Let the good times roll!

SUMMER IS FINALLY HERE!

Growing up, I was always a huge fan of summer.  It was one of my favorite seasons.  But, then I became an adult with adult responsibilities and summer kind of lost its *oomph* for me.  

Not anymore.

With the addition of Stella, I am like a little kid again, counting the days down until Summer arrived. Knowing that we have some awesome trips planned for the next few months makes it so hard to be patient.  Never been my strong suit anyway.

Finally - trip #1 arrived. 

Since our last big trip to La Conner, we hadn't had much opportunity to take her out.  We did plan a last minute trip up to Wenberg State Park  for Memorial Day weekend.  It wasn't much to write about, although we had a fantastic time and met some super nice people AND got to try out my cast iron dutch oven,  but we wanted to do a test run with Stella to make sure nothing went wrong.  We weren't disappointed - made it home in one piece (this time).

Breakfast - eggs, pototoes, sausage, and cheese.   It didn't suck but I forgot the Tapatio. :(

We also made pizza as well as an apple cinnamon coffee cake. 

Say hello to my new favorite Christmas gift from my inlaws.

Now, fast forward to our first big summer trip:  Spectacle Lake outside of Tonasket, WA.  Its about 25 miles from the Canadian border and an almost 5 hour drive from our home. It also was the first time we would be driving over one of the Washington mountain passes.  Needless to say, we were both pretty nervous but we made it over with no glitches.  Ryan actually learned more about using the "tow haul" feature on the Durango, and it made the whole trip easier for him. 

We decided to leave the night before and stay at the Alpine RV resort in Leavenworth click here.  It was a nice, clean park but I wouldn't recommend parking for more than a day or two, especially with kids.    It was a good idea for us to break the trip to Spectacle Lake in twos, and when we headed out for the second half of the trip, the kids were much happier than they would have been driving straight through.  WIN. 

Finally we arrived at  Spectacle Lake Resort.  It is one of my favorite places to visit but mostly because of its emotional meaning to me.  My grandparents retired in the next town over, Loomis WA, and they are buried right outside of the resort.  Its a chance for me to go visit their graves, clean them up, and say hi.

  The view from our campsite.

 The view from across the lake.

 This time of year, the weather tends to be warm on a good day and blazing hot on most days.  Thank God we have A/C, right?  Well, guess what, friends?  We lost our power around 6:30 AM on day two.  That's right.  No A/C.  We still had power to our fridge and lights and stuff, as those run on battery or propane.  But NO A/C.  And the temp in our trailer at one time was 92 degrees.  Pretty close to the exact temperature of hell.  Luckily, our neighbors did have A/C and our friends staying in a cabin did too, so we could visit them to cool off when we weren't swimming in the pool. 

Y'all know that I like to cook, and that carries over to camping as well.  I bought some new accessories for the dutch oven and was excited to try them out.   Hello, dutch oven pizza.  Well, they didn't quite turn out as well as I'd liked and we kind of caught the grass on fire while cooking them. Luckily, our neighbor on the other side was a volunteer firefighter.  Unluckily, he was too drunk to notice the smoldering grass and kept talking to Ryan rather than helping me put out the cinders.  No one noticed the scorched ground, right?  

  

  We added some new items to our repertoire. Some things that we thought we might need or are just plain cool.  An inflatable raft.  Extra long tongs and gloves to use with the dutch oven.  Even a wireless thermometer for the refrigerator. 

We also brought along our smoker.  Yep, you read that right.  We smoked a 5 lb briskent (without almost starting a forest fire) and it was AH-mazing.

All in all, it was a fantastic trip.  Great friends, great weather.  Even with no A/C.  Which is now fixed, by the way.  Turns out that Forest River did not bother to screw in a wiring panel that housed the power supply.  Geniuses.  

We are three days out from trip #2.  This one is over to Idaho, Silverwood Amusement Park. I.  Cannot.  Wait.  Not only do I LOVE roller coasters (but absolutely hate circular, spinning rides) but I also LOVE fireworks.  SQUEEEEEEE!!!

