Out and about at Mt. Rainier National Forest

Had the pleasure of staying at Mt. Rainier National Forest in Washington and did a bit of camping! Hadn't ventured out camping since moving to the PNW over a year and a half ago and was itching to get out of the studio. Here's some photos of our adventures!

We also visited the Grove of the Patriarchs trail which has 1000 year old growth Cedar and Douglas Fir trees. As you probably know by now, I love my trees and really enjoyed seeing these oldie trees!

 This shot of the stream was in the morning, by the afternoon everyone was swimming and relaxing in it's waters, taking a break from the heat.

Found my own little swimming spot to read and take in the cool waters. Nothing like mountain streams to perk you right up in this heat wave we have here right now.

These were the trees behind my secret reading spot.

Toshi had a grand time camping. Can't take the pups on trails here, so he always had a babysitter when we went out.

It would take quite a few people to put their arms around this tree. This was at the Grove of the Patriarchs.

Again at the Grove. These two monster trees I think were nicknamed the "twins". Love the spiral in the bark.

Took lots of photos of bark patterns to use as reference for my artwork.

Fall Camping

Last weekend we went camping with my parents at Branched Oak outside of Lincoln. It hasn't rained in quite a while here, let alone thunderstorm, but each night wind, lighting, and lots of rain poured down on our tents. It was still a grand time and the days were nice and warm.

Toshi our pup likes to be part of the crew. He's been having issues with allergies but he was enjoying sniffing the crisp fall air.

 My sisters stopped by for the afternoon too and I had to get a family photo with the whole group with my trusty Polaroid!

Camping + Birthday Weekend

Last weekend Matt and I went off for our first camping adventure of the year to Indian Cave State Park near Brownville, Nebraska. Good times were had despite the abnormal amount of ticks and various bugs (seems like a mild winter = massive amount of creepy crawly's). Here is a photo montage of our little outing.

Toshi's all smiles in our yellow tent. He's the kind of dog that wants to watch a few ants, then catch some shut eye, and then go for a car ride in air conditioning.

Oh watermelon, you're my pal forever. 

Hmmm, Instagram photo of Poloroids, I'm in the camera matrix.

Memorial Day weekend is the big opening for the state parks, but the little gift shop/museum was open and I got to add to my patch collection. (I didn't know that some parks had these little patches and so I got a rather late state collecting them...someday I will have them all!)

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We celebrated Matt's birthday as well! Here is a cake I made for the occasion. I used gluten-free strawberry cake recipe with a few alterations (I didn't know what Earth Balance was so I just threw in a stick and half of butter and called it good). Also cream cheese frosting is a fav around here so I made that instead of the recipe's glaze.

Camp Coffee & Bacon

We went camping this weekend and while I'm gathering all of our various photos from our adventure I thought I'd share a little Cine I took. You can almost smell the bacon.

Branched Oak Camping Trip

Camping over the Halloween weekend is a tradition for Matt and I but after freezing weather last year we decided to move our annual trip a few weeks early. We headed over to Branched Oak State Park , close to home and has lots of camping grounds to pick from.

A few years ago I painted an artwork featuring a camping adventure with a bright yellow tent. At the time my inspiration for the tent in the painting was an old army tent that my dad had mixed with a Coleman tent Matt and I had. Really weird that fast forward to the present day, and we end up buying a bright yellow tent almost exactly like my painting.
 

One of my favorite features of the new tent is the skylight in the rain fly. That and the tent just glows when your inside it. I took a short nap and think I got a tan.

Tent also comes with an optional vestibule for storing your items and making a nifty little porch area.

It was still a bit chilly but with hat, gloves, hoodie and a warm fire, it was perfect to hangout and enjoy a good read. (The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan is pretty amazing continuation of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series)

Got some classic orange pumpkins to carve our jack-o-lanterns. I love camping in autumn because everyone decks out their campsite with Halloween and autumn cheer.

Toshi enjoys chilling by the campsite. Digging, napping, and crunching a few leaves are a few of his camping favorites.

What started as driving to get more firewood for the campsite ended up being a search for a gas station, which expanded to driving a little farther for food at a place called Toast. Ever since my friend Lindsey introduced me to the yummy fare at Toast, I've been pretty hooked. Here's a delicious club sandwich with potato salad and mandatory pickle.

My pumpkin turned out a little derpy (the one on the left), but I love the grin on Matt's Jack-o-lantern. 

It's pretty rare to get both of us in a shot together because one of us is usually behind the camera...thanks to a nifty timer this is one of my favorite photos.

Beautiful night sky. There was a while where the sky was a really deep purple.

Camping Weekend!

Had a great weekend camping at Ponca National Park, NE with my family. The leaves were just starting to turn, and we had great weather. Even though the park is right by the river the flooding this year didn't really impact the park itself which is elevated.

 

There was this old oak tree was a sapling in 1644. It had some great twisty branches...right up my alley!