Adventure 967: Family Camp Priest Lake 2025/F

Last day/evening/night. 

We played peek-a-boo with the sun all day and ended up with a quite adequate sun and beach day. On the boo-boo side of things, I stubbed my pinky on the hard oak coffee table leg. The side angle location of my pinky doesn't bode too well. Ice, elevation and compression is my treatment. It does sting a little bit. There's some black and blue beginning to form at the affected joint. More information tomorrow. As for the week, we were once again wildly successful. We enjoyed a full nine days of early summer lake weather which included a little more wind than we wanted, but a very brief thunder storm when we first arrived felt and sounded good and it reminded us of the power of nature. We had what you'd expect in nine days. Weather across the board. We used the cool days  for exploring; the sun days for beaching. In between, we ate too much, too often, and every one took a turn at the stove and to provide their traditional best. As my friend, Mike Ellsworth said, "Starvin' again I see." We enjoy the gifts of several creative and practiced cooks, which in this setting means we simply enjoy well made meals served with love. The dishes have become traditional. This being our fifth straight successful family camp leads me to believe that life is good, especially today.

The Ferguson cabin: railroad tie stairway.

The waterfront.

Lakeside fire pit.

Nose pluggers.

Just Falcs.

Toys tucked away for the evening.

Dragon.

Family.
 

Adventure 966: Family Camp Priest Lake 2025/E

Angela and Sawyer sent us into the day with made to order crepes, either savory or sweet or both. Afterward we bid Sawyer and Khy good bye for their long trip home. Libby had to work, so the rest of us piled into the vehicles and made our way up Lion Head Creek toward the sliding rocks. Five miles of drain rutted logging road led to a 1.5 mile hike. We never did make it to the rock slides, but the walk up the creek bed felt and smelled good. We stopped to look for huckleberries on the way back and were moderately successful given the date and weather. Next week will be prolific. We sent Steve, Bonnie and there girls on their way leaving us with exactly half of what we had yesterday. We'll see what the weather brings tomorrow,  but right now we're immersed in another game of Mexican Train with the added entertainment of Falcon playing his own hand. So, even though it wasn't beach weather, we had a nice adventurous day at the lake so naturally we think life is pretty good, especially today.

Live shot of yesterday's Granite Falls hike.

Measuring trees.

TC/Bonnie

Falcs.

Surprise to see Liz. Yeah!

Sarah.

Steve.

Mimi/Poppops

The crew.

Mom and the girls.

Bonnie/Emily.

One of several creek crossings.

Slippery when wet.

Adventure 965: Family Camp Priest Lake 2025/D

The close to our nine day stay at the lake always seems to come quickly as our time skates on the heels of much good food, much good relaxing, many good laughs, and plans for our next gathering. Starting the exodus, Sawyer and Khy left right after breakfast to make their way back to Portland, a long drive regardless of age. Steve, Bonnie, Emily, and Sarah will leave later today which will diminish our numbers by half. Yesterday's highlights including a video of Mimi making angel food cake for the girls birthday celebration we enjoyed last night. She continued her performance this morning demonstrating the fine art of Semel making. Angela filmed both processes for posterity. Here's hoping the art will pass to the grand children. We managed a family picture thanks to Libby's organization, which will be nice because it ends the debate on what to do for our Christmas picture. Such banalities form the bulk of our life here at the lake. We've no real pressure, lots of good hope, and plenty of good fortune to be thankful for. In that vein, life is good especially today.

Several wire creatures emerged this week including this Lake Dragon.

Hikes a plenty happened.

Mimi paddling away,

Sawyer close behind.

Angela at the Blackstone.

Build a castle-smash a castle-build a castle.

Emily enjoying the beach.

Sarah chilling out.

The "Wiley Cager" pulling one of her slick maneuvers.

This flat top Blackstone kicked our cooking game up a few notches.

Mimi demonstrating how to work the angel food cake batter.

It's all in the wrist.

Sisters, grinning like chipmunks.

Scene from the Granite Falls adventure.

All the birthday girls.

See ya next time, Sawyer and Khy. 

 

Adventure 964: Family Camp Priest Lake 2025/C

When Judy and I began the negotiations of our relationship, the first philosophical conundrum to surface was how to cook French Toast. I came from the dip and flip camp. Judy came from the Abe K tradition, which requires thick cut slices of French bread to be soaked for twenty minutes. After thirty-six years we keep alive the Abe K method. Dip and flip is a distant memory. This morning Mimi cooked up an excellent rendition of Abe's toast, sizzled some bacon, cut some fresh fruit, and called us to the table. Pretty good way to start the day. After breakfast, the unraveling began. Some read. Some napped. Some hiked. Some took to the beach. Water sports were hindered by the stiff wind that blew all day. Eighteen-twenty mph white caps rolled in. Sarah rescued a paddle board that had loosed itself down the beach. So, as usual,, we all spread in our various directions for the day. For dinner, Sawyer, Angela, and Khy made spring rolls and mango rice. Excellent. A few rounds of Mexican Train after dinner, some ice cream for dessert, and a nice sunset to end the evening. Clearly, life is good, especially today.

Mimi at the griddle with her helper.

Side of bacon goes well.

Last night's paella.

Khy rolled this nice example of a spring roll.

Chicken, shrimp, assorted veggies, noodles, peanut sauce. All good.

Condiments.

Tia and Falcs.

Tia, Falc, TC lounges last evening.

Hand pool is a favorite game.

Some still used the cue.

Adventure 963: Family Camp Priest Lake 2025/B

S.O.D. or Sun on the Dock occurred around ten this morning. From then on splashes, paddles,, blurbs and gigglers filled out the beach scene. Buoyed by a pleasant veggie scramble that Bonnie made for breakfast we all made our way to the water as soon as we finished. The first batch took the kayaks out before the wind came up. Then Bonnie and the girls combined kayak and paddle boards for a mom-girls row about the lake. Falc played in the water, had a good lesson in paddling his own kayak and generally molded sand all day. Libby and I sat own the shade for a good part of the mid afternoon. The water glistened; the waves lapped, and the gentle breeze comforted. It was pretty good. And adventurous group took off for hike, including tonight's chef. They returned. Dinner will be European style: late. One of the fun things for me to see is the interaction between family members. Mother to son. Mimi's gentle wings spread wide. Husband-wife; father-daughter, brother-sister; sister-sister; boyfriend-girlfriend. There's a place for every version. Mostly, it's cause for realizing that life is good, especially today.

Number one grandson and his friend Kay just strolling.

My Bunny glowing during our hike.

Budmandoo sizzling up the sausages.

Water bugs:Sarah and Emily.

Angela kicking back on the Master Bedroom deck.

Bonnie headin' out.

Sawyer pondering the meaning of life.

Sawyer standing on the precipice.

Ready, set, dive!

Who needs a "He-man"?

Most of the crew.

Chef T.C. before Paella.

Chef Leticia after Paella.

Trails of a day on the beach.

Same time tomorrow.