A Camping Extravaganza

A couple of weekends ago we went camping for two nights with friends who used to live in our ward in NC and now live in Seattle. They like camping too and so we decided to meet in the Columbia River Gorge for a 2 night campout.  Poor Russ couldn't get another day off of work and so he only got one night and missed out on most of our fun. 

We camped at a place called Beacon Rock State park, on the Washington side of the gorge.  Beacon Rock (named by Lewis & Clark, though they may have called it "beaten rock" first, though that would have been a dumb thing to call it) is a monolith.  A gigantic rock.  Not as big as Stone Mountain in Georgia, but still pretty darned big.  It was so beautiful there. 

 

There were lots of wildflowers everywhere and the campground was in a towering evergreen forest with all sorts of ferns and wild blackberries.  The weather was very nice--I loved that it got cool enough at night that I wanted a jacket and to drink hot chocolate in the morning.  (What's a campout without hot chocolate?!?) 

On Friday after a leisurely breakfast we hiked to the top of Beacon Rock.  800 feet high, with a 3/4 mile trail of narrow switchbacks.  It was quite an adventure!

 

When we reached the top (which was smaller than I expected) we sat in the sunshine enjoying the breeze and ate our lunches.  The kids fed peanuts to the chipmunks which I know is such a terrible thing to do but was awfully cute.  (When the chipmunks on Beacon Rock turn evil and start attacking the tourists for their lunches I will step up and accept at least part of the responsibility!)

Then we walked back down, which as you know was almost more difficult than hiking all the way up.  My legs were like jelly by the bottom--all of those rarely used downhill muscles.

Next our friend got out all of his rock climbing gear and we hiked around the OTHER side of this mountain (more downhill, ouch!) to find the rock climbing section.  He free climbed to each anchor and hooked in his rope (sorry--I don't know many technical climbing terms) and got all set up so that the rest of us could climb.  He got up about 50 feet, and I'll be darned if Rachel didn't climb up the whole way to the top of the rope!  Jared got about 25 feet, and I got up 20 feet. I still can't believe this--well I can believe it because my arms and legs hurt so bad for the entire next week.  It is interesting that from the ground 20 feet doesn't seem so high, but boy does it seem high when you are the one at 20 feet and you can't fine any more hand holds.    It was more than I expected to accomplish so I was happy with myself.

When we got back to the camp we learned that we had made a mistake in not putting all of the food back in the cars before we left.  :(  Some creature (probably squirrels) had gotten into our food basket and eaten all of the hot dog buns, half of the sandwich buns, and chewed away half of the hot chocolate lid.  It was a real mess and I hope it didn't leave behind any toxic germs. 

 
We haven't seen even a single mosquito in Oregon up to this point but we finally did see some at the campsite.  Then at the climbing site there were approximately 29 million mosquitoes, dive bombing us in formation.  They were crazy, and not terribly intimidated by our weak bug spray.  (We needed the good Deep Woods Off.)  I decided though that the biggest difference between camping in Oregon and in North Carolina was that in North Carolina you don't have to watch for slugs when you go to the bathroom at night.  During the night there were big (as big or bigger than my thumb) slugs every couple of feet on the path through the woods to the bathroom.  And I didn't have my glasses on!  Thankfully I don't think I stepped on any, but I did have to watch carefully.  And no I didn’t take a picture of the slugs.  For which you are grateful, I know.

The favorite campsite activity was anything that involved fire.  Josh had just bought a box of matchbooks, and by the end of our 2 days all hundred or so matchbooks had been burned to ashes, as well as several dozen marshmallows.

It was a great camping trip, and we’re looking forward to many more in Oregon!

Boy Cousins

How boy cousins play together.

 

What boy cousins eat for lunch.

 

(I’m so glad I have girls too!)

Tender Mercies of the Air Conditioning Kind

 

1) That the day we drove almost completely without air conditioning was totally overcast and only 95 instead of the violently sunny 105 of the day before.  (Really really warm, but not unbearable.)

2) That while the air conditioning fix was much more than I wanted to pay, it was not nearly as much as it could have been.  (Really really expensive, but not unbearable.)

3) That I had a front seat view of a nearby fire while I was waiting for my air conditioning to be fixed (the voyeur in me) , and that no one was hurt in the fire.  (Really really destructive, but not unbearable…)

A Hot Time in the Old Town and Other Random Thoughts

After having the coldest air conditioning known to mankind for the last 18 months, my van’s a/c decided to start having problems yesterday afternoon…in the middle of a 105 degree Kansas afternoon.  It didn’t give up the ghost altogether, for which I am grateful.  Instead it cycled every 60-90 minutes between frigid and not-working-at-all.  And since my range of comfort goes from about 76 degrees to 76.5 degrees, I was never comfortable.  We are hoping that my mechanic brother Sam is right and the addition of a bottle of refrigerant will be all we need to continue travelling in (cool) style.

