There and Back Again.(Not a hobbits tale)

Joey and I felt that itch again. It either meant move or go camping. Sense neither of us wanted to move we decided it was time to break out the camping gear. The weather has been turning very nice these past few weeks, and I had Friday,Saturday and Sunday morning off of work. So off we went. Joey picked up a camping guide book from REI, asked the sales person where was a good place to go. Next thing we knew we were off on a new adventure. We were going to Umatilla National Forest, the Tucannan camp site.
The place we were going wasn't on our GPS, so half way there we had to stop and buy another map. We stopped in this cute little town, where the gas station is also the bakery/movie rental and Pizza cafe. We picked up some cookies, they were very tasty.
Finally after a lot of driving(down hill, up hill and in between) we made it to our destination. It was dark by the time we go there so we didn't get the lay out of the camp ground. It scared Roxy, or made her nervous because she hide under the table, curled up in a tight little ball and she wouldn't come out.
Joey and I are pampered campers, we must have an air mattress. But we found out that the converter we brought with us to plug into the car so we could blow up the air mattress has a certain limit and then turns itself off. Apparently the blower was to much for it to handle. Joey and I took turns manually blowing up our queen size pillow top air mattress!!! Needless to say we went to bed light headed.
We also found out the our tent it smaller then we thought it was. The air mattress barely fit. Roxy had to sleep in the car for two reasons. One move and the air mattress would have popped and two, she kicks when she sleeps and the air mattress took up more then its fair share of the tent.

The oddest thing happened that night. It rained. Okay that's not the odd part. It rained ALOT!! for at least an hour if not two. It woke me up and I stayed awake listening to it. Okay still not odd enough for you. Here's where it gets twilight zoney. When we woke up the entire camp was Dry! Bone dry. the Tupperware we left open, the one I was so worried about all night because it had our paper goods and camp stove in it, I almost got out and put a lid on it twice fearing we would have a soggy paper lake situation when we woke up wasn't even wet. There were a few drops here and there on the tent, nothing a little dew wouldn't do. The paper towels looked like we had just taken them out of the package! What...how...huh.... no freaking way.

Ah breakfast time. We like camping food, Joey really becomes a chef when we camp. And Roxy, no matter where she is, is still a little beggar baby. And it really doesn't matter what food you have in your hand. Cheese, meat, chicken, dill pickle, raspberry, celery, olive. She wants it and she'll stare at you until she gets it. Lucky for her, her parents understand this and we ignore her. Poor thing.

With morning comes the sun,(duh allysen) and with the sun we got to see our camp for the first time. And did we ever! Some national forest. Apparently there was a forest fire here. We never had to go far to find wood. The view is...beautiful.

Joey is the best parent Ever! Yes Roxy climb onto the table with me, lets stand on the table. Oh but don't do this at home. Allysen's over there with a big ? over her head. Still taking pictures though

King and Pup of the camp!

Okay shes just too cute.

Hiking kids. Where are they hiking? to the other side of the road.

This is the first camp fire I've ever made by myself! It lite and stayed all firey. It was beautiful!

Fish Hatchery, fun stuff. Lots of fish. Do you know what they do with the fish?

They stock the "Lakes" around the national forest. Why do I say "Lakes" because the "Lakes" are about the size of large swimming pools. With people crowded around them fishing. You don't have to hike to the lakes, or walk far. You pull into a parking spot and walk on over. Its basically fishing at a trout farm! Joey kept saying "Thats not fishing"

Other then the "Lakes" and the staring at the beautiful view there was nothing else to do out there. No hikes, no trails, historical sites, scenic views. Nothing. So after we roasted marshmallows we broke camp and went home.

We still had alot of fun and plan on going camping again some time soon. stay tuned!