Studio711.com – Ben Martens

We're back from the big camping trip, and I happily declare it a success. There were some doubts about the weather, but the worst we got were a few sprinkles here and there. Thankfully Tim bought one of those tents that goes over the picnic table and that really saved the day. It kept stuff from falling on the table and gave us a respite from the rain when we needed it. Our days were filled with walks on the beach, a catamaran boat trip, a Flexi-straw challenge, and general laziness around camp fires.

I've been told that I don't post enough pictures, so this time I posted around 70. That's about 20% of the photos that were taken. Between Chelsea and I, I don't think anything was left undocumented.  It's a beautiful area. You'll need to book early to get a camp site, but it's worth the effort if you get a chance. Try to snag site #30. We had complete privacy. Nobody could see us while we sat around the campfire.

We also took a bit of video which again seems little a good match for stuff you find on YouTube. There's no editing or anything like that, but it might make you chuckle.

I walked around the campsites and saw license plates from all over the United States. When I was at Mt. St. Helens, I listened to the crowd shout out where they were from, "New York! Japan! Texas!" It makes me smile to know that I only had to drive an hour or two to get to these places.

[Photos] [Video]

Today a plan hatched in January comes to fruition. Seven month ago, we made reservations for the oh-so-popular Deception Pass State Park campground. This place fills up faster than a Bon Jovi concert in Atlantic City. The park is located in Puget Sound about 10 miles south of Anacortes. Translation: gorgeous.

We might have a few showers to contend with, but after surviving the monsoon camping trip, I'm not too worried. When it's not raining we'll be playing cornhole, watching Tim play with the fire, and inspecting the quality of some adult beverages. I'm really looking forward to this trip. We start today and don't come back until Monday so that will give us two full days on the site.

Have a good weekend!

Tim, Chelsea and I headed for Penrose Point State Park on Friday. It rained most of the day but stopped before we arrived at the site. We had just enough light to set up the tents before spending the rest of the night around the campfire. Saturday was full of cornhole, hiking, and sleeping. We packed up on Sunday morning and headed home. The weather was 75-80 and sunny all weekend.

It was a quick trip, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Expect to see more camping reports throughout the summer.

Pictures are posted in the gallery. I'll add more from Tim and Chelsea in a day or two.

I posted a bunch of pictures from our weekend in Dosewallips State Park. I think Chelsea has some more so I may add to this in the future. But these pictures should give you a basic idea of our weekend. The picture in this post shows how we lit our fires. Who needs matches when Tim has a blow torch?

[UPDATE] A few of you have asked about the picture of me holding a pot of beans. We needed to use that pot to boil some hot water for dishes in the morning so Tim and I decided to eat the leftover beans for breakfast. About three hours later we realized that may not have been the best idea.

Chelsea, Laura, Matt, Tim and I headed out to Dosewallips State Park on the Olympic Penninsula this weekend for some camping. The weather was perfect with highs around 80 and pure sunshine all day. We did a little camping, a little hiking, a lot of bumming around at the river, and we ate a lot of great food. It may have been the last park with available campsites, but it turned out to be pretty nice. Here's a sampling of the pictures. I'll post more later.

TylerG (my roommate from Jersey) happens to be in Seattle this week so last night he stopped by my condo. On the way to the grocery store to pick up burger supplies, we stopped at Snoqualmie Falls.

Side note: how high does that rate on the scale of awesomeness? I stopped at a 270 foot waterfall on the way to the grocery store. Washington rocks.

I've been there before, but each time I was there I only saw the falls from the top observation deck which is a few feet off the road. This time a helpful fellow onlooker pointed us to a trail that goes down to the base of the falls. It's a quick 15 minute hike and it was well worth the trip. We were there in the evening so the sun filtered down through the narrow canyon to create a rainbow in the mist at the base of the falls. Luckily Tyler had brought his camera along and we snapped some awesome pictures. This is the point where I would say "go check them out." Unfortunately they're on Tyler's camera and my card reader doesn't accept xD cards. Once he gets back to Jersey next week we'll get them posted. Until then you'll have to take my word for it that it was a great hike.

Apparently Ed didn't list the picture I put in my last post about the camping trip so he sent over some real pictures. From top to bottom are Ed and I, Christina Applegate and Kelly, our tents, and me attacking Ed with a trident. Maybe next time we'll be able to take some pictures that don't involve ponchos and rain gear.