"STAMPING" = camping in your own or a friends backyard

Stamping means; camping in your own or a friends backyard. taken from stay-cation

This is our backyard in Central Oregon as you can see the sky is blue and it is memorial weekend. Everyone well most everyone likes to kick off the camping season by pitching their tent for the 1st time on memorial weekend. But sometimes the weather is just so unpredictable this time of year especially when the forecast calls for 70% chance of rain. My girlfriend really wanted to camp but it just wasn't working out or should I say the weather was to iffy. After much brain storming on Lisa and my part we came up with camping in our yard for the weekend and if the weather got to bad they would have the comforts of our house.

Lisa wanted to make sure she was "self contained", well except for the luxury of using "the Hosts" bathroom. I have to say she did a really good job in making sure she had everything she needed, her car was packed with all of their camping gear, just like as if we were heading up to the mountains. They decided to pitch their tent pretty close to the fire pit and under a tree.

Here she is, ready for a weekend of FUN! Glenn and I joined her and Kevin for most meals well all the meals actually. They had a great menu planned and enough to feed us too. So you might say Glenn and I made out pretty darn good. 

Glenn was a great camp host, he kept the firing going, and he was able to clean up the complete pile of yard debris we had accumulated over the years. I do need to mention that Lisa did bring her own wood, but I think Glenn liked adding more to the fire.

Rainy morning with spots of blue sky made for a nice day around the camp site.

Having some fun with my Ipad camera.

Just some more fun.

As I was saying the food was awesome, but there isn't anything like cooking out doors and Lisa is so good at it!

Glenn with his pitch fork, looks like to me he needs to "stoke those fires". I think Kevin is making sure his hat is on straight:)..I wonder if the neighbor across the canal enjoyed watching us all weekend as much as we enjoyed our time "stamping". 

Well here I am eating some strawberries by the hot coals, Juniper Berry also takes in all the delights of camping as you can see by the look on her face. I have to say, it won't be to long before Glenn and I will be pitching our tent in the backyard for the weekend and enjoying some "stamping" time. Really you should try it, it is incredibly fun and its good for you to get out and enjoy your own backyard!!!

                                                   "STAMPING"

                            its like a stay-cation but its stay-camping...Brilliant! 

                     

Hiking into camp!

Labor Day weekend we decided to hike into one of our favorite lakes. Back packs filled with our camping stuff we set off for our short journey to our camp site.

I guess you might say we became a little soft over the years, as we followed the trail through the woods, crossed over fallen logs our breathing became pretty darn loud not to mention a little sweat was shed.

The next morning we woke up a little sore after our two trips into camp. So we decided after dinner three nights a week we would put our packs on (they are always packed and ready to go) and walk down to the new high school and back.

Tonight we did what we talked about, it could of been really easy to just say "oh let's go another night" but we didn't. We probably look like two homeless people with our dog trying to find a place to slept for the night. But it sure will be nice to get our breathing under control with a little exercise !

Happy Hiking, Betty

Summer Camping

A summer camping trip can be one of the most memorable times of the season. I have put off blogging about this trip because I wanted to be able to post in a way that showed my appreciation for the time we get to spend in the wilderness, the forest, at the lake but most of all setting up camp in the mountains for such a small snap shot in time.

I really enjoy the wild flowers as Debbie takes a look at the Indian Paint Brush.

Cedric's 1st trip to Walton Lake.

I am able to get the summer tan, I have waited all winter for. The girls enjoying the night life.

Paul trying to "dance" with his bottle of beer while the girls coach him or maybe they are laughing at him!

The wild flowers are incredible in the mountains.

"Sweet Lisa" staying warm on a cool night.

Hot Fire!

I don't know why some photos are taken or by who, I bet if I was to guess Glenn took this one. I think it is so cute, this must be a camp guest aka Glenn's shot glass.

While Monica was enjoying a jeep ride with her Dad
they came across this wild yellow Daisy flower patch.

It was hot some days, that is really all I have to say for this Father and Son combo!

Micah's birthday, presents all around! Happy Birthday Micah!

A group going out to "target practice", I think.

Lucy even came one night to enjoy her 1st marshmallows. What a cute camper she is.

I really enjoy Amanda and Lucy's company. Thanks for coming to our camp site.

One summer night the music starts...

The great Camp Fire!

Our home in the mountains, looks small but really quite roomy.

Monica and Emily keep themselves busy doing this type of stuff.

Andrew challenges his Dad to a game of Chess, I think the game ended suddenly due to a foot knocking over the table. Andrew wasn't very happy with his Dad..

One can enjoy the sun and the surroundings ALL DAY LONG!

Micah and Jenn cool off while boating at Walton Lake.

Our Tent!

Two Brothers!

Another night of entrainment singing and dancing. I hear it soothes the soul and I believe that!

OK??? I just love these two guys!

The girls talked me into taking them on a Jeep ride to the top.

The stream

Beauty is all around us.

