Like I've mentioned before it is always my goal to use our trailer 4 times every summer. We've never made that goal. We've always only been able to camp 3 times because summer is so busy or Michael doesn't have enough vacation days. This year we camped at Oasis in June and we went to Michael's family reunion in July and stayed on the property in the trailer. We usually always go on a camping trip in August with the Kuch's, but sadly this year that didn't work out because of all the kids' summer camp dates not lining up. We knew we had to at least get 3 trips in so we decided to head out on our first "solo only our family" camping trip since our very first camping trip in our trailer back in April of 2018!!! Crazy right?!?! Camping is always more fun with friends!
On Friday, July 29th, we set out for Taidnapam Park. It's part of the Tacoma Power Parks Recreational Area. We had never stayed there before, but the Kuch's had and they said it was really nice.
Here was our set up.
We backed the trailer in and then set the older boys' tent up in front of the trailer on the pad so it was nice and level. The picnic table was over closer to the firepit so we moved it over and set up the canopy.
Then we were able to set up the chairs around the firepit....not that we would ever actually need the firepit. The weather while we were there ranged from 93 - 100 degrees. Speaking of chairs we were down a chair because one broke at Michael's family reunion. So I used the folding chair from the kids dining room table. I had actually been on the hunt for a good camping chair. I really wanted a zero gravity chair and I actually bought one when we were camping at Oasis...it was a folding one which was really cool. The only thing was I couldn't get it to stop folding up. Maybe I was doing something wrong, but I took it back to Wal-Mart. It wasn't exactly what I wanted. Then I ordered one from Amazon on Prime Day, but it was an oversized one. It was HUGE! I could barely move the thing....so I sent that one back too. I also started considering you can't really relax in those and get close to the fire so I just gave up all together with those. At the family reunion, Michael's cousin, Angel, had a really amazing chair so my plan is to buy one just like hers. Those small black chairs in the back that no one's sitting on are also on their last leg so I'm planning on replacing those as well.
This was probably one of my favorite camp set ups...because of the way the site was and the tent being right there made it feel very private!
First dinner was Teriyaki Chicken Sliders, Top Ramen & Green Beans. This is one of my favorite camping meals!
We did go exploring around the campground....there is a play area you can drive to. There is supposed to be a beach there, but Riffe Lake is a reservoir and the water level is too low. The entire beach area is dried up. Which was a total bummer for sure. They do have a sprinkler area so we ran through the sprinklers for a bit to cool down.
Game Time....we love the game CLUE! Even when Mommy messes up and doesn't put an actual person in the ? folder so we have to start all over again! :)
It was still SO HOT...we had never camped in this kind of heat before and there was NO, ZERO, NADA...wind! At all! You see the towel around my neck? We resorted to wetting those down and putting them around us to help cool us off. They actually really did help!
It didn't remotely start to feel cool until the sun has almost set! I don't think I felt cold at all this camp trip. Michael and I took a nice stroll around the campground. We always do this checking out all the sites to see which one is the best for future planning purposes. Our site was a nice size, but it got inodiated with the sun basically the whole the day. We are planning to go back next year and we're going to choose a different site that we think will be perfect!
Because it was so hot we stayed up later enjoying the cooler air. It was fun watching the sky get darker and darker and seeing all the stars come out. It was also fun seeing all the satellites go by.
A nice thing about this campground was they had Camp Hosts on site. I think that really helps with the unruly crowd. We didn't hear anyone up late drinking and listening to loud music. The only thing we did have was people walking by our site shining their flashing lights all around. I don't think they were doing it to be rude or anything they just weren't very thoughtful when it came to using them.
In the morning we had a nice breakfast and then the kids started playing a game with Michael. We had decided since it was going to be so hot we would take advantage of the AC in the truck and drive the kids to Mt. St. Helens. We have been trying to make it to Mt. St. Helens with the kids since 2014. We originally were going to take them on the tail end of our Disneyland trip, but by the time we were this close to home we said forget it....we wanted to be home. We had thought about it a couple other times, but either we didn't have time, we were tired or the weather wasn't right. It just seemed to never work out! This year we weren't even planning going there at all...it just sort of worked out. I knew I wanted to get there early so we weren't there during the hottest part of the day so we headed out before they were finished with their game.
