Camping Trip Concluded
The skeeters won the war.
On Saturday, we went for a great kayak trip around part of the lake. The lake is odd-shaped so there are a lot of little lagoons and hidden spots. Plus, there are a lot of rock formations, some jutting out as islands. It was hard to find one, but we found a private beach. It was pretty awesome. The beach itself was small and a little rough but the water was amazingly clear. There was a very slight decline into the deeper lake, so Iris was able to run into the water a ways before she had to swim. She loved it. She also loved jumping onto and walking along the unsteady kayaks. It was almost like she was showing off, which made it funnier when she fell off. She’s not as steady on her feet as she thinks she is. Mike went for a quick swim and convinced me to do the same. The water was lovely to stand in and play with Iris but when it got deeper, it was cold.
Since it was the weekend and there were more people at the campground, there were more campfires. We welcomed the smoke – it seemed to decrease the mosquitoes. Though, we still got bit. We went for a 3-mile walk that afternoon along the water front trail. It was great being outside.
On Sunday, we decided to call it and move on. We were originally scheduled to stay until the following Sunday but we were sick of being trapped in the Casita during the morning and evenings, avoiding the mosquitoes. We headed to central Oregon, with the thought we’d easily find a spot since it was Sunday and everyone else should be going back to work. We were wrong.
We’ve been wanting to camp at Tumalo but it’s always full, so we beelined it there. It was a gorgeous drive from Waldo Lake to Bend. Tumalo was 100% full. That’s ok, because it looked a little too family-focused for our taste. We were uncertain what to do then. We were running low on battery power on most of our devices and the Casita battery wasn’t holding a charge (maybe the fuse again?). Also, there wasn’t a dump at Waldo Lake, and we didn’t try too hard to find one on the drive thinking we’d stay at a campground with one. We saw there were two RV campgrounds at Camp Sherman, so we went there. The RV campground we tried (the one most likely to have space) was fully reserved, so we went to the campgrounds along the river.
Then, we found it – the perfect campsite. The Smiling River Campground is on the river. Site #8 does not necessarily have a river view but the river is a short walk away. It’s private, a big spot, big trees, quiet and beautiful. We were able to stay one night because it was reserved the following night. There’s no water or electricity but we really enjoyed the spot and want to return when we can spend more time.
Since central Oregon campsites seemed full, and I was getting anxious about work (a client said they needed a pre-trial before I returned from vacation), we decided to go to the coast where there were more campgrounds, hopefully with cell service. We stayed at the Jessie Honeyman State Park again. It was also very busy but not full. We stayed one night, let Iris play on the sand dunes, and decided to go home on Tuesday. I was too distracted by work, so we decided to take another vacation in September after the trial. We enjoyed our time camping and are looking forward to finishing our trip in a couple months.
