Waldo Lake Camping Trip - 2013

We're back!  We were away camping for 11 days this time.  Here is a shot of my sister and brother as they sail back into the cove of Shadow Bay Campground - one of 3 at Waldo Lake which is owned by the USFS.  The atmosphere was not as clear as usual as there is a huge forest fire burning in Southern Oregon, so far burning over 73 square miles!

Our youngest son Travis' wife Kristi surprised us by arriving 4 days early with all 4 of our grandsons!  Here they are enjoying themselves in the cove - we'd brought the 2 jet floats for the little guys - the bigger boys were able to use our kayak.

Michael, Gabriel, Hayden & Caleb with the little island in the mouth of the bay. 

The boys loved their little jet floats! 

That's me on the air float with my river hat, Kristi is pulling us around and all of us floating are hanging on to each other. :-) 

We also had brought a little raft which Caleb shared with Jack, who they've played with for 3 summers now. 

We launched our Sunfish sailboats and this is my boat heading to "Amy's Blue Lagoon" - which is a secret hidden lagoon behind an island on the East end of the lake.  My older sister Roberta named it after my daughter who was canoeing with her when they found this special place - our favorite on the lake for swimming and hanging out. 

My pretty sail.  This sail was custom made to promote the 1988 movie "Tequila Sunrise" starring Mel Gibson, Michelle Pfeiffer and Kurt Russell - it was at a video conference in Las Vegas and a local video distributor won it and put it in the classified ads here and I got it for a 1/4 of it's value! :-)  Love this boat!

Can you see the island in the center of the photo?  There is an entrance on the left and right to our pretty and wind-protected cove.

Here is the lagoon and can you see my brother swimming with his hat on?  The water here is crystal clear, has a visibility depth of 115 feet and is the 2nd largest lake in Oregon, with Crater Lake being the biggest.

My brother's boat and mine.  :-)  I always hang my t-shirt on the sail to dry after sailing over to the lagoon.  I'm so fast there is plenty of water spray.. :-) 

Dayle took the two littlest guys out for a short spin to show them what sailing was like, this is Hayden. 

"Glamping" - we cut the big stem of Stargazer lilies and they bloomed the entire 11 days! 

They brought huge amounts of visual and aromatic joy the whole week. 

Kristi found a darling tiny frog in the bayside rocks. 

Caleb, Michael and Hayden enjoying the lake, Hayden has a tiny frog in his hands. 

Our grandsons... and Buddy. 

Caleb and frog.  

In our campsite is a stump which the boys found endless ways to enjoy.  Who needs electronic games when you have a stump? :-) 

Kristi borrowed my camera to snap a photo of this fireweed flower right before sunset, the golden alpenglow on the trees.

The boys posing for grandma on "the point" where we hike to see the sunsets almost every evening. 

They love each other. :-) 

This is my favorite of all the photos I snapped. 

Kristi took all the boys frog hunting after dark and proudly brought this monster in to show us.. I said.. if this thing jumps in my face, you're in trouble! :-) 

The 3 youngest had tons of fun on this old rotting log. 

Chef Dayle made breakfast of grilled ham, sausage, hash browns with onion, sausage gravy and our home grown eggs.  Does anything taste better than dining outside at camp? 

The flowers kept blooming up the stem as the week went by. 

Grandpa holding Buddy in one arm and Caleb in the other while Kristi looks on. 

The view of the lake from our campsite, it's that close.   

Another breakfast, this time with bacon.  I taught grandpa to make sausage gravy and after three times he was a master at it.  I used my enameled tin cowboy plate - I'm not a fan of paper plates. :-) 

Our annual group shot - my younger sister Denise visited for 2 days, staying in a nice hotel in Oakridge 32 miles away, for 2 nights.  Clean bed, wi-fi, shower, tv.. hmmm.. what are we doing wrong?  :-)  So, all four siblings, and just a few of our kids and grandkids.   

Caleb loves ketchup on his hotdog.  :-) 

I love this shot - Travis and Kristi were playing Pente - a family favorite board game - and guess who won?  Michael and Hayden smiling for grandma. 

The boys visited with my sister Denise and I.  They were rolling around wrestling and giggling from one end of the trailer to the other.. so I thought I'd ask them to pose for a photo (for a quiet moment).  As soon as I was done, they started wrestling and giggling some more. :-) 

My son Travis and his 1966 Mustang Fastback GT which he got when he was 15, he re-built the engine, transmission, rear-end, suspension, steering and re-did the upholstery and carpet, interior panels.. all by himself.  Kristi is in her 1978 Westfalia VW Bus which Travis rebuilt the engine, fuel injection system, etc.  They are ready to head home.

I worked on Caleb's "Shocking Pink" Teddy Bear during daylight hours when I could see.  I got one arm on it and have half the 2nd arm done. 

Below is my sourdough starter which I "babied" all week.  I made a double batch of them for us for breakfast - I lamented that I forgot to take photos of the stack of pancakes with butter and syrup on them.  But trust me, they were AWESOME!! 

One afternoon I was hiking down to the "point" and spied these tiny little flowers - I didn't have the camera that time, but later I found them again, just barely as the flowers are only as big as your thumb nail and I almost passed them by.  I snapped a photo of them from the top.. the plant is only 10 inches tall!  

I very carefully turned the stem so I could see the other side of the flower which hangs beneath the flower and was awestruck at the beauty of it!!  I've tried to find the name of this but so far have failed.. do you know what this is???  (Edited to add:  This is a Pipsissewa - Botanical name - Chimaphela umbellata - and has many medicinal uses!  Thanks to my friend Kevynne on Facebook!)

Here is the flower from the side and the buds. 

It was a good Huckleberry year - here is one of them.  They are great in pancakes! 

Dayle found a lime green little frog.. cute, huh? 

Here is my boat on the side of the beach on our 2nd to the last day.. all stowed.  

On our last night, we invited my sister Roberta for dinner.  I prepared the baked potatoes for the oven - scrubbed, buttered, salted and wrapped in foil.  Dayle barbecued the beef tenderloins.  I also prepared the asparagus.  I set the table in the trailer with real plates and flatware and red bandanas as napkins.  It was delish! 

That night Roberta and I went to the point to photograph the sunset and I got this one of the moon.  :-) 

The sunset was worth the wait. :-) 

After we had stowed everything in the trailer and on my boat trailer - we went over to say farewell to my brother's family - this is the youngest member of the family.  Look at that face! 

My brother's family, minus 1 son and his wife and daughter and minus 1 DIL who missed the photo.  

And so, the journey down the mountain, Diamond Peak in the distance. 

I zoomed in on the peak - isn't it neat?

Sorry for so many photos.  I hope you enjoyed my sharing of our beautiful camping spot.  I have a lot of blog reading to catch up with my other blog friends!  Thanks for visiting.  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)