We had a nice trip to northern Washington. Our main purpose in going there was that Cal's daughter, Kim, lives there now. We stayed in state park probably 10 or so miles from her house. Not one of the nicest parks I have ever been in, but it was convenient. The trailer spaces were awfully tiny but it did have a lake which the kids really enjoyed, and I have to admit that I waded in on the day that the temp was hovering around 100 degrees.

Coincidently, some friends were camping on Lopez Island in the San Juans. We decided to see if we could find them--how hard could it be on an island? We took the ferry from Anacortes, which was fun-we were on the outer edge of the ferry so we had to just step outside the truck to have a great view of the water. We got to Lopez and drove maybe a mile (maybe less) and there was the campground! We spent the day there and even got fresh salmon for dinner!. The kids enjoyed the dogs and we paddled out on our kayak. Fortunately we went the right way because while we were out paddling, the tide started coming in and it took us back instead of out to sea.

We brought one of Cal's granddaughters, Kayla, back with us and she stayed for a week and a half. We were worried that she might get bored, but she was very good (although I have to say that our TV was on more in that week and a half than during the whole time Cal and I have been married). We went over to dinner at Kerry and Melissa's last Sunday and they were a big hit with Kayla. She did not want to go home with us. We bribed her by taking her to the beach on Monday. We also went to a movie at a theater (a big event in the Crandall household) and she and Cal went to the zoo on Thursday while I was at work. In spite of our misgivings about having her there for that long, I was actually a little sorry to see her go.

Our next adventure is Cal's annual family reunion at his brother's "cabin" in Island Park, Idaho. With our new schedules, we will stay a little longer over there than in the past. Its tough doing a 13 hour drive each way for a long weekend. We might even make it a whole week this time.
posted by Cathy Crandall at 1:12 PM