For years to come I will always remember the summer camping trips. These post only gives you a small sample of our time we spend in the mountains. Special thanks to all who came and enjoy this time, with me. Hey you want to do it again!?!

pitching a tent

Champagne makes everything all better, read on...

Happy 7Th Anniversary!

We went up century drive with our camping gear to spend the night. We really don't worry were we will pitch our tent because Central Oregon is filled with places to camp if you are the type of person who doesn't need to stay in a camp ground, which we are that type.



We are fans of the broken top area but we knew that it was early in the season and the unmaintained road you take in to the base area could still be closed due to snow. Well not only was the gate up but there were big bolder rocks in front of the gate making Glenn nervous that they are going to close the road completely for the season or who knows how long. If that is the case we will have a 5 to 7 mile walk to our base camp where we are use to driving into it. This is not a good sign. But I won't worry about that right now, so we went to sparks lake to see if there was a spot, even though both of us knowing there probably wouldn't be. We were right, the whole area was full at least to our liking. So then we went on a powerline road (if you haven't been on a powerline road before you need to experience this just make sure you are in a jeep) not finding a good camping spot we went onto little Cultus Lake it was full also. Now we move onward 7 miles on a one way dirt road to Irish Taylor Lakes. The mosquito's were as thick as a cloud and we were in the jeep topless (the jeeps top was off)... So we left as quickly as you can on a dirt one way road. We decided to go down some logging road and see what we would find. We ended up somewhere on look out butte road, at 1st I really didn't like the spot until the music started playing and the champagne started flowing in due time this area became a really good camping spot. The stars were bright at least until about 2am then the moon came out and dimmed the starry night sky. Yes this evening at times got tense and Glenn was getting anxious trying to make sure the nightwould be perfect. Even though we felt it was hopeless at times and we were wondering if we were going to have a good evening, we did. The night camping was great, we even call the evening fun and exciting. Now we look back at the photos and laugh and situation we were in. We are still nervous about the boulders blocking the road we take to our paradise every summer, but maybe the next time we go there the boulders will be gone and the snow melted enough to get there. Even after scouting for a camping spot for 3 hours I still like to walk out of work and see Glenn waiting for me in the Jeep with all our camping gear, knowing we are heading somewhere into the mountains or sometimes to the desert for a good old night of camping our way....
This car was on the one lane road to Irish Taylor Lakes, I see this as a red flag, what about you? Glenn after the tent is pitched and he realizes everything with turn out OK!I have this weired thing about having this sheet around me when I don't really know where we are and it gets dark. I guess you could call this my protective sheet cape thing! It hasn't let me down yet.The next morning I found these little flowers growing along the downed trees. They almost look like a berry.

FEET of Camping Chapter VI

When you are on a camping trip for 5 days there are things that seems so important and you want to make sure and record. The one topic I picked is FEET, there were multiple times I laugh to myself and also out loud when I was looking at one of my fellow campers feet either because what they were wearing or how they were standing, walking or washing their feet was funny to me. It seemed that the later it got into the night the funner FEET got. The photos displayed below are only some of the examples I saw or it was the times I had my camera in hand. So here you go: The FEET of Camping!


As for my feet they seem to get very dirty with the daily life of camping. It did seem that right after you cleaned your feet they were dirty again, but it was so hot I enjoyed the cool water.

Try standing like this, not as easy at it looks, I think you have to be standing in red dirt after a drink, have tennis shoes on with it looks like no socks, what do you think.

It was late at night and these guys were doing the "standing by the fire stance", I guess...

Final Chapter: A Day in a Life of a Camper! Chapter VII

Sparks Lake / Vacation Chapter III

Cold Water + Rafts + bugs singing in the night+ helicopters + fire fighters + Conversations with friends + mountains in the back ground = SPARKS LAKE!

Cold Water!

Smoke Jumpers landing their helicopter at Sparks Lake, while fighting a fire south of Bend. What an amazing task to watch, the helicopter also used their water bucket which we watch them fill out of Sparks Lake. Great entertainment!

Libby enjoying the evening sunset! The Jerkins Family Dog.

Paul making a proud hand jester to one of the Sisters Mountain and the rest of us not really paying any attention to him.




37 miles from home on Century Drive and you can camp at one of the most wonderful places, well that is if you like to raft in the lake, hear nothing at night except for the multiple calls from bugs, frogs, birds and what ever else you can identify. I woke up at about 3am and I wanted to call out for everything around me to be quite then I realized I was in their home land and who was I to ask them to quit singing their night time symphony.







There are no rafting photos because we did not want to get our cameras wet so next time we go I am going to buy a throw away water proof camera to capture the scenes from this adventure. If only I could show you Lisa's head bobbing up and down while she is in her raft paddling down one of the channels that flows into Sparks Lake. She looked like one of those carnival games when you hit the head when it pops up I still am laughing just writing about it. As for me I was in a raft with Glenn and by the end of our trip they were calling me Cleopatra, whats with that???