We arrived at the Johnston Observatory around 11:30am.
They had a bunch of plaques outside you could read. It's amazing to me how much like Mt. St. Helens looked like Mt. Rainier prior to erupting.
The weather couldn't have been better for viewing purposes. It was so clear!
So clear you could see Mt. Adams which we mistakenly thought was Mt. Rainier. In fact I thought Mt. Adams was in Oregon this whole time not Washington! Silly me!
This nice lady heard me tell the kids to get together for a picture and she offered to take a picture with our whole family.
I love when people are nice like that!
I happened to have a quarter in my purse so I paid for the kids to get to use the binoculars.
Amazing!
It was starting to get hot outside so we paid to go into the Visitor Center. Kids under 15 were free so that was awesome! We happened to show up right before the movie started so we went to get our seats. It was cooler in the theater, but not by much. The movie in all honesty was disappointing. It's really old and quite lame. On the anniversary of Mt. St. Helens erupting in 2020 I brought up a YouTube Video for the kids so they could learn about it and that YouTube video was better than the movie was. As Michael says...."It's the government babe...what do you expect?!!"
While we were sitting there waiting for the movie to start Michael said, I bet that at the end of the movie the screen raises up and the curtains open and we'll be looking right at the mountain. Well the movie ended and it didn't do that. Then we heard a lady a couple rows back say...."Wait a minute, why didn't the screen raise?" She was talking to her friend and telling her how it used to raise and it was her favorite part about the show. An employee just happened to be standing by the door and overheard her and he let us know that there was a part broken so the screen could no longer be raised up. They were waiting for the part to be shipped which of course is backordered.
This is the window that we would have been looking through.
Which we would have seen the exact same thing we'd already seen from the outside, but it still would have been cool!
After the movie you have to go outside and then come back in if you want to look around at the other exhibits. Zeke wanted to come back to check out this topographical map they had. Different areas would light up to focus on different events such as the mud flows or the ash cloud.
The wild flowers are everywhere and they're gorgeous!
Michael and I left the kids down in the shade while we hiked up a short hill to go see the view. It was most definitely too hot to do any sort of long hiking. We checked out the view and came back down. By that point the kids were talking to one of the employees that had all sorts of ash samples from all over. I was embarrassed to ask, but I did it anyway. I had heard there was a Creation Museum about Mt. St. Helens from a Creation perspective. I just assumed it was right next door to the Johnston Observatory, but she informed me that it was actually down in Castle Rock. So glad I asked!
On our walk back to the car Zeke thought these signs were funny. They say...Stay on Trails and Paved Areas: Plants grow by the inch and die by the foot!
We drove down to Castle Rock and ate a late lunch at a nice diner called the Parker Steakhouse & Brewery. Then we drove to the free Creation Museum. They do accept donations!
They had this really great exhibit room with all sorts of dinosaur bones and reading material all about Creation vs. Evolution.
I took pictures of them so I could read them later.
In all honesty I could have spent hours looking around, but there was no AC at the museum just fans.
It was almost 100 degrees outside so it was pretty unbearable.
We did sit through a bit of the movie they were showing in the back of the museum, but I was so hot I almost fell asleep.
I would like for us to go back another time so we could really go through each exhibit slowly and read everything.
Zeke really enjoyed the dinosaur section!
This is what a Velociraptor looked like...much smaller than the ones they show in Jurassic Park.
The Bible is true....EVERY WORD!
After going to the Creation Museum we drove down the street and stopped at a grocery store. Prior to coming on our camping trip I had stopped at Wal-Mart and there was only 1 gallon of water to buy. I always like to buy gallons and not individual water bottles because I hate all the wasted plastic. I had Owen fill our 3 gallon water dispenser from the frig, but I knew that water was going to be gone in a flash since it was so hot. I ended up buy 9 gallons of water from the grocery store in Castle Rock...they had tons!