See y'all on the road!!

XOXO, 

Stella

  

Our Weekend Getaway

It was finally time to leave!!!  Traffic be damned - we left a few hours ahead of schedule. It was about a two hour trip to La Conner.  We drove through all different types of weather - torrential downpour with super strong winds, changing quickly to blue, sunny skies and not a drop of rain in sight - for a minute or two... The RV park was nice enough.  The grounds covered a lot of area, and there were ginormous motorhomes When we arrived, the first stop was to check in.  The young man who worked the front desk was less than chipper about his job; he immediately started complaining about how this was the beginning of his nightmare and soon  there would be lines of trailers and motorhomes waiting to get in.  I was hopeful he didn't mean like, THIS weekend kind of soon.

                    

 Finally, we chose our spot.  Stella was backed into the spot fairly easily.  The spots were not anything fancy but they were fairly wide and had some nice trees and moss on them.  That helps the aesthetics, you know.. The park has super cute cabins to rent, for those who don't have campers yet.  Our friends were staying in one right on the beach.  It was roomy, clean, and had satellite tv.  (its a win, win if the weather predicted is 100% rain.) The first night, everyone ate dinner together in the cabin.  The kids roasted hot dogs in a campfire and tried to walk on the beach.  But it was dark, raining, and VERY windy so they didn't get too far down the beach. They were coaxed to return to the cabin with promises of exploration the next day.  After all, you can't camp during Spring months in Washington without packing rain gear (boots AND coat) so everyone was prepared. The second day was super fun, as it was young Gabe's birthday.  We started the day out with breakfast at Calico Cupboard in La Conner (best breakfast ever here) and then explored the cute town.  Lots of fun shops and great photo opportunities.  Of course, the rain came as promised but we didn't let it stop our fun!  During the breaks, we hit the beach and explored the park, then retreated back to the cabin for dinner, birthday cupcakes, and rousing games of Apples to Apples.  Super fun. Finally, it was time to go home. Of course, once we hit the road, the sun came out. Which was perfect, because our back right tire exploded while we were on the freeway.  I can't tell you how much that scared me.  We're still working on getting that fixed.  Sad, sad sight seeing my Stella being towed behind a truck that isn't ours :( All in all, I'd give the weekend two tailights up. 

 If you're headed to La Conner, WA (maybe to check out the gorgeous tulips that eluded us on our trip), the La Conner RV resort seems like a great place to park for a few days!

         

 XOXO, Stella

FERNWEH

Have you ever heard of Fernweh?

Neither had I (thank you Pinterest!)  Its a German word that doesn't have a direct translation into the English language. Basically, it means a longing to travel...a wanderlust...an almost physical need to GTFO.

A reboot.

That's what this family needs.

We are very excited to embark on a quick little getaway this weekend.

The mom keeps putting more stuff into my cabinets, and the dad keeps rolling his eyes every time he walks in and spots something new.  It's only for two days!

And I just smile to myself because its finally here.. the moment when I can feel myself being pulled into a new adventure.

There is a lot of rain in the area today and predicted to continue for the weekend.  That's okay.  I don't mind rain. It just means that the family will be hanging out inside more, playing games and spending time together. That's what makes me happy.

Off to explore!!!  See you soon!

A beginning...

This is home...where it begins and ends.

Since I came here, I've only been allowed to go out and explore a few times.  Then, winter came.  Every once in a while, in the cold months, the family would come out to hang out with me and sleep in the beds.  For the most part, I was on my own. 

Until now. 

Spring has arrived and the family is ready to take me out and find adventure!!

How cool is that??  

We have lots of trips planned for the year.  La Conner coming up this weekend, then Spectacle Lake in June.  That will be the farthest I've gone until July.  Then we are headed into another state: Idaho!  We are spending the 4th of July at Silverwood Theme Park with friends, then another trip at the end of July.  

Stay tuned, and share the adventure with us!

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” 
― Augustine of Hippo

Love,
Stella