Rocks, Sticks, and Pinecones

These words were heard more than any others in the past 13 days. What do you expect when you take two little boys camping?
2,400 miles later we are back again with lots of pictures and even more memories.
I was a little nervous how the boys would do. They were stellar travel companions. There were a few sleepless nights but the good out-weighed the bad.
I had planned and mapped everything out to stayed two nights most places. This gave us a full day to relax before getting back in the car, ready for the next adventure.

Our first night was by Butte, MT. Beaver Dam campground. Most of our camping was weeknights, more often than not we enjoyed very empty, and peaceful campgrounds. Peaceful until we were asleep our first night and the wind kicked up. Jake and I laid in the tent listening to some strange noises. A great clacking and scraping. I finally made Jake get up, okay, I asked him oh so sweetly if he would pretty please go check it out. He poked his head outside and pulled back in laughing. We were in an area full of lodge pole pines I believe they were. These great tall trees were swaying and bending with the wind, knocking together and creating quite the racket.

It's a wonder the joy and entertainment that can be found in a simple empty water bottle.

After one night we headed to the border of ID and WA. A beautiful area close by Coeur d'Alene Idaho; Heyburn State Park. One of the criteria that was at the top of my list when researching campgrounds was water. Water for the boys to play in, and most importantly, throw rocks....the bigger the rock, the better.

All the boys were very much into the rock throwing, from 2ft-6ft tall the men spent a lot of time making big splashes.

Kaleb is content to sit in one spot, Xander is a busy-body that likes constant interaction, or exploration.

Kaleb is a very serious little man. It is hard to get a decent picture of him. He loathes cameras and will not look at you if you have one in your hand. Rarely do I get lucky in sneaking a good picture, let alone a laughing picture...being tickled by the daddy spiders helps.

Xander seems to be our life-of-the party. He talks a lot and tells long winded tales that leave me wondering if it all makes sense in his head. His stories come with a lot of arm waving and exaggerated expressions.

Sharing his tall tales

What's a camping trip without a bag of marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers? I am the only ones who likes s'mores actually. Jake only wants the roasted marshmallow and a rectangle of chocolate in the middle. Alexander wants all three, separately. Kaleb only wants a plane un-toasted marshmallow. Oh the gloriously fun messes!

Jake loves fire, is there a guy who doesn't? He enjoyed sitting long hours into the night stoking the fire to burn down to the last ash and not leave a chunk behind. Sometimes we had to make do with whatever "wood" was around us. It's even sexier that he's wearing my hat.

The boys had fun sleeping in the tent (most of the time) All day long they would be asking when they could put on their pajamas.

On our 4th night we drove West through Washington. We were all impressed with the great expanse of the Columbia River. Then the boys discovered the 'big fans'. They were screaming excitedly as we passed a wind farm. Thereafter every fan we passed resulted in much squealing, "fan!" "ooh, fan!"
We spent a couple nights about 1 hour East of Seattle. Denny Creek campground is the trailhead to a gorgeous mile walk along the river to the Franklin Falls.

Seattle! We both loved Washington and would live here if given the opportunity. The last time I was here was just over 20 years ago. It was fun discovering it again. I booked a hotel for our few nights in Seattle to give us a short break from the tent.
We were a little early to be able to check into the hotel. Although we were smelly we drove around to see the town. We were blessed with parking on this trip. Seattle parking is very expensive. Just as we found a spot and pull in a lady was tapping on my window to ask us if we wanted a parking pass. She had just purchased it, good for three hours, didn't need it after all. She had spent about $18. Just handed it to us with a smile and "God bless". It was a Saturday afternoon so it was crowded. We decided to stay away from the serious crowds and enjoyed walking along the pier.

The first thing the boys wanted to do when we got to the hotel and had electricity...pull out mom's computer and watch Toy Story. All I wanted to do was jump in the shower so it worked out fine for me.

 We were able to do visit some friends and family in Washington. Jake has some friends he met online during his playing of the game World of Warcraft. We were able to spend Saturday evening with them and have a cookout in their backyard. Surprisingly they hardly talked about WOW at all. They were a neat family and we really enjoyed getting to know them better.
Jake's sister Hailey and her husband just moved a few hours South of Seattle. We spent Sunday with them. Got to go to church, their first Sunday and we were visiting. They used to be in Cincinnati so I am excited to have them within a days drive rather than two. She taught me how to make tortillas, can't wait to try it out for myself! Although she learned from another sister-in-law, we are all just grateful this amazing knowledge is being passed around.

