Thanks to LaSandra Rodriguez for planning so far in advance, we had a group yurting trip planned for the past weekend to Ft. Stevens State Park. There were 4 families planning on going. Us and the Alt's arrived on Friday afternoon. We got unpacked and then went out exploring. Initially we thought we would walk all the way to the beach, but before we were even half way there, Merrick was asking to be carried, so we only made it to the lake. Once back at the yurts, we decided to start dinner. We had noticed the raccoons while unpacking, but didn't know how brave they were. We soon found out! As we were sitting around the fire, trying to keep warm and eat our dinner, one of them came right up to our picnic table and took an entire bag of hamburger buns. We quickly learned that once we were done with the food, we needed to put it in the yurt. It was pretty cold out, so we all decided to call it an early night and go back to our own yurts. Travis and I forgot our pillows, so it wasn't the most comfortable nights sleep.
The next morning, Travis, Merrick and I got up and headed to the beach. We checked out the shipwreck and followed some car tracks (one of Merrick's favorite things to do). It was still really cold out, so we decided to get in the car and drive into town to get a few things we had forgotten at the store, including pillows. While we were at the store, the Alt's called us. They had ventured into Astoria in search of the Goonies house. Being a huge fan of the movie, I told Travis that needed to be our next stop. So we headed that direction and successfully found the house, although we just drove by it. Next we headed to Ft. Columbia to check it out, which meant a drive over the huge bridge that takes you from Oregon to Washington. Merrick thought this was really cool. After exploring the fort, we headed back to the yurt to have some lunch and say goodbye to the Alts. Addie and Alyssa were sick and didn't feel up to staying another night. After lunch and naps for everyone, we headed out to the South Jetty. We got to see where the Columbia meets the ocean. Then we headed to the beach. Merrick thought it was cool to watch the cars drive on the beach and there were some people trying to do some sort of parasailing off of the dunes.
Following the tire tracks on the beach
Mmm... chocolate frosted donuts. Delicious!
Exploring Ft. Columbia
We headed back to the yurt to meet up with the Rodriguez family. We took all the boys to the park to burn off some energy and they played hard both at the park and when we returned to the yurt. I think they went non-stop until bed time. We enjoyed a nice dinner and then as I went to go grab marshmallows to roast, I discovered that the handle to our yurt was broken. Which meant we couldn't get in. As Travis tried to figure out a way to get it open, I headed to the ranger station to find help. A ranger came back to our site quickly and tried to pry the door open with a crow bar. He didn't have any luck, so then he and Travis decided to try and take the door off the hinges. This didn't work either, so he ended up having to break a piece of the door out to get the door open. Luckily we were still able to keep the door locked and the raccoons out! The Wujcik family arrive at around 8:30 pm, just in time for the rain, which caused all of us to have to retreat to our yurts.
Our broken yurt door.
Sunday morning we got up and we all met up to explore the park. We went to Russell Battery and then on to Fort Stevens. The kids had a blast exploring. We spent a few hours exploring and when it started raining, we decided it was time to head home. We had a great time and can't wait for our next trip!
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