Sunday was the "Pre Classic", one of the premiere professional track meets in the country. I had an extra ticket, so I invited Drew to watch the meet on the University of Oregon campus, about 6 blocks from his Dad's house. We were on our way out, and it looked as though it was going to rain. Luckily, there was an umbrella or two in the house, so we took those and walked over to the campus.
It was pouring the whole way. We eventually got to the will call booth, and I reached into my purse for my wallet. Unfortunately, it was not there....it was still at the house. Cursing at myself for being so silly, we turned around and walked back to the house. IT was raining even harder at this point. We went back to the house, found my wallet, and somehow still decided that it was worthwhile to go back to the meet. It was still raining.
By the time we got to the meet, about 30 minutes of it was over, and our feet were soaked. But we found our seats under the grandstand awning, and watched the rest of it out of the sun...that had decided to shine for the rest of the day. =)
24 June, 2006
A memorable, memorial day camping trip
The plan: go camping at Crater Lake with Vipul and Marie over Memorial Day weekend.
In Reality: The entrance to Crater Lake was completely snowed in still, and the Rim drive was also snowed in. So we probably wouldn't even be able to see the lake even if we wanted to
The new plan: go camping along the coast, between Florence and Reedsport, about 1.5 hours directly west of Eugene.
The weather forecast: showers from Friday through Monday. Ok, not the best forecast for a camping trip, but we decided to go for it. The weather dudes in Oregon weren't very good anyway, so there would be equally likely to be sunny and 80 during the weekend.
The gear: This was going to be my first camping trip since 3rd grade, where I camped at Ft. Funston in San Francisco with the cloth tents and froze the entire night with my "sleep over" sleeping bag. I was more or less prepared this time. I bought my -20F rated sleeping bag from REI, a self inflating sleeping pad, and some wool socks. I had the waterproof jacket, hat, and hiking shoes. I also had a lot of food. Cookies, ingredients for smores, granola bars, etc. I felt much more prepared than in 3rd grade.
The Story:
I drove to Corvallis to pick up Marie. Then we drove to Vipul's place in Eugene, and packed up the car. We stopped at an Albertson's for firewood and matches, and then we were on our way west toward the coast.
About 45 minutes into it, whilie in the mountains between the valley and the coast, Vipul's fuel light comes on. "We'll be fine," says Vipul. Both Marie and I think, "We're gonna die." So about 5 minutes later, we are still in rolling hills, and the fuel light comes on again. Ok, perhaps we need gas. Just as we are thinking about how our friends could come out to meet us with some gas, there is a gas station. Whoo hoo!!! With a great sigh of relief, Vipul pulls in and gets $10 of gas (about 3 gallons worth), and we're good to go.
We arrive at the campsite (I forget the name of it, but it is off 101 and it's between Florence and Reedsport), and it has stopped raining. Phew. So we find our campsite, which is located under some trees, and manage to find a dry area to set up our tents.
Lesson 1: Tent Assembly
There were poles that brilliantly snapped together. There were loops for the poles to go through. There was a bit of difficulty figuring out how the poles overlapped over the tent. The ground was suprisingly hard to poke the stakes through, but we managed to do it. It was a little complicated, but in the end, it was standing, and actually very roomie on the inside. Marie and I could sleep next to each other with plenty of room.
For dinner this first night, we decided to go for civilization food. Mo's restaurant in Florence was best known for it's clam chowder, so we had to try it. Located right in a bay of sorts we had our clam chowder. It was really good. While we were eating there would be downpours that would last about 5 minutes. It didn't look too promising tonight. But we were glad to have set up camp prior to dinner. As we got out of the restuarant, the rain had stopped, and a rainbow was out. This looked promising...
Lesson 2: Campfire
The rain had let up, and we started our campfire. I contributed by figuring out how to light the special matchsticks that we bought. Marie took over from there and got the fire going. She was able to create a nice fire, and we started with the smores. Caramalized marshmallows, dark chocolate and graham crackers...mmm....yummm...!!!
We chatted, Vipul told bad jokes, and laughed the night away. It was great =)
The following morning we woke up to the sound of rain. It was icky out, but we decided to try for a morning hike. The 3 mile trail head started at the camp site, worked it's way to the dunes, and we could come back around. The idea was that the rain would let up by the time we would make it back.
Lesson 3: "waterproof fabrics" are not always waterproof
After hiking for about 1.5 hours, our predictions prooved incorrect. It started to rain harder, and the further we went, the harder it rained. Mosquitos were swarming as they had since yesterday, and at one point we just took shelter and watched the rain continue. We came out of the trail onto the beach, and tried to find the trail head to the other path. Exposed in the pouring rain on a beach was not the greatest idea that we had had all day, so we decided to turn around and just head back to camp. By now, the trail was covered with puddles, and our clothes were thoroughly soaked. And we were all soaked to the bone. So much for being waterproof. I think we needed to get "downpour-proof" gear.
It tooks us another 1.5 hours to get back to the campsite, and we were all hungry and wet. We carefully crawled into our tents, and ate some food. I yelled at Vipul "what are we doing?" I went out to look, and Vipul was stuffing his sleeping bag away. I guess we were going back to Eugene. So Marie and I started to put our stuff away as well. The tents took forever to fold up in the rain, and nothing seemed to go back into it sack nicely. Everything was drenched and smelled mildew-y.