Not nearly enough time in Seattle but it was time to move on. We saw enough to know we want to go back.

Portland next! I never really connected the dots how close Portland and Seattle are. I also had a hotel for our few nights in Portland. Our first day we walked around exploring downtown. First stop, food carts. Jake's favorite part about vacation is being able to try new restaurants and food.
I chose a Gyro, the boys some pizza, and Jake got fish n' chips. Salmon fish n' chips. Everything was so good! We could spend a week easily trying out all the different foods. So many different ethnic foods to try. It was a tough decision picking just one thing for lunch.

One of the stops at the top of our list was VooDoo doughnuts. It always has a line out the door. I discovered it while doing research for our trip. Jake had heard about it when he worked on a show that highlighted it. Their slogan is, "The magic is in the hole".
They make about any and every doughnut that you can imagine, or not imagine, or don't even want to think about. We mostly stayed safe with the traditional raspberry and chocolate cake.

Why yes, that's a bacon maple doughnut.
Jake got a voodoo doll..it even had raspberry filling in the middle

The next day we spent on the coast. It was a lot more beautiful than the Southern CA coasts we're used to. Our first stop was the Tillamook cheese factory. Jake got his 'squeaky' cheese.

We enjoyed sampling lots of different cheeses. I never knew they had a garlic white cheddar and a garlic chili pepper cheddar cheese. They were my favorite. Very flavorful.
We couldn't leave without icecream. the decisions was too overwhelming to pick a favorite so went for the 5 scoop sampler. Udderly peanutbutterly was my favorite, cookie dough, mudslide was Jake's favorite, chocolate peanut butter was a close tie for both of us, and topped off with caramel butter pecan. Alexander loved them all and Kaleb naturally didn't want anything to do with the icecream. I was very happy with his decision and fully supported him 100%

We drove for a bit to find some beach to play on. The water was a little chilly but the sand was so soft. Kaleb only wanted to lay on the sand, burrowing in face first, asphyxiating on it.
Didn't make any sense to me.

I really wanted seafood. I researched and found almost a hole-in-the-wall place. The Pacific House Restaurant definitely satisfied my seafood craving. I recommend it in case you were planning on visiting Tillamook, OR. I thoroughly enjoyed a big bowl of seafood linguini. It had shrimp, clams, mussels, salmon, and cod swimming in a lemon cream sauce. Don't talk to me about healthy. I enjoyed it down to the shells. It was so good I couldn't wait to eat it, no stopping to take a picture.

It's a tough call deciding if we enjoyed Seattle or Oregon more. Both were beautiful places. We could happily live in either.
Next was an unknown campground. I knew we needed something in between Portland and Boise, ID. I didn't have anything for sure planned. We said a prayer and thankfully found a perfect spot, it even had water! It was a drive out to the campground so we were getting nervous, okay, I was. Jake was just chill, all is good. Off a place called North Powder we found Anthony Lake. We really do live in a beautiful world. It is a testimony to me that there is a divine creator.

Our last night was a fun adventure. I had reserved a place, Black Rock campground. About 50 miles away from Boise, okay, great! Well, it's 20 miles of national forest service road that was winding switch backs and steep drop-offs. The boys were sleeping nicely in the backseat and we come upon a dirt road, no problem. I'm surprised it didn't jar a few teeth loose. It certainly jerked them awake in a very abrupt manner. Pot holes, washboard, four-wheeling fun. I was getting nervous (again) wondering what I had gotten us into. We were of course going slow because we weren't sure what to expect. Alexander was freaking out and screaming full lungs, daddy was feeling stressed with the added screaming. 2 hours later we finally found the campground, it really existed, yeah! It was a small place nestled on the edge of the Boise River. The place was empty. It was very nice to enjoy a quite evening with only the stars for light.

I promise he doesn't have a black eye. He just looked like he did about 3/4 of the time.

I brought a book along and finally decided to sit down and read on our last day. The boys loved drawing in the dirt with sticks.  

Jake was cleaning up after some irresponsible fisherman who threw their fish guts and heads back into the river, where they got caught in the rocks and were just sitting there.

 I couldn't keep the boys clean for more than 30 seconds.

The drive back down the road was a lot more fun. Jake was feeling more confident with it and opened her up. Woo-wee! Made us really wish we had a dune buggy or a four-wheeler. The kids enjoyed it a lot more the second time around. I'm sure it helped that they were already awake.

It was an enjoyable trip but we were ready to be home, ready for a hot bath, clean clothes, and our own beds.
Can't wait for the next adventure!