LaPine State Park

Here goes the camping adventures...

So..we were originally supposed to go to Wallowa Lake State park for the week. The weather was looking very scary for over there (highs in the 40's, lows in the low 30's to upper 20's), rain, snow, overcast, etc. Not my ideal weather for camping.

So, the forecast for Central Oregon was better and we've never been over there. I, at the last minute, changed our reservations so we spent 7 nights at LaPine State Park which is about 30 minutes from Bend. Never been to Bend (I know, crazy being that we've lived here 5 1/2 years!) so I was excited to at least have a "real" town close by. Wallowa Lake is nice but if the weather is not so great there is NOTHING to do. Clint's parents and youngest bro met us there.

First 2 days of camping...beautiful weather. I got a sunburn, couldn't walk hardly cuz I burnt the bottoms of legs, ankles and tops of my feet. Very swollen and painful the next day. So yes, picture my beautiful self waddling around pregnant, my hips are sore from sleeping on a less that comfortable mattress and now sunburned feet. Lovely.

3rd day...it snows. Huge wind storm during the night demolishes our canopy and it spit snow the entire day. Can you say cold? Thankfully we were in Bend and not Wallowa so we could go and do something!! Clint took the boys to the Wildlife Museum and I hit the outlet mall with my mom-in-law.

We used a lot of propane to keep our tent trailer cool. So yeah, a tent trailer is nicer than a tent but it retains its heat about as well as, lets say, sleeping outside. The night of the really cold, snow day Clint comes in the trailer as we are heading the bed. Kids are sleeping, my teeth are literrally chattering as it is so cold outside.

He steps in and says "We might be a little low on propane".

Ummm....WHAT????

Laura: "what do you mean by a little low?"

Clint: "like, maybe we should turn the heater off so we can maybe have it on in the morning when we wake up"

Laura: "ummm....NO"

Clint: "What do you want me to do?"

Laura: "Find some propane"

Clint: "It's 10:30 at night"

Laura: "yep, better start driving"

Clint: "I'll go see if my dad has any ideas"

Thankfully his parents had an extra tank on their monstrosity of a trailer so we bummed their spare and slept comfortably (I mean heat-wise) through the night. Clint got more propane the next morning. I don't think he wanted to see what wrath would come upon him if we actually ran out and I was not only uncomfortable trying to sleep on an air mattress 7 months pregnant but then frigidly cold...not a pretty picture.

Last 3 days of the trip, beautiful weather again. The men jumped into the Deschutes River and the kids ran in the sprinkler at the park. They biked through Sun River and we really had a good time once it warmed up a bit. The boys were sad to go home...I was ready to sleep on my own bed. My back is still sore from camping but I took this one for the team and am glad the boys had such a great time. These are the memories they'll remember when their older. I need to keep that in mind.