August 2, 2012: Day 8, Lewis and Clark, Fort Clatsop, Fort Stevens, and Cannon Beach

Playing at camp.

Ecola State Park

Junior Rangers at Fort Clatsop

Rifle demonstration at Fort Clatsop.

Fort Stevens State Park

Battery Russell at Fort Stevens 

 Hydrangeas at Canon Beach  

  

Canon Beach

What a view!  The drive back to camp.

We drove to Fort Clatsop National Historic Park, the nearest National Park so we could replace our National Park Passports.  While there, we found some great resources for teaching about the journey of Lewis and Clark.  We had a fairly busy and stressful day, after all the excitement of yesterday.  It was nice to have some time to just sit at the beach.

July 28, 2012: Day 3, Junior Rangers and New Camp

Most of the day was a driving day, but first we had to finish our Junior Ranger books.

Great job girls!

Frog at camp!  The girls found this little guy right in our camp, they sure enjoyed him, and he even lives in a stump here.  

Playing with bubbles in the trailer.  

Journal
We are at our new camp and all snuggled into bed.  This morning we got up and the big people got showers.  We also got to have sausage and eggs while the girls filled out their Junior Ranger notebooks.  They are learning so much from doing the activities at the parks.  Once the notebooks were finished we drove up to the visitor center and the girls turned in the books.  The ranger was very nice and we enjoyed visiting with her.  We drove for a long time to reach our new camp.  Once here we played around camp and the girls found a frog.  We are rearranging tomorrow schedule a bit, it will be a great day.

July 27, 2012: Day 2, Crater Lake

Beautiful girls!

Who knew waking up in a rest stop would be so much fun :)

Our first look at Crater Lake, a picture of the view my passengers got (you can't tell, but I hear that it was a scary view off the edge of the road). 

 Our camp at Crater Lake, BEAUTIFUL!

Pumice Castle and Vidae Falls

    

Phantom Ship

Pinnacles and Plaikini Falls.  

This is how much ash fell during the eruption of Mt. Mazama!

Journal
Wow!  What a busy fun filled LONG day!  We woke up this morning in a rest stop :).  I think everyone slept okay.  I had set the time on the clock wrong, so I thought we were getting up at 7, but we actually slept in till 8!  We had Spam and eggs for breakfast and then got on the road to Crater Lake.  After entering the park we got our first glimpse of the lake!  It was beautiful!  We got to drive around the rim past the visitor centers to the campground.  We were concerned they would be full, but we got a tent site, until I told the lady again that we had a trailer and then we got to choose our own “yellow” site.  We got a really nice large site.  After setting up camp and having lunch we headed back to the visitor center.  We picked up our Junior Ranger packets and started working on them.  Next we headed up to the visitor center along the rim.  We did a little shopping and enjoyed the Junior Ranger program.  The kids got to make postcards of what they liked best about the park.  Selena drew a ranger badge and the lake and Abby drew a boboat (bobcat with the c an o) and trees.  For their effort they got ranger patches.
Then we drove the rim drive around the caldera edge.  We saw lots of neat views of the lake and island.  We also saw Mt. Thielsen in the distance.  We saw the pinnacles and hiked to Plaikni Falls.  The trail was pretty steep!! The trail was 2 miles long so we put the girls in the trailer so I could push them like a walker.  We finished up the drive and had chicken fajitas for dinner.  We had a color fire and then bedtime for the girls.  The adults enjoyed the fire for a bit longer :).  We all did foot soaks in tea.  Man it feels nice to get clean feet.  Tomorrow we move along to the beach.

July 14, 2012: Day 10, Mt. St. Helens

 We had such a fun time going up to Mt. St. Helens.  It was much less traumatic for the girls than last time, when we went to the first visitor center and watched the movie, the girls were scared to go up the mountain because they thought it was going to erupt while we were there. 

At the visitor center.  The girls did their Junior Geologist booklets and got their badges. 

At the Johnston Ridge Visitor Center they also did the Junior Ranger program and got badges.

We played peek-a-boo with the mountain all day.  First it was clear then it clouded up, then it cleared a bit...  You never can tell what it will look like!

Journal

Today we slept in till nearly 10am!  Man it felt good!  I think part of it is that we are camping in dense woods and it is dark in the trailer.  We had a yummy breakfast of potatoes and eggs and sausage before getting ready to go to Mt. St. Helens.  

When we set off for the mountain, we plugged into the GPS to take us to the visitor center.  Instead of that, it took us on a mountain road that dead ended many miles in.  After our 30 minute+ "scenic route" we got on the right highway and made it to the visitor center.  We got there just in time to hear a Ranger talk about the 1980 eruption and get our Junior Geologist workbooks.  We also watched a movie about the mountain.  After working very hard, the girls got their badges and some fun souvenirs too.  As we drove up the mountain we stopped a a few viewpoints and got some great pictures.  Again we got there just in time, 2 minutes to movie time {Johnston Ridge}.  After the movie (which is amazing) it was time to do more Junior Ranger activities and we went to a ranger talk about how the mountain has changed since the big 1980 eruption (mostly the building of the lava dome and steam eruptions).  We had a bit of a problem with Abby's attitude, she wanted to play games on Grandma's phone and I said no, and she threw a HUGE fit.  Screaming and throwing herself down.  It was terrible and she is lucky the truck was parked so far away, because I had my hands full and couldn't carry her all the way back. 

After she calmed down, we were able to complete the Jr. Ranger program as best they could, got their badges as the center was closing, and go for a short hike.  I forgot to mention that by the time we got to the top, clouds had moved in so it was spotty viewing of the crater.  We were glad we had stopped along the way and got good pictures.  On our drive back we stopped at a road side sign that looked prime for a geocache, and sure enough, we found one.  We also drove through Lewis and Clark State Park to check it out.  We got back to camp about 830 and had dinner then a fire to roast marshmallows and have s'mores.  They were delicious!