Sunday, October 14, 2012

Ape Cave Campout

August 28-29, 2012

While my Mamacita and Pops were still here after the houseboat trip, we decided to force encourage them to take a break from all the rental work they'd been doing and go camping with us! We had great memories of our Ape Caves camping trip by Mount St. Helen's from a couple years ago, so we headed south to do it again.

We actually found the same camping site and they put us in the same exact camping spot that we had the last time we went, weeeoorrd! The kids loved climbing on logs and finding cool sticks with Poppie and Nonnie.

We cooked some hot dogs for dinner over the fire and had roasted marshmallows for desert. Pella was a horrible camp sleeper. I basically held her all night in the van so she wouldn't wake the whole campsite. It was a tents only place, so she seemed really loud screaming in the middle of the night. Finally, she fell asleep in her car seat and I tried to leave the van to go back to the tent and I set off the van's alarm! So much for trying not to wake everyone around.

The next day, Dada made us a huge breakfast of eggs, hash browns and bacon - mmmmm camp food! Then we took a walk to a little stream.

Berg was so pleased to cross the log bridge by himself. (I was holding onto his jacket, but he thought he was doing it alone.) I thought for sure we were going to end up in the water, but we stayed dry, until  the way back.

My super hot babe. We always play baseball with sticks and rocks when we're camping. Well, actually we just hit the rocks with a stick bat. That's baseball, right?

After our mini walk, and attempt by the kids to build a log bridge across the whole lake (they didn't make it, by the way), we went back to pack up camp. The kids played. This was the view of the lake from our campsite.

The big four built a house with a bowling alley in the woods that we all had to try out.

Then it was time for the Ape Caves! We are actually standing at the entrance to the cave.

This shot was taken inside the cave. Pretty good for being pitch black in there! Everyone is even looking at the camera, which we couldn't even see!

The kids (except for Pella) and Dada crawled on their knees all the way to the back of the lava tube until they couldn't go any further. Then we made our way back out, into the van and home again. So we did it! A great, quick, mini vacation which totally fulfilled my camping needs for the summer this year.

3 comments:

jeremy nevil said...

And you've finally "caved" (badum-bum) to a baby carrier! This is history in the making here people. ;)
Tiff

P.S. Why do they call it Ape Caves? i shall google it...

jeremy nevil said...

"Nearby “Ape Canyon” was the sight of the famous reported
skirmish between Miners and a family of Bigfoot back in 1924.
The incident has become a legend in the Northwest – here is
the bigfoot story from one of the miners - "I FOUGHT THE
APEMEN OF MOUNT ST. HELENS, WA". However, I wouldn’t
worry too much about seeing bigfoot in the Ape Caves –
common lore attributes the name to a scout troop who explored
the caves back in the early 50’s. Apparently the troop’s
sponsor was the St. Helens Apes – a group of foresters.
Foresters and loggers in those days were sometimes referred to as “Brush
Apes”. Perhaps this is the origin of the name though those that have claimed to
have seen bigfoot in the area believe the caves would have been a perfect habitat
for the reclusive creatures." Oooohhhhh...that's why.

Momacita said...

I can't believe how much we did in such a short time! The ride at the back of the van wasn't the best for me and Eben, but once we got there it was all worth it. The kids were all such great explorers in that cold, dark cave. It's truly amazing how Mt. St. Helen's has recovered and grown back since the eruption - which I remember and doesn't seem like it was that long ago. Beautiful!
Love,
Momacita