Sara's First Camping Trip

Last weekend we set off on our first camping trip with the new trailer. And let me tell you, it was a source of some heated discussions before we made the decision :-) Who is their right mind would take a new trailer, a wife/mom with a broken foot, and an almost two year old on the first camping trip to a VERY remote spot? Ryan. And no, he's not in his right mind. But....thankfully it all worked out and we made it safely home all in one piece.

The place we went is called Neah Bay which is in the very northern part of the Washington coast. We spent the week trying to outfit the trailer with all the necessities (which is SO different then our usual tent camping where we brought some clothes, food and a sleeping bag). It was not an easy task with one leg but thankfully Ryan did most of it. I got the food prepared and all of Sara's stuff and he got all the big stuff. Unfortunately while we were taking the trailer out to load it (which is another blog in itself, let's just say the first time we parked it, it took almost two hours to jimmy it into it's spot) Ryan was running across the parking lot and stopped to say something to the neighbor and his knee popped out. We think it's an old injury and will likely have to have surgery on it, especially because he still can't straighten it. But that will have to wait until I can walk again. Did this change his mind about camping? Nope. But I digress.

So Friday after work we loaded up and headed south to the ferry terminal. We rode the ferry over to Port Townsend and drove to Sequim for the night which was about an hours drive. Gotta love those Native American names. We had planned on staying at this "nice" RV park for the night but when we arrived (almost 2 hours after Sara's bedtime) it was so ghetto. Crackheads that live there full time. Abort that plan. We had heard from a friend that you can stay in the Home Depot parking lot for the night so that's where we ended up. We had a beautiful view of an open field with Costco on the other side :-) It was quite hilarious but served it's purpose and was

actually pretty quiet for the night.

We met up with some friends and then ventured on to Neah Bay. It took about three more hours through windy, curvy roads, much like the road to Hana if you can imagine that. The drive gorgeous along the Olympic mountain range with views of the Straight of Juan de Fuca. Once we arrived we were not disappointed. We camped in a big open field that was a couple hundred feet from a gorgeous beach with little surfable waves. The best part of the beach was the hundreds of sand dollars on a low tide. Sara LOVED finding the "sandies". She has this gift of finding shells, even half buried ones. I managed to bag my foot up and hobble across the dunes out to the beach.

Sara was such a trooper on the trip. The first morning and the drive out to the beach was a bit rough since she missed about two hours of sleep but her nap and sleep that night was better then home. She actually took a nap, which hasn't been happening these days. It must be that fresh saltwater air. We had a bonfire that night and roasted marshmallows and just hung out. It was nice to get away from it all, including our cell phones :-)

All in all, we had a great time. We're still trying to recover from the trip but we're excited to do it again.

The incoming "feddie"

The only "store" in Neah Bay where we had to buy a reservation card to be on the Indian Reservation.

Our little campsite, where I spent the majority of the time :-)

Tyla sure enjoyed herself. There were plenty of other dogs to keep her entertained. She was pooped when we got home.

"Sandies"

She would get so excited to come bring me all the shells and sand dollars she found.

This was on the ferry. She always says "cheese" with her big cheesy grin whenever we take her picture :-)