{23aug2010: camping}

Sorry it's taken me a while to get this post up.  I'm currently obsessed with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo  book series













(I'm on book 2) and can't stop reading!

Anyway, onto camping! 

We went on one camping trip last year and we wanted to do it more this year, but the weather this summer has been unusually cold and we've only made it out once so far (could be the only time as college football season is starting up in a week and a half and Jason cannot be moved from the tv during college football season).  This time we went by ourselves, and being newbies we weren't sure how it was going to go.  We had spent most o the week running around to REI and Fred Meyer and other stores getting all our supplies and then we were slowed down by the 3am emergency vet visit and we weren't sure if we should go camping or not at that point.  We decided to stick it out and rushed home after work on Friday threw everything in the car and headed out east to find a (hopefully good) spot. 
We drove out to Wenatchee National Forest  and drove through a couple of full campgrounds.  It was already nearing 7pm and I was worried about it getting dark and not finding a spot, so we ditched the campground idea and found a random old fire service road (a few feet into the over grown road there were boulders blocking access) near Cooper Lake and set up camp there.



I worry about Darwin being a dark colored dog, and knowing it gets pitch black outside I ordered her an LED lighted collar, partly for camping, and also for winter dog park or walk times since it gets dark by 6pm in Seattle. 
And to be even more "worried mom" I even bought a bear bell for her... you never know when a bear will sneak up on you. hehe. The bear bell also helped keep track of where she was wondering off to without having to be watching her like a hawk.

The spot we found was perfect... away from all the other campers and nestled in the trees with enough flat space for our tent and kitchen set up, and room for Darwin to explore.
 
  
 
It was actually a pretty hot weekend and Darwin is not a fan of the heat.  After standing in the sun for a bit, she finally gave up and found shade on the side of the tent.
   
   
   



 
After getting some reading in, we decided to get a move on and check out the lake.
  

Stay tuned for lake action!