trillium mama

belated birthday

My birthday was last month. I may have delayed this post because now I have officially moved into the 30's, and I have been a teensy bit annoyed at this fact. Whatever the reason for the delay, I thought I would share some of the highlights of my birthday weekend.

We went to Manzanita and stayed at Nehalem Bay State Park in a yurt. Andy had never stayed in a yurt, and I'm not sure why. It's kind of strange since before I met him, I stayed in them multiple times during the year. I guess since he is so darn good and setting up a tent and campsite, I no longer needed the idiot proof camping experience that a yurt offers. Anyway, when I made reservaI didn't want to deal with the potential wind and rain when I made reservations, so we stayed in a yurt.

 

We had a relaxed weekend sitting on the dunes, building sandcastles, and walking through the amazing coastal forests nearby. The final book in the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn, came to the door just before we left Saturday. I got to sit around and read my book for two whole days, listening to the surf and the wind in the trees. It was perfect.

Usually I'm ready to leave the coast after a few days, but I had such a good, relaxing time, that I wanted to stay longer. I'm already trying to plan a way to go stay another night soon. I had the best birthday I have had in a very long time thanks to my amazing, supportive husband and my sweet daughter.

 

a camping we will go

a camping we will go!

a camping we will go!

hi-ho the dairy-o,

a camping we will go!

Every time I prepare to go camping, I get that song in my head. I don't know why, I just do. Thoughts of smores and river walking swirl through my head, and I can't wait to smell the campfire and slumber in a tent.

We are lucky to have many amazing spots to camp within 2 hours of our home. Every summer we venture to the Metolius River for a little R & R. I know of no other place quite like it, and I was lucky enough to call the village of Camp Sherman home during my high school years. It is my home river, and I will always love it dearly.

We had a bit of a discovery this year-we only like to camp in areas where there are other campers. My husband has always resisted this idea, but after a spooky few hours and a midnight trip to a hotel, we both agreed that it's better to deal with other campers than not to sleep at all.

The funny thing is that I called this hotel at 11:45pm and asked if there were any rooms available. The very sweet man said yes, one. I felt like it was fate! I cringed a bit and asked how much-he replied that it was the nicest room in the hotel-more cringing and closing of eyes. He ended up giving it to us for 50% off since it was so late, whew. Andy and I both agreed that it was the nicest room we'd ever stayed in-too bad we weren't there longer to enjoy it!

The next morning, full of breakfast, showered and refreshed, we headed back to the Metolius. We settled on a campsite away from the river but with a good view. We unpacked our supplies, which was interesting because of the midnight, rushed packing job from the night before.

As soon as the tent was up, Ava and I settled in for a rest. We gazed at the towering ponderosa pines, listening to their soft rushing sounds in the wind.

The next day we took a short drive to Suttle Lake for a little lake hike and fishing. It proved to be very difficult to keep the 2 year old fishing for more than 5 minutes, so Ava and I found a place to take a dip instead.

The other highlights of our trip were hiking down to Wizard Falls fish hatchery to see the fish. It was an oddly slow day there with not many visitors. Reminded me of when I was young and visited there, before the Metolius graced the pages Sunset magazine among others. We also had fun feeding the chipmunks-I know, it's not PC to feed "wild" animals, but they were so tame they were almost like flies.

It was a peaceful and relaxing trip, and I look forward to our next camping adventure!