Saddle Mountain

Today, we hiked up Saddle Mountain, just Andrew and I. It was a spectacular view!  We thought we might be too late to see the wildflowers the hike is famous for, but some varieties were still in full bloom.

"...for you have been born again not of seed which is perishable but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. For, all flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls off, but the word of the Lord endures forever."

 I Peter 1:24-25

Canoe Camping with the Karpers

Just this last week, we managed to free up a couple of days to go canoe camping at Timothy Lake with the most outdoorsy friends we have, the Karpers. These guys know how to do just about anything out in the outdoors, and they do it right. We watched, learned, and enjoyed God's creation alongside them. We had a blast and can't wait to go again. Thanks to Bob and July Reed, our other friends' parents, we had a canoe of our own to get us around the lake,  and a good thing we had one, as you can attest from the load on the Karpers' boat.

Only the pros would know how to load so much on a canoe!

I climbed a tree a la Mason to see if Kim and Trev were visible around the bend after we'd split off to find a site.





We settled with the campsite on this cove and near this fallen tree that would prove to serve as a great dock.



The site was missing a picnic table...but Trev managed to rig a kitchen table anyway.

Although the sun would eventually pierce through the clouds, it was kind of cold up there.



The boys got enthusiastic about finding fire wood to keep the fire going all day.

 

They were pretty happy with themselves for having such awesome wood gathering skills.

This scantily clad girl decided the weather had gotten warmer.

So they poised themselves for a dip and jumped in!





 

 

Chief Joseph fashioned an extra arrow to add to the bows and arrows he's already made.

We went on an evening canoe ride to find the elusive otters...

but spotted one of God's flower planters instead.

Woke up to a gorgeous day on the third day so we headed across Timothy Lake
to find the trail to Little Crater Lake.

It was worth all the paddling effort. Little Crater Lake was freakishly blue and cold (34 degrees F) situated
smack in the middle of a meadow--a place worth checking out!

 We paddled back to our campsite, took a little dip in the cove water, packed up our stuff, paddled back to the dam side of the lake and loaded up our car with the canoe on top, just like we did on the way to Timothy Lake. We now know it can be done, thanks to the Reed's generosity in lending us their canoe, and to  Trev for the trucker's hitch and pads that made the canoe secure.

We'll definitely have to canoe camp again. We LOVED it!!!



Oysterville 2011

10 years ago, Lou and Carole started taking their family to Tucker's cabin in Oysterville once a year, and thankfully, the tradition has stuck. Besides the fact that the town holds a lot of Wachsmuth history, there's a going-back-to-our-roots feel about the place that always slows things down for me. When we're there, it seems we can't be rushed or pushed to move to the next thing. Except for low tide, we don't allow the clock to be our tyrant. We just get to be and we get to enjoy each other without worrying about what's next on our  agenda. As Matt puts it, "nothing is what we do in Oysterville". It's not that we don't do anything---we play board games, read in the cabin or around the campfire, go clamming on the mudflat at low tide, run to the beach, bike, sometimes go to Long Beach, and always, always watch old movies (usually the same ones). But there's no set time as to when we'll do this or that, and there's an understanding that no one is obligated to do anything. Even mealtimes happen whenever.

Granted, we couldn't do this all the time; but for a weekend, I find it rather liberating..and I'm thankful for the many years we've been able to go back to the place where we do nothing.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We said goodbye to Oysterville..but not without taking some shelled souvenirs to enjoy the feel of the place for a while longer....in the form of the yummiest clam chowder I've ever made (if I may say so myself)!