- our own "private" beach and dock (hardly anyone came over from the main campground)
- phosphorescence in the water every night!
- clear, moonless nights with ALL the stars
- watching kingfishers and herons fish, and gulls catch and drop clams on the rocks
- little crabs under all the rocks, and snails on top of them
- giant bubbles!
- a day trip to Dungeoness Spit
- a whole gaggle of kids running wild through the campsite
- kids taking pictures of each other (and their feet, the dirt, the sky, etc...)
- good food (Woo! Sausagefest!)
- plenty of beer
- great friends
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Mountain Climbing
This past weekend the guys climbed Mt. Baker. Gabe's account of the climb is here with many beautiful pictures, so I'll just link to his site.
Conan was pretty interested in what they were doing, having watched all the preparations for the climb - gear sorted and tested, backpacks packed and weighed - so we went online and looked at some mountaineering pictures. That gave him an idea - he should climb a mountain! It didn't take him long to decide which one: Mt. Couch was the obvious goal. He geared up with a piece of rope and quickly reached the summit.
Conan was pretty interested in what they were doing, having watched all the preparations for the climb - gear sorted and tested, backpacks packed and weighed - so we went online and looked at some mountaineering pictures. That gave him an idea - he should climb a mountain! It didn't take him long to decide which one: Mt. Couch was the obvious goal. He geared up with a piece of rope and quickly reached the summit.
The Ascent.
Ready for the final pitch.
Summit shot!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Deception Pass Camping Trip
We just got home from camping at Deception Pass. Whew! Much needed laundry and naps are in progress, and I'm enjoying a hot cup of tea and looking over the pictures. (Life is good.)
We had planned this trip for a while. We met up with the Ericsons, Taylors, all the Davis-es (Grandpa Will even made a surprise appearance), and Mark & Elna. We managed to fit everyone into two adjoining campsites, which was a lot of fun. Each family had chosen a meal to prepare for the group, and we ate WELL! Fiday night the kids ran around in circles playing until bedtime, and then the adults sat around the fire talking, making s'mores, drinking and telling stories late into the night.
During the morning Saturday we explored the Bowman Bay area of the park, playing on the playground equipment and on the beach. Little plastic shovels and buckets were a big hit with the kids. A washed-up piece of giant kelp on the beach also proved fascinating. We cut it open to show the kids the air pocket inside that would make it float - Moira was especially interested.
After lunch while the kids were napping some of us went out to Rosario Beach, where Gabe & Cynthia went for a short SCUBA dive, testing out their equipment and learning in the process that Gabe's drysuit has a leak. He came out of the water with his suit absolutely filled with water - I expect (nay, demand!) some video of it to appear on his site shortly.
The weather was pretty good, although it finished up a bit on the soggy side. We had beautiful weather all day Saturday, but at dusk it began to sprinkle and by the time we broke camp Sunday morning it was raining steadily. But hey, that's camping in Washington in September. The kids took refuge in the minivan, playing "drive" until the grown-ups could get all the soggy tents and stuff into the cars and then we came home to hot showers and our warm dry house.
We had planned this trip for a while. We met up with the Ericsons, Taylors, all the Davis-es (Grandpa Will even made a surprise appearance), and Mark & Elna. We managed to fit everyone into two adjoining campsites, which was a lot of fun. Each family had chosen a meal to prepare for the group, and we ate WELL! Fiday night the kids ran around in circles playing until bedtime, and then the adults sat around the fire talking, making s'mores, drinking and telling stories late into the night.
During the morning Saturday we explored the Bowman Bay area of the park, playing on the playground equipment and on the beach. Little plastic shovels and buckets were a big hit with the kids. A washed-up piece of giant kelp on the beach also proved fascinating. We cut it open to show the kids the air pocket inside that would make it float - Moira was especially interested.
After lunch while the kids were napping some of us went out to Rosario Beach, where Gabe & Cynthia went for a short SCUBA dive, testing out their equipment and learning in the process that Gabe's drysuit has a leak. He came out of the water with his suit absolutely filled with water - I expect (nay, demand!) some video of it to appear on his site shortly.
The weather was pretty good, although it finished up a bit on the soggy side. We had beautiful weather all day Saturday, but at dusk it began to sprinkle and by the time we broke camp Sunday morning it was raining steadily. But hey, that's camping in Washington in September. The kids took refuge in the minivan, playing "drive" until the grown-ups could get all the soggy tents and stuff into the cars and then we came home to hot showers and our warm dry house.
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