Camping in Vantage

Mike, Sarah, and Ryan playing cards in the pop-up camper

Ryan staying connected on his blackberry while Sarah cooks us breakfast

Sarah cooking us a real breakfast

Mike, Sarah, and Ryan in Ginko Petrified Forest State Park

Mike and Ryan checking out a petrified tree in a cage

Ryan, completing his tourist experience by touching a petrified tree

 On Friday night we headed out of town to camp in Vantage, WA (where I-90 crosses the Columbia River) and meet up with Ryan's cousin Sarah and her husband Michael. They just got married and our road-tripping across the country for their honeymoon with an awesome little pop-up trailer that they found on eBay. It was beautiful but very windy in Vantage. After attempting to have a fire, we moved inside their camper to play cards until we went to bed. It was awesome to have a place to escape the wind! Our gigantic car camping tent did survive the wind and we picked a spot that was a little protected. Shortly after we got in bed it completely died down though.

I believe this is the first time I have ever slept in a tent without a rain fly. I remember when I was ordering the car camping tent we have, some of the reviews said that it didn't have much privacy (mesh walls) unless you have the rain fly on. I thought "Why wouldn't you have the rain fly on?" Being from Kodiak, AK and then Seattle you can imagine why I always need a rain fly. Since Vantage is actually in the desert of Eastern Washington and there was a ZERO percent chance of rain, we decided to leave the rain fly off. And we did stay dry of course.

When we got up on Saturday, Sarah made us a yummy breakfast - definitely  more fancy and delicious than the instant oatmeal we would have eaten if we were alone! We did a short hike in Ginko Petrified Forest State Park where we saw petrified logs in cages. I suppose they want to protect the logs from vandalism and people taking them home, but it was not at all what I expected. After I completely exhausted myself by hiking a mile and a half in 80 degree weather (that's pretty much unbearably hot for a girl from Kodiak), we jumped in the Columbia River at Wanapum State Park. A fun start to my birthday!