I slept on the converted dining booth portion with Alice. It was way too short and didn't afford me any room to stretch. I woke up several times in the night but that is different from any other night how?
George and max woke first and I kicked them out. I told them to go scout around for a better site. They heard "sit outside the camper and make loud noises". Or maybe I was just extra sensitive. I don't know why but I'm a straight up nazi about sleep and when mine has been interrupted more than I deem necessary- watch out.
Mary Jane and john woke up so they were the first to breakfast. Cereal and milk. Yum. Also easy!
It was chilly. They were begging to start a fire: because slowly waking up by a campfire is really nice. but I didn't buy any wood.
I made a mental note: if when camping in ohanapecosh in the future, enumclaw is your last chance to buy anything. ever.
I told them we'd ask around for firewood once I saw people stirring at nearby campsites. But in the meantime "huuuuuush!!!! People come camping to enjoy the peace and quiet!"
Samantha, Frankie, and Henry woke and ate second shift breakfast. While they were eating I took a walkabout. Alice wasn't awake just yet.
It looked to me like our campsite was as ideal as I could have picked with a good foreknowledge of the campground. There were visually stunning and auditorily soothing campsites on the river. Not an option for us for obvious reasons but in case you forget I will share exhibits A and B with you: john and Alice. There were sites nicely nestled in the woods at the far end of the loop. Those were nice- but far from the bathrooms- we have a bathroom in our camper but there is a rule in effect. "No brown. Only yellow"
On my way back to the camper I spotted the camp host making his rounds in his sporty golf cart type thing. I stopped him and asked about firewood. He mentioned the closest being in a town appropriately named packwood 11 miles away.
I also asked him about switching campsites - I hadn't checked out the b loop or the c loop- which turns out is called the "c-section". He pointed to our camper, "is that your rig?"
Rig. That word made me feel a little proud. Yessir, I done drove that there RIG all thuh way here from thuh big city- all by meself!"
But I just nodded. He said it wasn't a big deal about switching campsites, just make sure to pin my receipt to the post. I also asked him about hiking connected to the campground. He pulled out a map, told me I could keep it, and showed me a few loops, ones I think the kids would enjoy.
We wrapped up breakfast and got on bikes. I thought we could cruise through the other loops faster that way. We went over to section B and once the kids spotted the trailhead they couldn't resist. We did have to park the bikes: bikes were restricted.
Ohanapecosh is nestled in a valley near mount rainier and it has some hot springs that gurgle just uphill from a river that shares the campground's name. The hot springs, I read, were 115-120F. So I cautioned the kids. But they were just really warm. Of course our hands were so cold in relation maybe we couldn't gauge it right. However, farther up the loop were ones that looked warmer. They also stunk of sulfur and nobody was begging to test the water here. The rest of the hike was enjoyable- spotting insanely tiny mushrooms and incomprehensible huge mushrooms- and all sizes in between.
It was nice to enjoy a hike with Henry again. He has been missed sorely on our Friday hikes.
Something else that completely surprised me on this hike was his need for neatness. He started hustling about the camper getting things in order. I was shocked but chose not to say anything. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth right?
Once back from the hike we loaded up the camper and headed into town.
Packwood was small. As we pulled into the only gas station Henry mentioned that there was no signal. I said maybe people didn't have cellphones here. He scoffed incredulously. There wasn't any wood at the gas station so I spotted a sigh farther down the Main Street that said groceries. It was the bare essentials type of store. Small and to the point. I bought wood, kindling, some marshmallow roasting sticks, a pumpkin, some hummus, and some "homemade" fudge that ended up being a disappointment.
We headed back to what ended up being a sun-dappled campground.
Samantha and max hooked up their hammocks. Henry created a game
That looked like a live version of chutes and ladders. There were several felled trees in the camp ground and he made it all the way from the loop street to the edge of the campground just by walking on logs. They played this game for a long time- eventually turning it into a full contact sport.
Lunchtime rolled around and I realized I forgot the tuna cans at home. But I also remembered buying too many packets of sliced cheese so we had fire pit grilled Gouda sandwiches for lunch.
After lunch Alice took a nap in the camper on the foldout couch and I relaxed in Samantha's hammock as the kids played uno at the empty campsite next to us.
It was so relaxing in the hammock. Gently swaying there. Lacy short needle pine boughs above. Light shafts with glints of light- bugs? Stellar's jay call. Fresh fresh air. Sleep.
I woke up when the kids moved back to our campsite after the uno game. They announced that they were headed to the river. They left john, Frankie, and I with one walkie-talkie and took the other one. The kids returned reporting great river stone tower building fun. Samantha took many pictures.
Alice woke up and I took her for a walk around the loop. John and MJ joined us on their bikes. We explored neat hollowed out stumps and intricate spider webs. The other kids played a walkie-talkie hide and go seek game of their invention. Where two teams each have a walkie-talkie and one team hides while the other team seeks and uses the walkie-talkie as a tool in finding them. Kind of like Marco Polo.
Back at the campsite, I decided to go ahead and get dinner prepared. I chopped the peppers and onions and sautéed them in coconut oil on the camp stove on the table by the fire. When they were good and caramelized I put handfuls of spinach on top and cooked them down and then moved all the veggies to a plate. I set up a veggie quesadilla station and prepped a bunch of quesadillas.
When the kids returned I then cooked their quesadillas over the fire and they turned out just as you'd expect. Man- camp food is so delicious. Something about cooking over open flame makes things taste incredible. Or is it the calories that camping burns that make everything taste delicious?
After dinner we tried out our s'mores alternative recipe. I can't stand s'mores. They're messy and never taste the way you imagine they'd taste.
The graham cracker splinters everywhere around a decidedly unmelted piece of chocolate. The marshmallow is about the only part that anyone can get right.
So we decided to roll the roasted marshmallows in chocolate syrup and then coat them in toasted and crushed coconut chips. They were absolutely amazing!
We cleaned up dinner then I broke out the glow sticks just as the sun was going down. They decorated their bike spokes with glow sticks and we headed off on a trip around the loops. Henry carried the pumpkin we carved earlier. He looked like the headless horseman and even posed for a few pictures. John hadn't taken a nap and towards the end he started lagging.
After going on a bear hunt which happened to take us by the bathrooms - "hey, we may as well use it!" we headed into the camper for bed. The little kids took a "baby wipe bath" and put their pjs on while the kids played uno by the lantern on the picnic table.
Once everyone came inside I read a few chapters of "sideways stories from wayside school". We followed it with a rosary and that was followed with sleep. Sweet sweet second night sleep.
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