Spontaneity

A weekend popped up in July with no car shows scheduled, which was unusual for the Armstrong Family. Also, we had a new '01 Suburban to replace the older minivan and we were giddy with all the extra space and engine muscle. What better way to spend a weekend than up at the mountain? We picked up our search of some years now to find the Perfect Boating Lake (in preparation of future boating trips, obviously) and chose Timothy Lake up past Mt. Hood to expore.

The trip up was a little adventurous, since a new used vehicle sometimes has bugs to work out. We paused for a stretch before the driver got us lost down an obscure road. I honestly just didn't see the marked turn-off. And I might point out that none of the other five wiggling occupants did, either. So.

The campground was fully booked, but we were being spontaneous and we had an experienced Montana Man with us, so we were undaunted. We headed down a logging road and another trail of some sort and ended high up in a large clearing well away from People. The space had been used by campers before - there was a beautiful fire pit dug out and surrounded by rocks. (And some broken glass, etc.) We set up our camp!

Our tent is one of those "deals" that require an engineering degree to set up. We had most of the pieces, so that went fairly smoothly. We had everything campers could possibly want including fire makings and food to roast on a stick. Someone had forgotten batteries while purchasing blow-up mattresses, which was a blow. The near-40-year-olds layed down on the ground to try out their Roughin-It skills and needed help getting back up again, which hurt their pride and other things. It was discovered that the mattresses could be inflated the old-fashioned way, tho, which saved the entire camping excursion... although, well, no hot air jokes. I'm already dissing myself bad enough already.

The Wilds were infrequently noisy with really weird noises, which we figured must have been elk or something (large). There is a great mystery to nature that is overwhelming to humans used to controlling their environment. I wouldn't have thought myself one of Those, but it was awesome-to-scary to be People in the middle of Nature. I remember feeling that way once when I wandered out into the ocean on my own once - the way Realization of being surrounded by things greater than myself hit. It is Awesome. Of course, our Montana Man hardly knows what I'm talking about, but I know Camten does.