We then drove back to the campground. We didn't even really eat dinner that night since we had such a late lunch. We weren't really hungry either....I think because of the heat. We decided we needed to go in search of water. There is a one lane bridge you can drive across the Cowlitz river so we followed that and found a car pulled over and a trail that led down to the lake. Because the lake was so low it was a bit difficult to get to. I wanted Michael go check it out first before we traipsed down there with the kids. I didn't want to come across some people doing drugs or something inappropriate. He was gone for a bit and I was starting to get a little freaked out. I just started praying and before long he came back. He said there was a couple down there and he talked to them and they were fine with us joining them.
It was a bit of an awkward walk down, but not horrible. There were these big rocks we were able to sit on and dip our feet in the water. Owen was dying to throw rocks, but we told him he'd need to ask the other people and see if they were okay with it. We didn't want to just come into their peaceful area and start making all these splashing noises. At first he wasn't going to ask, but then he finally worked up the nerve and they were fine with it.
This area made me a little nervous because it wasn't like a normal beach. It's a reservoir so there isn't a gradual beach that you can walk out on. It was a few big rocks and then it went out into nothingness. It freaked me out! We stayed there for a while and then decided to head back to the campground.
It seems like every time we take our trailer out we get better and better at this camping thing. This trip was by far the best one yet because....Michael fixed the water heater! Washing dishes was dream since I didn't have to boil water anymore. Also we've never used the shower in the trailer because we didn't have hot water. Well, Ella got to be the first one to take a shower in the trailer!!!
The next morning after eating breakfast we set out to go on a hike. I had read about Cathedral Falls and knew it was in the area. I went in and talked to one of the employees at the office to get directions on which way to go after we crossed over the one way bridge. She said we needed to go to the left. The day before we had traveled to the right so this was going to be fun getting to explore a new area. So off to the left we went. She told me it was about 5 miles down and there was a little wooden sign that said Goat Creek Trail. The road that we are driving on was a gravel road, but thankfully it was really well maintained. We did pass a dam so Michael was pretty sure that's why it was so well maintained. After about 5 miles we were looking around and didn't see a sign anywhere. We figured sometimes people are off by a little so we kept driving. We drove 7 miles down the road and were like this has got to be the wrong way. I brought up my phone which didn't have good service at all during the whole trip and I typed in Cathedral Falls and surprisingly it popped up after a minute or so. We had gone the wrong way! What the lady should have told us was to turn right after the bridge and then go left. Oh well....we just got to explore and the best part was we found something we were totally going to come back later and check out....a fresh water creek!!!
Anyways, we drove the 7 miles back and then an additional 5 - 6 miles more up this gravel road that wasn't nearly as well maintained. Thankfully it wasn't scary though. The road literally ends at the Goat Creek Trail so there's no way you can miss it.
It felt really nice being in the woods...the temperature was definitely cooler!
We'd only been walking just a minute or so when there was this beautiful lookout point. It was gorgeous up there!
The trail was a nice easy trail not difficult at all. I did have Michael as the leader and Owen was behind me at the back.
I love nature hikes!
There were a couple areas of the trail where trees had fallen so we had to climb over those, but it wasn't hard...it was actually fun!
You could see way down into these deep gorges!
This tree had to be cut so the trail could be reopened.
Beautiful trees!
This tree had a funny burnt out spot on it. We were wondering if it was hit by lightning or something.
Such a fun outing!
There were three small streams we had to cross over during our hike.
The best part about these streams was the air close to them was noticeably cooler. It felt amazing!
Daddy lending Ella a helping hand!
Some of us even reached down and got a handful of water to wipe on our arms to cool us down. Michael even took a handful to drink.
Big tree....little Zeke!
Cathedral Falls was SO tiny....it is the height of summer, but at first I wasn't even sure we were at the right place. For one thing most people take pictures of it from the other side so I didn't recognize it.
