Kyla Goes Camping!

This is a special post for me, as it was Kyla's first camping trip. We went to Cape Lookout State Park in Oregon Sunday thru Thursday (Oct 3 - 7). My family has been camping at Cape Lookout since before I can remember. I was trying to think of how many times I have been camping there, and it's got to be like 23+ times. I LOVE the place. It feels like a second home to me and is a place where I have lots of memories. So it was really special that her first time camping was at a place that I love so much and have been going to since before I can remember.

Instead of tent camping, we rented a yurt (a circular building made out of wood and fabric that had a heater - important for camping with a baby). It was nice, but there were tons of spiders in this place so I was a little creeped out and we basically only stayed inside to sleep. One word to sum up Kyla's camping experience was d-i-r-t-y! Good thing Mom packed her tons of clothes so she stayed clean and dry for the most part. She was a little adventurer exploring everything from sticks, rocks, leaves, dirt, camp fire (we had to watch her close with this one), sand, birds, chipmunks, etc. etc. We took her down to the ocean and she chased after the waves with Daddy. She fell a couple times and got soaking wet. Kyla seems to take after Mom and appears to love campfire! She would just sit there and stare into it. We went to Cannon Beach and ate at Mo's and went to the same spot where we got married 4 years ago (our anniversary was yesterday, Oct 7th) and took a family picture. We hung out in Cannon Beach for a few hours and went to Ecola State Park - the drive to get to this park is georgeous. I love it... we got out of the car and tried to take pictures of Kyla walking down the road, but because my camera is so crappy, it didn't come close to capturing the beauty of this place - just one more reason why someday soon I intend to purchase my Nikon D90 - hint, hint, Daddy (if you ever read this...). It has huge trees that have grown together over the top of this windy barely two car road. If you ever get the chance to go to Cannon Beach, definately have to go down this road. The park at the top is surprisingly ugly compared to the drive, but does have a nice view over-looking the ocean.

The rest of the trip we spent going on nature walks - I wish we had a kid backpack for Kyla so that we could've gone further. I have never been on a long nature walk at Cape Lookout and would love to do that sometime. It is a little creepy but as long as Daddy is carrying his gun, I'm OK. Last year when we went to Cape Lookout several small black bears crossed the street when we were driving into the park, so you never know what you are going to run into. One thing to note in this post is that every night we were there we got almost attacked by racoons. I say attacked because these guys traveled in packs. I think at one point our neighbors counted 9 and they swarmed us - they didn't care at all that we were there, they continued to try to get into our food even with us throwing stuff at them, yelling, shining our flash lights at them, whatever, they were bold! They would hiss at us and were big! We basically went to bed early each night because there weren't a lot of people up there camping so it was like us vs. packs of hungry racoons.... which was creepy, like constantly looking all around you to make sure they weren't creeping up on you - not fun! :) Also forgot to mention that Ky went on a tour of the Tillamook Cheese Factory! She basically just had fun walking all around the place - she is a walker now.... the girl just goes and goes.

Greg and I also discovered our future job when we retire - camp hosts! So we buy an RV, our diesel truck and camp 24/7 for our job at Cape Lookout for free... we talked to the hosts (there is like probably 4 of them and they rotate days that they are on duty). I reallllllly someday want to have like a second home or just live on the coast. Someday maybe it will happen..... I told Greg I just need to get myself a farmer Tillamook man so that I can live the simple life. What a beautiful place that would be to live. Greg laughed and said that I would get bored so fast. I don't think so though... heck I grew up in Benton City playing in the sage brush and riding my bike over rattlesnakes. Hello........... Tillamook man, here I come! (just kidding...).

Last note of the trip - Greg talked to the camp ranger yesterday morning who said that they give Cape Lookout another 10 years. He said they lose 100 - 150 feet of beach every winter and put tons of money into the park after every winter to try to build the dunes back up again. This is pretty disappointing knowing that it might soon be gone. Definately a reason to make sure we get up there at least once a year from now on. Kyla needs to have good childhood memories there just like I do! Pictures to come.