Adventure 496: Camping With Our Granddaughters: Heyburn Revisited

Another Adventure!

In what's become a tradition, our grand daughters, Emily and Sarah, are spending some time with us before school starts. To start our week together we took the trailer down to our favorite  local campsite, Hawley's Landing in Heyburn State Park. It was a bitter sweet time due to the weather, which found the local air quality to be the worst in America. For the last five summers at least, our August air has been filled with lung choking smoke caused by wild fires. Some of the smoke has traveled on the air stream from as far away as central California, but most comes from fires much closer. Nearly one hundred thousand acres of forest and grass are on fire in our area. There are at least six hot spots currently unconfined. Most have started due to lightning strikes, but unfortunately others have been caused by careless humans. Nonetheless, the air was so smoky, we were forced inside. No worries. We played games, watched movies, and otherwise enjoyed ourselves. Monday afternoon, a strong wind blew in from the Northeast. By the next morning, a dangerous particulate level of 460 was down to a more breathable 98. This allowed us to ride our bikes. Inspired by the lure of ice cream, the girls managed a personal record for them of 21 miles, and what's more impressive, they managed to average a little over ten miles per hour. It was fun! Our only regret is that fire danger prevented us from having Smores. Oh, well. While we have them this week, we'll take them school shopping, visit the local museums, play some cribbage, and otherwise hang out. I can remember thinking having children was a good idea. It's even more evident when we get to spoil the grand kids. That alone makes life good, especially today.

 The girls helped set up the trailer by putting the "feet" down.

 Emily also learned how to hook the power and water up.

 An avid reader, Emily found a comfortable spot to settle in.

 Sarah even got to take a nap.

 This strong wind out of the Northeast moved most of the smoke out by morning.

 Art shot of the day: Waterhose pretzel. 

 Selfie of the day.

 The girls are learning to be "Wiley Cagers"

 The "girls" at the top of the Chatcolet bridge.

 10.5 miles one way just to get ice cream.

 Sarah, recovering from her ride.

George update: We went over to play dominoes last night. George was as sharp as he's been. He kept up with the game and even kept score.