My internet-less life continues, making it difficult to blog or keep up with my games of Words with Friends.  Last night we slept in our hot-wired Hilton in Kansas City, and as we learned on spring break, $$$ hotels rarely have free internet.  This morning I am sitting in the lobby so that I can use the free wifi to write a letter to my missionary boy.  And complain on my blog, of course.

I also wanted to mention how relieved I am that the beach volleyball teams aren’t being required to wear bikinis in the olympics this year.  (Brr…) I only know that because it was on a tv at Little America when we stopped for our 50 cent ice cream cones, which sadly were only available in vanilla this year.  We also watched a bit of the swimming and women’s gymnastics at a truck stop Wendy’s last night.  It was kind of cool—everyone in the restaurant facing the tv on the wall, mesmerized by the olympics.  Probably the first time I’ve ever felt solidarity in a crowd of strangers in a Wendys.

And finally, a picture for you before I hit the road for the long drive to Kentucky.  Cindy Lynn found this one for you, but I think I’ve lost the link…

Help!!!

I'm being held hostage by my siblings at Bear Lake in a house that has no Internet or cell service. Life is tough sometimes. See you in a couple of days...

What scripture study feels like, and other musings

I sat down to study my scriptures and a thought popped into my head:

“I wonder how my scripture study session will feel today.”

I’ve been thinking about that recently, noticing that while sometimes I have a scripture study session that is deeply & spiritually satisfying filled with insights, many other times I have a session that just feels, well, normal.  Like I read something and thought about it and wrote about it.  But nothing more.

As I was thinking about this (and perhaps grumbling a little in my mind) I realized something.  The truth is, my life goes better when I spend time with my scriptures, regardless of how it felt.  Maybe I learn something important sometimes and other times it’s a review of things I already know.  Maybe my spirit and heart are more receptive to new information sometimes and other times I’m just showing up.  But any way it happens, I’m better off for having done it.

 

And then I had another thought.  I thought that (like many things) it would be too easy if scripture study was a spiritual feast every time.  It would be so easy to keep making the decision to read my scriptures if there was a guaranteed payoff like that.  Perhaps part of spiritual maturity is reaching the place where I read consistently, no matter what.  Whether I’m feeling the spirit or not.  Whether I feel like it’s going to feel meaningful or not.

 

And then that thought continued on out…as my thoughts so frequently do.  Isn’t this part of really being an adult?  Doing what we should do, even when we’re not feeling it?  Reading from the scriptures every day.  Making dinner for the kids even when we’re not particularly hungry.  Going to work every day (thanks Russ!!) even when we want a day off.  Having Family Night even when what we really want is to have Family Go to Bed Early Night.  Going to church every Sunday, paying tithing when it feels like there’s not enough money in the bank.  Taking responsibility for our behavior and apologizing for what we’ve done even when no one calls us on it.  Figuring out how to extend the benefit of the doubt when someone does something hurtful.  Trying every day to feel charity in our heart towards others. 

I think that Heavenly Father knows that decisions that are easy, that have an instant payoff or that make us immediately feel good don’t tell much about who we are.  It’s the harder decisions, the ones we make only because we know we should, the choices that sometimes feel like we’re making them uphill, that show who we are and what is truly important to us. 

I’m going to try to remember that the next time I’m not feeling very motivated to do something because I’m not sure how it’s “going to feel”.  Instead I will try to tell myself that it’s not about how it feels, it’s about what I’m choosing.  And who I’m choosing.  It’s my chance to choose Him in hundreds of tiny ways, every single way.

Today’s Mystery

First of all, a picture from this morning.

The girls are making faces to show what normal people probably feel about the fact that today we got in the van to start our trip back to North Carolina.  Fortunately for us the trip will be broken up by things like a family reunion at Bear Lake, EFY, a couple of days with our Kentucky cousins, and approximated 73 books on cd. 

How could we not go back.  You all know how much we LOVE the beach.  And how much we LOVE our friends.  The combination is more than we can resist. 

So bring on the audiobooks!

 

Now for today’s mystery.  We pulled into a rest area in Eastern Oregon to, you know, rest.  And this is what we saw in the back part of the parking lot.

I had Jenna stand beside it so that you could see just how huge the thing is.  Perhaps not so big in diameter, but in length it’s gynormous! 

What do you think it is?  I actually have my suspicions now because I have peeked inside and even taken a picture inside.  I will post the inside pictures in a couple of days—we’ll see if anyone can make a guess as to what it is between now and then!

Come on, guess!  Or if you know for a fact, tell us!