We recently spent a long weekend with our friends, Ron & Dario and Dave & Anne. Having camped solo so far this year, it was an excellent reminder of the joy of camping with friends. Shared meal preparation, good food and wine and conversations around the fire made for a relaxing and enjoyable weekend. We’ve known all of these friends for years, shared triumphs and tragedies, and often words were not necessary, the mere presence of longtime friends was enough.
Foto Friday from Oregon. Love my black dogs!
The sun shown brightly overhead as I swayed in my hammock. Fish jumped for flies and the only sound was the whistle-like singing of the birds in the trees. Dappled sunlight reflected off the water as I soaked in the beauty of the lake. And I remembered why I love backpacking.
A short time ago my friend Kim, from So-Many-Places, wrote a beautiful piece on what she was grateful for and invited others to share their thoughts. In this time of negative news, it is more important than ever to remember that the majority of us have many, many things to be grateful for every single day. This weekend, Jim was enjoying a night away on a guys camping trip and I found myself home alone for the first time in a long time and thought about all of the many things I’m grateful for.
Mist swirled above the lake, alternately framing and shrouding the fisherman’s boat. It was early morning at Timothy Lake, and the sun was trying to break through, highlighting Mt. Hood in the distance.
As much as we love an unexpected adventure, we learned long ago that if we want to do anything other than pirate camping over a major holiday weekend here in the Pacific Northwest we need to plan ahead. Months ahead. And yet, we didn’t.
Once again this year, we headed southwest to Newport, Oregon and South Beach State Park for the Rogue Brewery’s Memorial Ale Fest. Brewer was the beloved Rogue black lab mascot who worked his way up to CEO. After his death the brewery began throwing an annual doggie brew fest in his memory.
2013 brought another year of the Delameter’s dashing for charity at the Oregon Humane Society’s Doggie dash. Over the years we’ve dashed with Sophie, Maddy, and this year our new dogkids Porter & Aspen.
Our lives have become busier and more hilarious since we added Aspen to the pack and became a two dog family. Although Porter and Aspen immediately got along, we didn’t see the bonding we were hoping would come. Having never had two dogs at the same time before we weren’t sure how long this might take and if it was even a certainty. However, after our recent trip to Mexico, when they shared a kennel at Critter Nanny, it has become apparent that they are now two peas in a pod. Porter is still our too-smart thinker who often appears worried and Aspen the typical happy-go-lucky lab, but you can see from the pictures of our weekend of camping the kids have pretty much become inseparable!
Waiting outside the bathroom