Smokey

Oregon has basically turned into a large fire pit. Over 7,000 acres of charred landscape have been left smoking as the wildfires rage around Crater Lake, insensitively devastating our plans to enjoy the pristine park views.


Instead, we went to Tokatee Lake, where the boys practiced their paddling skills ("We know how to do it! We learned it from the Wii! We're Junior Paddlers!") while I was rudely marooned on sand bar after sand bar formed by the highest reaches of the North Umpqua river.


Rachel and Drue camped with us, which was a blast. Emerson attempted to boil his butt by spilling hot water. Braeden corralled all the kids and practiced his bossing skills. Eliana Kate found a new friend in Alex, and they spent most of the time running around yelling the same phrase over and over and over.


Stephanie basically fell madly in love with me again due to my incredible camping skills. I fell a little in love with myself for the same reasons.


The campground was terrific, although there seemed to be an understanding amongst several of our seedier neighbors that there was a no-pants, no-problem policy. Stephanie wouldn't let me walk around the campground with no pants though, so WHAT EVEN WAS THE POINT.