Once the equipment was back in the car, Marie and I changed into some dry clothes, and then climbed into Vipuls car for our 1.5 hour drive home. We had been "roughing it" for 20 hours. It was my first camping trip in ages. It was good enough. =)
Back in Eugene, we all got nice hot showers and into dry sets of clothes. And yup, it was still raining outside.
In Reality: The entrance to Crater Lake was completely snowed in still, and the Rim drive was also snowed in. So we probably wouldn't even be able to see the lake even if we wanted to
The new plan: go camping along the coast, between Florence and Reedsport, about 1.5 hours directly west of Eugene.
The weather forecast: showers from Friday through Monday. Ok, not the best forecast for a camping trip, but we decided to go for it. The weather dudes in Oregon weren't very good anyway, so there would be equally likely to be sunny and 80 during the weekend.
The gear: This was going to be my first camping trip since 3rd grade, where I camped at Ft. Funston in San Francisco with the cloth tents and froze the entire night with my "sleep over" sleeping bag. I was more or less prepared this time. I bought my -20F rated sleeping bag from REI, a self inflating sleeping pad, and some wool socks. I had the waterproof jacket, hat, and hiking shoes. I also had a lot of food. Cookies, ingredients for smores, granola bars, etc. I felt much more prepared than in 3rd grade.
The Story:
I drove to Corvallis to pick up Marie. Then we drove to Vipul's place in Eugene, and packed up the car. We stopped at an Albertson's for firewood and matches, and then we were on our way west toward the coast.
About 45 minutes into it, whilie in the mountains between the valley and the coast, Vipul's fuel light comes on. "We'll be fine," says Vipul. Both Marie and I think, "We're gonna die." So about 5 minutes later, we are still in rolling hills, and the fuel light comes on again. Ok, perhaps we need gas. Just as we are thinking about how our friends could come out to meet us with some gas, there is a gas station. Whoo hoo!!! With a great sigh of relief, Vipul pulls in and gets $10 of gas (about 3 gallons worth), and we're good to go.
We arrive at the campsite (I forget the name of it, but it is off 101 and it's between Florence and Reedsport), and it has stopped raining. Phew. So we find our campsite, which is located under some trees, and manage to find a dry area to set up our tents.
Lesson 1: Tent Assembly
There were poles that brilliantly snapped together. There were loops for the poles to go through. There was a bit of difficulty figuring out how the poles overlapped over the tent. The ground was suprisingly hard to poke the stakes through, but we managed to do it. It was a little complicated, but in the end, it was standing, and actually very roomie on the inside. Marie and I could sleep next to each other with plenty of room.
For dinner this first night, we decided to go for civilization food. Mo's restaurant in Florence was best known for it's clam chowder, so we had to try it. Located right in a bay of sorts we had our clam chowder. It was really good. While we were eating there would be downpours that would last about 5 minutes. It didn't look too promising tonight. But we were glad to have set up camp prior to dinner. As we got out of the restuarant, the rain had stopped, and a rainbow was out. This looked promising...
Lesson 2: Campfire
The rain had let up, and we started our campfire. I contributed by figuring out how to light the special matchsticks that we bought. Marie took over from there and got the fire going. She was able to create a nice fire, and we started with the smores. Caramalized marshmallows, dark chocolate and graham crackers...mmm....yummm...!!!
We chatted, Vipul told bad jokes, and laughed the night away. It was great =)
The following morning we woke up to the sound of rain. It was icky out, but we decided to try for a morning hike. The 3 mile trail head started at the camp site, worked it's way to the dunes, and we could come back around. The idea was that the rain would let up by the time we would make it back.
Lesson 3: "waterproof fabrics" are not always waterproof
After hiking for about 1.5 hours, our predictions prooved incorrect. It started to rain harder, and the further we went, the harder it rained. Mosquitos were swarming as they had since yesterday, and at one point we just took shelter and watched the rain continue. We came out of the trail onto the beach, and tried to find the trail head to the other path. Exposed in the pouring rain on a beach was not the greatest idea that we had had all day, so we decided to turn around and just head back to camp. By now, the trail was covered with puddles, and our clothes were thoroughly soaked. And we were all soaked to the bone. So much for being waterproof. I think we needed to get "downpour-proof" gear.
It tooks us another 1.5 hours to get back to the campsite, and we were all hungry and wet. We carefully crawled into our tents, and ate some food. I yelled at Vipul "what are we doing?" I went out to look, and Vipul was stuffing his sleeping bag away. I guess we were going back to Eugene. So Marie and I started to put our stuff away as well. The tents took forever to fold up in the rain, and nothing seemed to go back into it sack nicely. Everything was drenched and smelled mildew-y.
Once the equipment was back in the car, Marie and I changed into some dry clothes, and then climbed into Vipuls car for our 1.5 hour drive home. We had been "roughing it" for 20 hours. It was my first camping trip in ages. It was good enough. =)
Back in Eugene, we all got nice hot showers and into dry sets of clothes. And yup, it was still raining outside.
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