Madeline Rose: First Camping Trip

We went on our inaugural camping trip with Madeline on Saturday August 11, 2012. We attempted the first camping trip one week earlier, but it backfired due to lack of campsite reservations (and therefore turned into our first night in a hotel (with a pool!) with Madeline, which was lots of fun!)

We chose a car-camping spot near Mount Hood (Clackamas Lake Campground). We ended up right across from the camp hosts (interesting people with two little dogs that Maddy loved, of course) at the campsite pictured below. Nothing too fancy, but it had what we needed: a spot big enough for the gigantic 8 person, two room tent we borrowed from our friend Jon, a picnic table and fire pit. The campground also happened to be an equestrian campground much to Madeline's joy. She was ecstatic when the horses trotted by (and neighed!) and one rider let Maddy pet her horse's nose. What joy!! Wish I had gotten a photo of that.

Maddy liked the tent and had a great time looking out through the mesh windows, as you can see below. We were happy that she liked being in the tent - hopefully this bodes well for future camping trips!

Timothy Lake was just under two miles away, so we went on a hike to investigate. Maddy hadn't slept much yet that day and she zonked out in the carrier on the way there. I was amazed she could sleep in this position, but when a kiddo's tired, they can fall asleep almost anywhere. It was late afternoon when we arrived at Timothy Lake so we didn't stay long. We were on the shady side of the lake and the water proved a bit chilly, but Maddy but I tested it out anyway! It was Maddy's second time in a lake (the first being Lake Superior in July) and she and I had fun splashing around.

We had dinner when we got back (polish sausages, blueberries and chips), then cleaned up Madeline as well as we could (never realized how dirty campsites are for toddlers!) and put her to bed in the pack and play on her side of the tent. That went pretty well! Steve and I stayed up longer, roasting glazed doughnut holes over the fire (if you haven't done this, you should try it) and having a couple of beers. It was nice and relaxing, and good to be camping again (for me, it had been two years!)

Nighttime didn't go quite as well as the day...it got colder than the weather websites predicted and Maddy woke up crying (probably due to being cold and in an unfamiliar place). Considering we were car-camping at a packed campsite, we tried to calm her as quickly as possible. We had a big air mattress so Maddy joined us, but woke up soon after -this time too warm. Trying not to wake up all our neighbors, we turned on the car long enough to warm it up and Maddy and I spent the rest of the night snuggled up in the reclined front seat. That worked and we slept until 7:30 a.m.

We had breakfast the next morning, packed up and headed back to Portland. All in all, it was a good trip with some learning experiences tied in. I'm okay waiting a little while before we camp again...but it sure did feel good to be outdoors!