Vacation So Far

So far...

I can't say that I've ever actually been to the lake at 6:30 in the morning before. Because that is insane early for vacation. But I've also never been in a tent. With a four-year-old. With a four-year-old who is chomping at the bit to go see the water. So this is what it looks like.
Lake levels are crazy high. Large volumes of water are dumping in from all over the place. Eagle Falls, for one.

Since we were camping, we had to put all of our smelly belongings into a bear box. Think food, drinks, toothpaste, mouthwash, dish soap, laundry detergent, bug spray, sunscreen, deodorant, small boys...

Alright. Really. They were just simply fascinated by the large metal box. The Rock Star wanted us to buy one. You know, for our yard. At home. In the suburbs of Salt Lake City.

The Little Buddy (well, every buddy, really) enjoyed roasted marshmallows shoved between two chocolate chip cookies. It's like a S'more but I feel like that actual name might be trademarked with a bar of chocolate and a graham cracker. So these are more like Gimmemores. Or something.
We jumped off rocks at our favorite beach, Sand Harbor.
We saw our good friends who used to work in ministry with us in the San Diego area. They spent the day with us. They were there, in our campsite, later that night when a small bear lumbered by. Troy said, "Bear!" Then he shined a light at it and off it jogged.

We also found out that these people were camping at the lake. I hadn't been to the lake with Jason since fifteen years ago. FIFTEEN YEARS AGO. The twelve of us all had dinner at The Bridgetender. We had to eat inside because it had rained cats and dogs and giant hail balls that afternoon. But it was still delicious.
We also saw my mom's sister's husband's sister and her husband (also known as my uncle's sister) who happened to be at Tahoe as well. They were nice enough to drive halfway around the lake just to see us.

After four full days at Lake Tahoe, we drove through Reno and Susanville (hello long traffic waits while they paved the highway!) and eventually made it to our next stop. It was a pretty drive and we saw reservoirs we didn't know existed. At one point, through the trees, we saw this.
We stayed in a camping cabin at a KOA and had a view of Shasta. (We'd also had a view of Tahoe from our second campground so it was a week full of gorgeous scenery.) The boys loved the cabin. The Rock Star asked if we could move there. To a camping cabin. In the woods. Without a bathroom. Or a kitchen. Apparently if we plopped a bear box down next to a camping cabin, our firstborn would be thrilled.

We drove up to Eugene the next day. If you happened to be near Grant's Pass around lunch time on Saturday and if you happened to see a nearly thirtysomething female producing copious amounts of vomit on the side of the road, well, that was me. I proceeded to run a low fever and continue barfing once we reached Eugene. I fell into my mother-in-law's bed around five and did not leave the room until the next morning. Thankfully, come Sunday, I was feeling much better. We went off to church and then headed up to Portland. We took pictures of all ten grandkids together. It's been more than four years since everyone was in the same place at the same time.
And then, once upon a time, two people fell in love. They're in the middle. They had four kids who all got married and had kids. And eventually we took a picture of all twenty. People at the park stared at us. Seriously. Which is weird because the Duggar's have almost that many children. Gosh that's a lot. I can't imagine trying to keep track at a park.
My friends came to visit me at the park. We went to Starbucks. I miss them.
Today we went to the Enchanted Forest but those pictures are still being held captive on the camera. Tonight we're visiting with Troy's good friend. Tomorrow we're heading out to the coast for a few days with Troy's family.

And by Saturday we should be home. But that will involve many more hours logged in the car and I just don't want to think about that right now. I'm choosing not to. It isn't my happy place.

Although, in all honestly, the boys have done amazingly well. They're good travelers. Even if they do refuse to sleep.