Lewis and Clark- The Women Way

Well Kami and I had quite the experience this weekend. Wednesday we decided to go on a canoe trip down the Columbia River. I was more into kayaking but Kami loved canoing, thats what they do up their in Wisconsin. Thursday Kami went to a paddle shop and bought a book and got some details.

After renting a canoe from REI we headed up to Bonneville dam. We first dropped my car off at the river neat Washougal. The we put the canoe in just below the dam.

It was so great to be on the water. The river was calm and the air was hot. We paddled down to Becon Rock State Park. Here we got out and had some PP&J sandwiches. Then we got out and explored. We made our way down the railroad tracks to the rock. We started to just climb around when we discovered a small tunnel. It was big enough for us to go in though. However we could see the end and didn't have a flashlight with us so we were a little scared. But I really wanted to go in and see so I yelled a few times then decided to go for it. Kami followed behind even though she was 4 ft behind. Not much of a support to me. We did make it to the end which was really neat.

Back on the river we continued to enjoy the amazing view. It's interesting how the gorge looks different from the water.

Our book told us we could camp on Skamania Island which was across from Multinomal Falls. The book explained it was informal camping with sandy beaches. Well when we got there we couldn't see a beach. Just swampy land. We decided to get out and see if there was land we could sleep on. After a little walk in the swampy mess we learned that we were not going to be sleeping there.

Now what to do? The book said the closest place to sleep was miles down the river and we wanted to get off the water. I looked toward the Washington shore and saw a nice patch of green grass. I thought lets go over there. It probably didn't have over night sleeping but what else were we to do. Plus we didn't bring a sleeping bag so we weren't as noticeable.

We started making our way. As we got closer I saw a sign that read "Privet Property No Trespassing" Great now what were we suppose to do. I told Kami I thought we should just camp there. We had no other place to go and really if someone came we would tell them our story and I doubted that anyone was going to put two girls in jail.

As we were hanging out on out place green grass I started thinking and said to Kami, "Ya know this grass is really green. I'm thinking they water it. So with our luck the water will go off at 2 am." After that we didn't talk about what to do. I don't think either of us wanted to think about it.

We decided to get dinner so we got out of camping meals when we found out. The matches were nowhere to be found. Luckily we had a lot of other food that we could eat. ( yes I know I am an experienced camper and should of had matches). After dinner we started to play some cards when all of a sudden we hard it...the sprinklers popped up.

We moved as fast lighting to grab our stuff, shove it into the bin and run for dry ground. And let me tell you we were fast. Probably as fast as Superman (that ones for Benjamin) So now what do we do. The sun had set so there was no way this was drying up anytime soon. Then out of no where we notice a sprinkler in the corner that didn't pop up all the way. It was perfect! There was a nice patch of grass for us to sleep on.

It wasn't long after the moon came up and the stars began to shine. So Kami got out her book about constellations and we read stories about the stars. We decided to get some courage up and head to the open field to do some star gazing. Well that only lasted about 5 min til we scared ourselves that someone would see us so we ran to our sleeping bags and fell a asleep.

In the morning it was nice and sunny although the wind was blowing. We got out on the river early so the gardener would not catch us :-) There were pretty good waves which made paddling much harder. We paddled to Sandy Island. The one that said no camping. Well lots of people were camping. We got out and laid out for a while.

The real adventure started when we tried to get off the island. The waves kept crashing into the boat that we could not get in. I have so may bruises its crazy. We really thought we might never get off the island.

The rest of the day went great. Half way through the water calmed down and it was perfect. Until about 30 min before we were to hit the shore. I thought to myself I don't have my keys, and I didn't. I left them in Kami's car. So when we got to our ending point we had no way to go get Kami's car. I was so made at myself. We started to ask a few people to give us a ride and we even offered then $20 but no one would take us.

What else could we do? All we could think of is going to SR 14 and hitch hike. So we started to walk then Kami said, Wait I have my number of my Visiting Teacher so let call her. That was the best though Kami has had in a long time. It was amazing she came and picked us up and drove us the 22 miles to Kami's car.

Yes, it was an adventure and even when I realized I didn't have my keys in the end I loved every minute of it.

Old Friends, Family, New Friends

Thursday night an old roommate from SLC stayed over at the house. She is from Alaska and is moving back. So she drove to Vancouver then on Friday Kami and I went with her up to Seattle. She dropped off her car to be ship and we headed into the city for a few hours before she flew out. It was one of those perfect Seattle days. However, I made a mistake and didn't stop at the French Bakery near Pikes. But the weather was perfect and the site of Mt. Rainer almost made me want to climb it. A sunny day in Seattle is one of my favorite things about Washington.


Friday night we headed over to Laura's. That night we played a wild game of Bang. Me being the Outlaw won as I killed the sheriff.

The next morning, which for Bert and I was 5am thanks to Melia, we had a great pancake breakfast thanks to Bert and then some more wild game of Disney Bingo and Elfly. We then headed over to a state park that had an amazing play ground. Melia could have stayed there all day long. But as for me after playing pilot, hide and go seek, and spinning on the tire swing I was done for.

Kami and I left back to Vancouver from there. Where we met up with some new friends, yes I have started to make friends in the Clark ward. We got together at Frenchman's Bar for a friendly game of volleyball. It was lots of fun. When we could handle the mosquitos anymore we went to a house near by for a bonfire.

I will say besides the weekends I have spent with family this is the best one so far since I have been back in Vancouver. Which makes me hopefully that more good things are to come.

Here it starts.

My wonderful sister in-law, Catherine, convinced me to start this blog. So I hope y'all enjoy it. I now feel like I should have started it at the beginning of this year. I have had some amazing adventure this year and of course I hope for more, although this is the first time in a long time I don't have a trip planned.
Don't get me wrong I have about 4 locations on watch on Travelocity.com. But can you blame me. I have a 9 days off of work in August and I can't stay up here.