1st Camping Trip Ever

I got home today from the best 72 hours of my life, and I got to spend all of it with my wonderful boyfriend.

I've never been camping before. My parents went camping when they were younger but they're not real outdoors-ey types so my sister, Sarah, and I have never been camping. We never even pitched tents in our backyard, because we don't own any tents.

So Colin, who has grown up going to kids' camps and outdoor school because he lives in artsy, crazy, crafty SE Portland and went to hippie school, decided to take me to the SRVIV'D campout.

A friend of the family's, Peaceman, got into an accident ten years ago. He was horribly injured and came very, very close to knocking on Death's door. Thankfully, he survived. That's why he holds this huge campout and invites all sorts of family and friends and friends of friends to his little patch of forest every year. To simply celebrate life and have a good time.

So I got to go to the 10th anniversary of the SRVIV'D Campout, or as dad put it, "a happening." I had a great time. There was a stage and sound equipment set up so live music was playing most of the time and you could hear it from all around. On Saturday, there were carnival games where you could win SRVIV'D dollars and go and buy stuff from the "store," which was a really cool gathering of prizes that Paula and her husband, Peaceman (also know as Christopher), had set up in their office. There was stuff ranging from beanie babies, to Elaine's truffles, to sports jerseys, to liquor. It was great. Colin and I went round all the different games for a while and saved up enough dollars to get some orange truffles that his dad's girlfriend, Elaine, made.

After we were done throwing baseballs at bottles full of sand, or trying to toss a pool noodle through a hula hoop on a zipline or dunking Elaine in the dunk tank, there was a huge potluck. Everyone brought food and I had gathered up much more than I could have eaten. I gave my leftovers to Colin's dad, Jason, who was too lazy to get up and get a plate of his own.

Colin, Jason, Elaine and I were planning on going to Salmon River at midnight for some swimming but after dinner we quickly realized that it would be much more fun to do it when it was still warm out and we had full bellies. So off we hiked.

Colin and I had tried and failed to find the river before because Elaine's instructions of "It'll take 30 minutes. Just follow the main road, then there will be a trail, then just follow the signs." were completely untrue. There was one sign the entire way and it took closer to 50 minutes. Still, swimming in a cold river on a hot day when there are no showers to be had is pretty wonderful.

After we got back there was music and Colin made me dance. We roasted a single marshmallow each and listened to more awesome music, this time more freestyle. This guy Will sang for about 30 minutes straight about how Jason's balls are shrivelly little raisins and how he wants to be "best friends" with Jason.

It was a great weekend. And of course, I had the pleasure of waking up wrapped in my boyfriend's arms.