camping, kind of

A couple of weeks ago, we took our first family camping trip. Or "camping" trip, really. We bought the biggest tent $100 gets you (which turns out to be huge- fits 2 full size air mattresses and has a closet- with shelves!) and drove to the coast for the big night. We went to a state campground on the coast just south of Newport. The Stokes were spending 3 nights there and had previously scoped out some primo spots. We showed up Sunday afternoon, Richard set up our tent/condo, and we headed to the beach in our front yard for some kite flying and sand volcano sculpting. Heather and Pete cooked us up a great dinner and we watched the sun set over the ocean.

Richard and Owen had been practicing back yard tent sleeping, and Owen did great all night tucked into his sleeping bag. Ben had a rough go of it, and we spent the night nursing on a cold air mattress. Richard may have slept a little- if he could get any rest over the sounds of Ben crying and me swearing. But the morning brought back our optimism and Heather brought warm coffee.

After breakfast, we all headed north of Newport to meet an NYSC friend, Sam Hopkins and her family. She and her husband are paleontologists with U of O (with much fancier titles than that), and they took us fossil hunting on a beach cliff. We collected 20 million year old fossilized shells and wood, then all headed to Rogue for lunch. The pooped McManus clan headed East for Corvallis, and I think we'll call our first camping trip a success. And I look forward to going again. Maybe in 2 years or so.