Annual Camping Trip: Detroit Lake Edition

Gabe and I got a pretty early start out of town on Saturday morning. I had most things packed and ready to go, so we got to Detroit Lake about 11ish on Saturday. Alexis helped Gabe set up the tent. We had some lunch. Our campsite had no afternoon shade so we all started sweating up a storm and decided it was time to head to the lake to cool off. Once the "party island" was pumped up we took off for the lake. We had quite the adventure getting the party island out on the water. The wind was pretty strong out on the lake and we couldn't paddle ourselves out very far before we started to get blown back to shore. So Alexis and Jen swam and pushed the island, while Gabe and Eric pulled and guided it around the logs that made up the area where the boats dock. By the time we got out around the dock everyone was exhausted...everyone but me! I acted as the cheerleader telling them how much further it was and checking to make sure everyone was ok. Eric said next year he was going to make sure he was 8 months pregnant so he could get out of helping. I'm not sure how he's planning on making that one happen! After we soaked up the sun, relaxed and everyone had a few drinks we started the trip back to shore. The wind was blowing us the wrong direction, so once again everyone had to work hard to get us back around the boat dock. I believe it was during this return struggle that disaster struck the party island. As we were blown back to shore Alexis heard the quite shhhhh sound that could only be a small hole in the island. By the time we reached shore the island was visibly deflating. By Sunday morning it was completely deflated. Looks like some repairs will need to be made to the party island so it will be ready for next year.

We spent the rest of the evening playing games, sitting around the campfire and eating smores. Roasted marshmallows have never tasted so good! Of course we couldn't get through the weekend without the rangers stopping by our campsite to ask us to keep it down. I think that happens every year. Sunday morning as we packed up camp, Jen made a very unusual discovery. As she was folding up her tent she stopped for a second, and in a very serious voice, calmly said to us, "Hey you guys...Is this a scorpion?" This is what was hanging out under her tent. I didn't think scorpions hung out on the west side of the Cascades but here's evidence to the contrary. Two guys at the campsite across the road must have heard us talking about it because they came over to check it out. One of them even brought over his kid's bug catcher to trap him so the kids could take a look. I think Alexis, Eric, Jen and Ryan were lucky the scorpion didn't decide to crawl in the tent and hang out in their sleeping bags. Yikes!

It was a short trip but we had a great time. I love getting out in the woods. The stars were amazing and it was good to hang out with friends. I wasn't miserable at all and wish we would have gone for both nights. Oh, well. Next year we'll take the little guy with us for his first camping experience. That should be a whole new adventure!