CAMPERS: Oliver (3), Orion (6), Melissa (8), Sandy, Pat, Carol, John, Dustin, Rudder
The Wilson gang, including Dustin, Carol, and super-duper photographer granddaughter Melissa, headed out first thing in the morning getting a jump on the long drive ahead of them.
Meanwhile, Pat followed the Williams' family in her truck. After a brief stop at the Toutle River rest stop, a calamity happened. Pat's gear shift on her truck broke and suddenly would not go into gear. Handyman John came to the rescue and rigged it up just enough to get us moving again and we went in search of a nearby auto parts store to find the necessary replacement parts. It was a fruitless search and Pat returned to Olympia while the Williams' family carried on down the road.
Pat, being the amazing trooper that she is (words like moxie, chutzpah, and gumption were used to describe her enduring attitude.) decided that after 2 hours on the road and ending up back at home in Olympia, she would unload her truck only to reload her car and head back out on the road to her destination over 3 1/2 hours away, knowing it would put her at the campground late in the evening. She arrived in good spirits somewhere around 8pm and astounded us all.
While all of that excitement was happening, the Wilson gang arrived at Hoodview campground, set up camp, and took a brief hike along Timothy Lake. In their travels they happened upon a baby chipmunk on the trail that looked to be clinging to life. Dustin decided to attempt to help nurse this little chipmunk, who became known as "Spike", back to life. Not an easy task at all since we knew very little about chipmunk survival. Ah, but we were about to learn. We'll take a pause now to view a photo and the video footage...
John, with his natural survival instincts, decided that one of Spike's problems was that he looked particularly cold. As soon as we moved his little box near the fire Spike immediately sought out the warmest spot. John was right. In the evening, on the last night we were there, we even put a "Hot Hands" instant hand warmer packet in Spike's box. Dustin found Spike sleeping on top of the "Hot Hands" packet as if it were his own personal bed.
The final fate of Spike is unknown. He still looked rather weak when we left him but Dustin decided to leave him in a chipmunk hole in hopes that some chipmunk family might take pity on him and adopt him.
The other excitement of the camping adventure this year was the contest. Dustin decided to make things interesting by challenging all campers to an art contest in honor of the greatest artist ever, God! We were to be inspired by God's awesome creation and do a little of creating ourselves. Some amazing pieces of art were made and ultimately, the kids triumphed. Orion made some interesting bottle cap art that unfortunately got lost. He then made a comic strip to replace the lost art. Melissa made some awesome pencil drawings and beautiful watercolor paintings. John assisted the kids in using some art transfer paper for some amazing leaf and nature impressions. Probably the most interesting entry was a collaboration between John and Dustin of the nearly perfect s'more. Below are some of the entries in the contest.