The waterfall is hitting the end of this rock right between the green on both sides. You can't even see it!
We weren't able to stand directly under the full stream since it was out on the edge of the rock, but we were able to get some of the drips coming from the rocks above it. So refreshing!
There was a small pool at the bottom where the water collected. We took some time to try to throw rocks down into the pool.
I walked a bit past the waterfall and took this picture from an outcropping. Zeke was a little freaked out during this time. Walking behind the waterfall looked scarier than it actually was. I think he worked it up in his head and then when I went past the waterfall he was afraid I was going to die. He cried a bit and then calmed down when I came back and we started to head out.
This guy was so sweet to his Mama...when we were almost to the waterfall the trail went up for a bit and so on our way back that meant it was going to go down. My knees are not designed to go down. They hurt and I have a hard time....I'd rather hike up than down that's for sure. As I was coming down carefully he told me he would help me anytime I needed him too. Sweet man!!!
We came across this millipede crossing the path!
On our drive back down I had Michael stop so I could take a picture of the mountain. I was sure this one was Mt. Rainier, but again I was wrong and it's Mt. Adams. They look so much alike!
After getting back to the campsite we had lunch and then it was time to go on another adventure. Earlier we had found that fresh water creek so we headed back there. There was no one parked here the trail at all so we gathered up all our stuff and headed down. It was perfection! The biggest bummer though...I forgot my phone at the campsite and Michael left his on purpose because he knew he'd be getting in the water. It was such an amazing place and I'm so sad we don't have pictures. We will for sure be making our way back there when we camp here next year. The water was freezing and it was so hot it felt amazing. Where we were there were all these huge rocks. There was a rocky place right in the middle of the river I was able to lay out my blanket and just dip my feet in the water.
There was a deep section that Michael went completely under in. He was totally nuts! There was a big flat rock that he could sit on where he was just barely in the water...it looked like a throne. The kids had so much fun traipsing over the rocks. Poor Owen slipped not long after we got there and got a nice bit of road rash from the rocks. After that he was pretty much done. Of course the rest of us weren't....we were finally cool for the first time in days. He just sat there and complained mostly. It didn't stop the rest of us from having fun though. Zeke and Daddy built a dam in the river that raised the water quite a bit. Michael loves creeks way better than lakes. In fact he said that lakes creep him out. He loves moving water because it's so much cleaner. I have to agree...the lake water was definitely creeper than the creek. I don't mind being in a lake on a boat, or paddle board or kayak, but just swimming in one is not my favorite. We really want to get a couple kayaks so we've been on the lookout, but they are SO spendy!
After being at the creek for probably 3 hours it was time to head back to the campground and have dinner. After dinner Michael and Owen changed the trailer tire...one of the tires had a bulge in it so they put the spare on. We figure we'll just go ahead and buy 3 new tires since the trailer is 16 years old.
The next day was our last day...we had a bunch of random things for breakfast and then we packed up. We didn't have to check out until 1pm which was really nice. Most campgrounds want you out at 11am. We left around noon. We went to the gas station to fill up with gas, aired up the spare tire and got some snacks to munch on.
We went home via I-5 because I wanted to stop at Cabela's. We hadn't stopped there since the kids were little. It seems like whenever we camp we always come up with a list of things we need to buy. I wanted to see if we could get any of the things on our list.
While Cabela's is a fun place to look at....the kids liked the aquarium and the animals....there really isn't a whole lot of options for camping. It's definitely more geared toward hunting and fishing.
We did look the whole store over, but didn't end up buying anything. Even with stopped there we got home by 3:00pm! We are really looking forward to going back to that campground next year.
After getting home, I went on Camping World's website and I found all the things I was wanting and more. It's a great site and I even saved a ton because I signed up to be a Good Sam member They have special pricing for all sorts of stuff. For instance, I got a propane fire pit for $85 instead of $169. The membership for Good Sam only cost $29 a year and after I placed the order I got a coupon for another $15 off. I did find an amazing deal on kayaks....they were only $99, but you have to pay $300 in shipping. No thank you!
