Camping 101

Newberry National Volcanic Monument Oregon State Park.

Okay, so you might laugh a little bit when reading or looking at this blog. The pictures below are from 1 day of our 5 day camping trip. I know, I know. I just can't help myself with the digital camera. It's just too easy to take pictures. Below are some of my favorites from the trip. Don't worry, there's more to come. I just thought I would share a few at a time.

So I'm not sure if I have said it before but for the last 4 years I've gone camping with my sister and her family. The 1st trip, it was just my sister, her kids and myself. Since then it's been the Thiel family, Nick and I. This year was a little different from the rest. Not only did Nick and I bring our 5th wheel (that my sister LOVED and wanted to sleep in it every night) my parents also joined us. Instead of camping in CA like we always have - We went with OR. - In the middle ground. We all love to swim and usally are in the water most of the time when camping (Walt loves to go fishing on the lake) this time we were only able to go swimming 1 day. The water was freezing!! It was fun though because we left camp everyday to get out and explore what the park had to offer.

Mosquitoes - Mosquitoes - Mosquitoes - Mosquitoes!!!

Oh my goodness!! I have never had as many mosquito bites as I do now. From the moment we woke up to the moment we went to bed, if we were not in the direct sunlight we were being eaten alive by all of the mosquitoes. I think we went through 3 containers of bug spray plus a few of the small 100% deet sprays. I hate deet with a passion and by the end of the trip, I had it on daily. I'm not joking!

So the first night that we camped there, it was freezing! The water bowl for the dogs actually was frozen. We could see our breath! No one really slept well the first night. =/ This is Carley waiting very patiently for her hot chocolate.

They don't look cold, do they?!? See the jacket that Niki is wearing? Yeah, that's mine that I thankfully had in the trailer. We all were expecting HOT/WARM weather and it turned out to be really, really cold during the night and in the shade. I think my mom slept with that neck warmer every night.

Nick enjoying his morning coffee. He was the only one that brought (or had in the trailer) gloves and a hat. Those are our LCP mugs we brought with us!

Okay. so during the first day that we were there, we all went on a walk along the edge of the lake. It was very wooded. Nick and I lasted about .. oh.. 15 mins until we met up with Carley and my dad and then we turned around and QUICKLY walked back because we were being eaten alive by the damn mosquitoes! Here's a picture of my dad's back right after we got out into the open. The whole time we were walking back I was whacking him with my book to kill the mosquitoes. I killed about 50 or more! If you look closely, you can see the 10 alive ones on him... EEEK.

My dad and Carley stayed behind at the camp with the dogs. Dogs were not allowed on the trail due to the sharp obsidian everywhere. It would have cut up their paws.

We're so glad that Niki had looked into and planned these little trips for us during our stay. This was on of them. At first I didn't want to go, but afterwards I was so happy that I had gone. It was a sight that I will never forget.

This is the begining of the hike up. It was not bad at all. She's wearing Nick's hat to protect her nose. From the ride to OR, her nose got pretty sun burned.

You can see behind us where the lava had stopped. The water that you see on the left is considered a lake. I just looked at it like it was a place for the mosquitoes to live.

What a stud. It's really not as heavy as you might think it is. It's pumice! One of the most amazing kinds of rock. (or at least I think it is!)

Walt and Josh were the first to get to the top. We stayed up there for about an hour, I think. It was so beautiful.

Nick really enjoyed looking at this kind of lava/rock/obsidian/pumice. He took a geology class referred to as "rocks for jocks" while in college and was telling me about the stuff that he had learned from it. He said he really enjoyed the class.

It was amazing to see and feel how sharp the obsidian really was and to read about what the Indians had used it for. Did you know that the astronauts collected water from obsidian? Something like 0.02% is water. Interesting.

This is one of my favorites. Between Niki and I, I'm sure we took close to 700 pictures over the week. What can I say... She inspires me!

What! What!

Blue Steel, baby!

Isn't that just crazy looking and to think that it was once hot lava?!?

At the bottom of the trail. This is about the time that my mom threw up a little when she saw what true love birds Nick and I are. =)

Crabby Patties all day long. Carley and Josh are REALLY into Sponge Bob Square Pants right now, so most everything refered to Sponge Bob during the trip. Carley and Josh would have had "crabby patties" aka hamburgers everynight if we had let them. Too cute!

While we were gone, Mike and Sue took care of our kitty cats for us! Mike thought it would be funny to teach Chester how to give Gizmo a left hook. He picked up on it pretty fast. It's all he does now! just kidding!!

The cats were VERY happy for us to be back home. Fortunately, they didn't cause any trouble while we were gone.