Camping Trip May 2009

Well, we made it back home from our adventure! We had a really nice time, we left last Sunday and came home on Thursday. We went down south of Mount St. Helens to Cougar Wa for our first two days. The first day there we went out to the Ape Caves where we got to do a little spelunking! It was a little creepy for the kids, even with their little miners lights, but they survived and now say that they had fun. Lots of wining and a bit of tears, but for the most part it was very interesting. After returning back to the camp ground the kids got to do a little playing in the lake, the weather was absolutely beautiful! Then on Monday we ended up going on some short hikes to some water falls that were absolutely spectacular. On Tuesday morning we packed up and headed out to Astoria Wa, which is pretty much the WA/Oregon boarder. We ran into a bit of rain, but spent most of that time driving the three hours and some time in a maritime museum. We also went out to Fort Columbia and saw some of the old batteries and guns that protected the mouth of the Columbia River back in World War II. We then went out to our second camp ground at Cape Disappointment, which was not disappointment at all! It was absolutely stunningly beautiful, the sand was like silk, a grayish/charcoal color. We got to fly kites there and do some walking at sunset and got some nice pics of the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse. The next day we did some hiking again up to the North Jetty and Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, as well as doing some good playing in the sand and some more kite flying. The kids are still a little young for hiking, so ended up on Steve's shoulders and a piggy back ride from me when things got to hard for them. Steve and I did get some decent exercise in from the extra baggage! We also took a drive that Steve really wanted to take and was very cool. We got to drive the truck on the beach! We got some pretty cool video of that too. That night we spent most of our time in camp, as the winds were really heavy, and the kids played in the trees at the camp, and we all played a few games of Uno. On Thursday morning we spent some more time on the beach, we actually all put our toes in the ocean and made more sand castles and just fun digging in that wonderful sand! Then we packed up and headed up to North Head lighthouse, again caring the kids a good part of the way. And then we headed home via the scenic route of Highway 101. It was a very very nice trip and I am so glad we have opened this door for our family! I am sure we will be doing many more camping trips in the future! It was a really great experience for everyone! Hope you enjoy the pics and videos!



Not sure what I am doing wrong, but the slide show is going backwards. So the cave pictures are the first of our trip. Anyways, it is late, and I am going to bed. I will get some video up soon.