This final 2014 camping trip was the bookend to our "Summer of Doing" - our 6th or 7th time camping as a family, depending on who's counting and whether or not you count boat-camping.
Just the three of us embarked on a family roadtrip + camping in the Wallowa mountains in Eastern Oregon. Although both Alex and I grew up in Oregon, and grew up in families that not only adventured, but enjoyed time in the outdoors, it's a surprise that neither of us had ever explored this part of the state before. Granted, we've still mostly left the Wallowa mountains un-explored, as having a toddler in tow limits the amount of hiking, biking or otherwise gnarbuckling that may or may not have happened if we were flying solo.
Geographically, the area reminded us of Telluride meets the Sierra. It had that end-of-the-valley feel of Telluride, but with a lake, and the mountains themselves were more Sierra-like with their granite and 4-10,000 ft elevation foliage.
Demographically, we felt as though we were surrounded by long skirt-wearing God-fearing (God with a capital G) folk. Everyone had a truck, a trailer, an RV, and/or a dozen kids each. On our first night there, out to pizza just a short walk from our campsite, a nice Adventist man asked Alex if "your wife stays home with the kids." I kindly turned my head to make eye contact and informed him that, in fact, I work part-time and stay home part-time. A National Guardsman, he was pleased to learn about the work I do at the VA. Although I doubt that did much to make up for my tattoos or lack of homeschooling prowess. Also, there were lots of deer. Like, everywhere. And they brazenly walked into any campsite. "Deer not eat my food!" Francie would cry, more afraid of having to share her Goldfish crackers than of anything else the deer might threaten.
When we first arrived at our destination, Wallowa State Park, at the southern point of Wallowa Lake and just six miles down from the town of Joseph, OR, we were underwhelmed, to say the least. The weather on our last stretch of the drive was TERRIBLE. Terrible as in, "maybe we should see if there's any availability at one of the hotels or a bed and breakfast or something?" Fortunately, the torrential downpour abated some before our arrival, and Alex had cloudy but dry skies to set up camp. We thought the place was pretty, but maybe not quite seven-hours-in-the-car pretty. But we were optimistic that all we needed was a solid meal, a good night's sleep under the stars, and some hope of sunshine to get us whelmed, if not overwhelmed, at the beauty of the scenery.
The next day we were pleased with the mild temperatures and cloudy skies. We had a leisurely breakfast and coffee by a morning fire, and bebopped around the "Wallowa Lake Community" - an unincorporated part of Wallowa County that consisted mostly of a few cabins, a gift shop/grocery/arcade and some mini-golf courses. Given that the weather wasn't beach-worthy and we were too cheap to pay for a tram ride (59 bucks?!? c'mon, people, we're used to riding that shit for free, or at least getting some good ski runs out of it), so we headed to check out the cute town of Joseph, population 1,000. There we window-shopped and ate ice cream at a fabulous little 50's-style diner. During the Bean's nap, we read, took solo walks, I knitted, and Alex played guitar. There was no cell/Internet service, so no technology to detract from the truly free time. For dinner Alex prepared a fabulous "hobo surprise" - several veggies and cut sausage wrapped in tinfoil and cooked over the campfire.
We crossed our fingers for nice weather for Saturday and were lucky to enjoy another leisurely breakfast of bacon and eggs cooked in bacon grease and coffee/hot chocolate by the campfire, before spending a sunny morning out on the lake in a rented fishing boat. Nap time, again, involved reading, knitting, guitar-playing and wandering. And we spent some of the afternoon at the muddy/rocky beach, the only ones sporting only one child and rocking tattoos - we frequently had Dorothy-like 'we're not in Portland anymore' thoughts.
Sunday boasted the best weather, and Alex got in a nice dip in the northern part of the lake before we had to hit the road. We might have gotten ice cream in Joseph again, on our way out of town. We were able to better view and enjoy the countryside from Joseph, through Enterprise, to Lostine, and out to La Grande. The scenery really was spectacular, and we were able to understand the appeal of the mountains/farmlands because the weather was crystal clear.
All in all, it was certainly beautiful countryside, and the mountains beckoned us with fantasies of hiking and backpacking. I'm not sure we'll head back anytime soon, being that we've been utterly spoiled living in and traveling to some of the world's most beautiful places, and being that we have a lot of nice mountains to explore that are more or less in our backyard. Suffice it to say, the drive home was looooooooong and I wasn't sure I could handle another carseat-captive "look, mommy, look," or "why, mommy?"
I think maybe we'll try to stick closer to our neck of the woods until our kiddos are old enough to carry their own packs.
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