Life catches up with you.  Today we had plans but plans are meant to be broken.  Sleep always wins.  Even when you are in a place begging to be discovered, sometimes you have to hang up your hat and say we saw what we saw.  We are tired and we needed to give in to it.  Taking our time to leave camp (to take in Hurricane Ridge) and taking our time to stay at camp (not hitting the beach for a second round) was worth the rest we caught up on.  We want the kids to know slowing down can help you recharge.  Some days are designed to fall apart and that’s okay.

Days like this help you tidy up loose ends.  I even do the dishes outdoors.  Partly to take in the views, but more so to save on the water filling up in our tank since we don’t have full hookups here.  Yes, I just said that.

We have neighbors. Close neighbors.   They look like lifetime campers but they tell us they are first timers.  I’m still not so sure as we watch their boys gather wood to keep a fire going for a month.  My daughter says they say a lot of bad words…at least the dad does.  I tell her that’s what happens when you grow up.  You hear a lot more. You have to figure out how not to let it land in your space.  Their kids are super cute and curious so we look like a blended family  going for walks with our dog or our kids sharing smores at their campfire.  The girls play cards and have swapped addresses to become pen pals.  Good old fashioned fun.

Our other neighbors were trying to knock out as many National Parks as they could but pulled out early to go help with their father who had a fall.  A lone traveler took their spot, spending two days to rest from his tour up from Utah to the San Juan Islands.

We are all drastically different families doing the same thing but in different ways.  We are each extending our horizon to reach a new point of view.  Different is what it is…just different.  It does not mean one is better than the other.  It’s the simple truth.  We may be different but we share something big in common:

Adventure is a family value.