Camping in Central Oregon

We left on a Sunday and came back on a Sunday. We left in a flurry of activity and somewhat disorganized and came home to a flurry of activity and housekeeping chaos. But in between, a week of smelling wood smoke in camp fires and roasting hot dogs and having open-ended conversations with our friends and card games that picked up the next morning after breakfast… That’s why we go camping. Even though it is a lot of work –from getting the sites reserved to planning the meals to setting up camp—when else do we actually set up a hammock and relax in it? What other week in the year can DH read 3 books in a row? For me, though, camping is always getting just ‘right’ when we have to pack up and go home.

Here are some pictures from our camping trip at Pelton Park on the Deschutes River in Central Oregon:

In the early morning the lake was mirror-still, but soon after 8 AM the wind brought motion, and then the boats created wakes. Our first tent site was unfortunately on a slope…

I loved this red canoe The fish cleaning station, not that we needed it but I thought it was kind of cute, like a dollhouse only stinkier.

Emily and Amanda enjoying a siesta.

Between rounds of Hand-and-Foot with friends Rick and Ginny and their son Jerod. Later on, ‘Smores for dessert.

Guy talk Huck Finn and friends heading to the river (Brett, Nichole, Amanda) (and Shelby, my granddog) Swimming hole in the early morning. The land across the water is Indian reservation land.

An evening boat ride, no mosquitoes but no fish, either

Girl talk

Leaving the high plateau of central Oregon, the dry and HOT climate, we head home to the land of evergreen forests and mountain passes in the Willamette Valley. We go around Mt Hood.

One more camping trip this summer, at the Oregon Coast. I am determined to be organized and free-to-be fun-loving from the moment we get there! No wasted leisure moments.