Finally!

We actually made it camping this weekend. DH was supposed to work late on Friday, so we planned a one-nighter close to home. Davis Creek looked cold and snowy, so we went a little further east to Washoe Lake State Park.

We last camped at Washoe Lake in August 2004, before we had the PUP. DD1 was almost two, and I was pregnant with DD2. I remember it as being very windy, with unrelenting sun. Picture here.

Since then, they've added a shelter over the picnic table at each site, and planted some trees. It was still windy, but we chose a site that put the PUP between the fire / picnic table and the weather, and it was just fine. The last of a series of storms was coming over the Sierras on Saturday evening, which made the scenery rather dramatic. We enjoyed the sound of snow falling on the roof overnight, but stayed warm and toasty thanks to our Popup Gizmos and Portable Buddy. I do think that some Reflectix under the mattresses could cut down our heater use.

Hardly anyone was camping on Saturday night (I wonder why?!?), so the campground was nice and quiet. We enjoyed strolling through the sand dunes to the beach and sitting around the campfire. Campfire-popped popcorn is the best! The kids got in plenty of bike-riding. Overnight we heard coyotes and an owl close to the camper.

This trip marked DD2's first night in her own sleeping bag. Prior to this, she's always slept between DH and me. We put her down on the couch, thinking that she would be less likely to fall climbing out of bed to come to us at 3am than if she were up in the bunk end with her siblings. It worked very well. She went to sleep quickly, didn't fall out of bed, and found us no problem.

All-in-all, a great start to the camping season!