6/11/17 - Day 1

6/11/17  First full day on the road trip!  Woot woot!  We left Seattle yesterday, and drove 235 miles to Wyeth Campground after checking out the Vista House (below)

and Multnoma Falls. 

We then crossed the Bridge of the Gods back to Washington to have dinner at the Walking Man Brewery - our first brewery of the trip.  Henry has dubbed us the “What” family because we are all saying, "what" to each other all the time.  And Lilly has named Chad the “Dream Killer” because of his rational, logical, practical side.  

Wyeth campground was small and quiet – a sweet spot for the first night.  

That's where we had our first adventure.  Lilly and I got up at about 4 AM to use the bathroom.  I am getting in the habit of shaking out our shoes since we leave them outside, and who knows what could crawl in a warm dark shoe!   I shook hers out and handed them to her.  She put one on then attempted to put the second one on and said in a slightly alarmed way, “Mom, there’s something slimy in here!”  I took her shoe and confirmed that in fact there was something slimy.  I let out a small (and completely understandable) yelp, which Lilly claims was closer to a shriek, and dropped her shoe.  Out came a sizable banana slug!  I am sure anyone reading this is relieved that we all survived.  

The other exciting thing that happened was that we went a whole 45 minutes without cell coverage.  I think Chad was going through withdrawals as he started rocking and chanting, “I need some LTE, I need some LTE.”  He was joking of course!  Just between you and me, I am hoping for days without cell coverage!

We slept in until about 8 the next morning, which was so nice!  Typically, or pre-van camping, we are all up at about 6 our first night of camping.  I got to go on a beautiful trail run right from the campground.  

Seriously, I am in my happy place being out in nature so much. 

After breaking camp, which pretty much consisted of putting some camp chairs, a stove, some food, and a fireplace into the van, loading up bikes, and shutting the doors to the van!  No air mattress deflating, no sleeping bags in the stuff sack, no folding up the tent and the tarp.  It is soooo much easier camping this way, although still tight quarters.  Chad is spending a whole lot of time sweeping out the van, and has some pretty strict rules on tidiness and cleanliness.  It’s good for all of us and is taking some work to keep the van from turning into a cluttered tornado zone.  We went to Hood River to have lunch and explore.  

Next stop was Cove Palisades State Park outside of Madras, Oregon.  Now this place is sweet, and really more like glamping.  Because it was Sunday night, it was quiet and so beautiful.  This is the first time Lilly actually let me take a photo of her!  Henry has been happily riding his bike around all campgrounds.  

Day 1 has been a big success.  We left Seattle excited, although slightly cranky and tired from the busyness of packing and the school year ending.   We are already more rested and having some quality bonding time.  I would say that the kids’ fighting has decreased significantly and they are happy (mostly) to be getting so much fresh air.  I am sure that this trip will definitely have its ups and downs.  When I imagined this trip I didn't really consider bad weather.  As I type it’s starting to sprinkle.  And I was so excited about getting out for three weeks that I didn’t so much think about missing the comforts of home and using campground showers, bathrooms, and laundromats.  These are small prices to pay for building such amazing memories.  I had all these thoughts and ideas about how the trip was going to play out and it will be interesting to see how my expectations will influence my perspective both positive and negative.  I am so excited to find out what tomorrow brings!