My last post I left off with our family jumping in our car to escape the rain and driving down to Dayton. This was at about 6:30 in the morning. I cranked up the heat so we could dry our soggy clothes, and we headed back to town. When we got back to Dayton we went to a little grocery store, picked up some donuts and some juice and tried to find out what the weather was supposed to do. The rain was supposed to taper off and the rest of the day was predicted to be nice, with some thunder showers later in the evening. We decided since we were already out and about that we'd drive up to Tucannon and check out the place we were going to go fishing. Riley said it was really pretty, so I thought why not?
It took about half an hour to get there, and Riley had a "shortcut" that took us down a long and winding hill right by a big wind farm. It was crazy to be that close to those windmills, especially in such a beautiful place. We made it back on level ground and stopped at the "Last Resort" RV park to ask where the best fishing was for the day. They gave us the name of the lakes and then we drove a little farther down the road where there were places you could pull over and park and cross the road to the lakes. So fishing in our pajamas didn't sound like too bad of an idea, until we drive by and see tons and tons of people already out by the lake. Plus, I guess I was expecting there to be more room for me to corral Morgan so that he wouldn't go falling in the lake. No such luck. I do not advise taking an almost 1 year old fishing. Unless you have one of those back pack, thing-a-mi-jigs and your kids really like riding around in them. So we decided to can the fishing for the moment, and maybe we'd come back a little later in the day.
By this time it was turning into a beautiful day and the sun was shining and glinting off the water. That whole area is so beautiful and GREEN. There are some really pretty farms surrounding the roads. We got back to Teancum Timbers and inspected the damage from the rain at our campsite. Things were already starting to dry and we built a fire to dry the chairs and wet shoes and things around. Riley pulled the rain tarp off of our tent and shook the water off and we mopped up some of the puddles that had leaked through the zipper holes in the tent. We decided that we would just dry things out, spend the day there and then pack up that evening and head home instead of risking getting rained on another night.
After tidying things up a bit, we decided to take some showers and change clothes since it was starting to get hot. What a difference a shower can make! I felt like a new woman. Riley told me beforehand that I looked pretty bedraggled. Uh, yeah. We got no sleep, I slept on a bouncy air mattress, most of our stuff was soaking wet, and I hadn't looked in a mirror for the last 18 hours. What did he expect me to look like, Cindy Crawford?! Oh, those husbands. I also made a yummy late breakfast of breakfast burritos on our camp stove and that really hit the spot. Yummy food always lifts people's spirits. What is it about outdoor cooking that makes everything taste better?
Riley took Kendle fishing for a bit, but the water was running too fast and too high from all of the rain so they didn't have much luck. Kendle was pretty discouraged because she really wanted to cook up some fish, (this coming from the pickiest eater on the planet) but she still enjoyed the fishing part. I was lounging in my almost dry camp chair and reading a good book in the sunshine while Morgan played happily in his play pen. It was very relaxing and peaceful. The sounds of birds chirping and the water flowing by was exactly what I needed. After Riley and Kendle got back, Riley started packing some things up in our tent, when who should we see driving up the camp trail in a big white truck? MY PARENTS!
I had mentioned to them earlier in the week that they should drive up for a day and hang out. They didn't think they would be able to because they were pretty busy and had a lot of stuff to do to get ready for my sisters graduation this coming weekend. But they said when they found out about the big rain storms going on in our camping area, and couldn't reach us on our cell phones they got pretty worried and thought that they'd better drive up and make sure we were alright and help us pack stuff up. That was one of the biggest surprises in my life and one of the best. The kids were so excited to see them and it was fun to have them there. My mom took Kendle on a couple of little hikes, and we ate lunch and they helped us pack stuff up and haul some gear back. And also being the awesome grandparents that they are, they invited Kendle to come back and stay with them overnight. I cannot express how great my parents are.
Our ride home was quiet and we were all so tired we couldn't wait to be home and sleep in our own beds. One nice thing was that as soon as we got home we unpacked the car, and I started throwing some laundry in. The unloading went really fast and we had a free car wash to use the next day to take care of our mud caked, pine needle infested travel mobile. The funny thing was, as soon as we got back to Pasco it started raining. Was it following us?
So was it the camping trip of our dreams? Not quite, but we still managed to have a lot of fun, we're stocked up on camping gear for the rest of our lives, and we'll have memories to laugh about for years to come.
