Exploring the Depths: Girls Only Camping Trip Day Two

Beginning of day two - and yes, indeed, the clouds were clearing.  No more rain, and blue skies were fighting for dominance.  Hallelujah!!!

One of our first encounters of the day was with "Gary" the Campground Host.  We've been blessed with our last two camping trips of having campground hosts that have been super informative and helpful to us.  Gary told us all about Jot Dean Cave (which we'd found on a map), Medicine Lake, and, best of all, the Lava Beds National Monument.  While I spoke to Gary (a grandfatherly sort of guy), the girls made friends with "Chip", his dog.  Chip grunted and groaned constantly in appreciation of all of the girls attention and love, he was in Heaven!

Waiting for the clouds to clear out - with Russian Tea and our Kindles (while the kids, literally, played with fire) =)

On the road....see that blue sky?  We followed this scenic byway for about 70 miles each way to our final destination.  But, it was SO WORTH it.  The scenery was gorgeous, it was paved and easy to drive, and we pretty much had the whole route to ourselves.

Here's a view just a few miles in.  That's Mt. Shasta amidst the clouds.

First stop, and the first cave of the day - "Jot Dean Cave".  We were told this one had ice...

Going down into the crater.

And, then we hit the ice.  Ellie did a little sliding and got her backside a little wet.

This is the view from where Michele was sitting back up to the entrance.  You can barely see the silhouettes of the girls.

Next stop, a couple of lakes.  The first one was Blanche, and the next Bullseye.  Along the way, we found snow, undoubtedly left behind from the night before's storm.

The last lake stop was Medicine Lake.  This place is "hopping" with all of its offerings once it gets warmer.  It has a cut apart area for swimming, apparently it's well stocked with fish, and has lots of camping and picnicking.  However, given the patches of snow around the lake, we weren't too interested in any of the water sports.

About 17 miles beyond Medicine Lake, we came to the the Lava Beds National Monument.

The scenery changed dramatically from this side of the mountain - you could actually see all the way to Oregon's border from here.

This place has over a dozen caves to explore, but they require you to check in first so you can pay the National Park fee and also verify you haven't visited other caves along the east coast or Europe to risk bringing in a fungus dangerous to the bat population here.   Bats?  You bet...however, they closed off the particular caves where the bats were tending to their babies at this time of year.  So, there were no encounters of the winged-furry-creature kind.

The first, "introductory" cave was "The Mushpot".  It had LED lighting along the way to illuminate special features, and gave us our first opportunity to watch our heads (yes, that's why you are told to wear helmets) and try duck-walking under the low lava bed ceilings.

From there, we spent the next three hours (until two minutes before the park closed!) exploring six more caves.  

Skull Cave, one of the few that still had an ice ledge in the park, was named after two human skeletons found in the cave next to dozens of animal (like livestock) skeletons.  No one knows why they were down there.

We didn't get back to our campground until around 6:30 - just in time to bbq some hot dogs, heat up some baked beans, and perfect the meal (and a wonderful day) with s'mores.  

Defeat and Triumph

This blog post is kind of an addendum to the chronicles of our camping trip.  It zeroes in on what took place Monday night - both for me - and what John was able to witness Monday night back in Eugene.

Beginning with me - I started hurting about halfway through the day.  This time, it was sinus pressure causing the headache - but it was escalating fast so by the time we got to the campground, I was just a shell of myself trying to set up camp through the pain.  I retreated into the tent before dinner, taking an ice pack from the cooler with me and dwelling on these thoughts...

- Why did I only pack the limited pain meds that I did?
- If I take more right now, will I have enough to last if every day of our trip feels like this day?
- Do the pain meds even help any more?
- If I put a Thermacare patch on my face and an icepack on my neck, will that help?
- Am I candidate for Sinoplasty? (or whatever that's called) - as it only feels like it's getting worse.
- I'm pretty sure I have seasonal allergies now - as this congestion is never ending....and if not, what is my problem?
- And, most specifically, how long will this last?  Is this my lot for this camping trip?  Why?  When I'm doing something I love so much, why can't I feel okay? 

I felt VERY SORRY for myself.  I prayed a lot.  I was sad. 

After a "kind-of-nap", I joined the fam for dinner and then soon after, retreated back in to the tent with the rain (which was FINE by me, as that's where I wanted to be anyway....and at least I could be in the company of my family now).

That's when the texts started coming in from John.  (Ironically, the best cell reception I had in the site was in my little corner of the tent).

Simultaneously, he was at the Olympic Track and Field Trials in Eugene.  I will have to get a good picture-laden post up of his experience - pretty amazing and special considering he was gifted with four top-notch, VIP tickets.  When given the choice as to which event to pick to go to, it was a no brainer - the Javelin Finals.  Because, one of our UO grads was competing, Cyrus Hostettler - and hopefully to end the day knowing he'd be headed to London.

We've known Cyrus since we first started with CCF.  Here's a picture of him helping Mikayla to fly at our first Winema retreat. 

He is a special guy and a hugely dedicated athlete.  Just last week, it was announced Nike was sponsoring him...a ginormous dream come true for this guy, but nothing compared to being Olympics bound.

So, we communicated through texts to see his progress through the night.  He made it into finals, but wasn't throwing like he wanted.  First throw in finals, not so good.  Second and third, not really either.

Here's the text dialogue from John: (and my responses)

"Pray for Cyrus, he needs it"
    (Praying right now)
"He's not going to London =("
   (So sad, heart is breaking for him)
"So sad"
   (=( )
then, after another 7 minutes....
"Hold on"
"I hear that he may be going after all"
  (keep me posted)
"I will love"
"HE'S GOING!!!!!!"
"PRAISE THE LORD!"

As a quick explanation, Cyrus did end up in fifth place for the throws on Monday night, but the top three did not achieve the "A Standard" necessary for competing at the Olympics.  Cyrus has already accomplished that goal at the PanAm games last summer.  So, because he was eligible and they weren't, he was Olympics-bound.  John said that even though he knew that could be the possibility, but if you were sitting in the stands watching the top three wave their American flags in victory and seeing the total dejected-ness from Cyrus, you'd have absolutely believed he wasn't going and they were.  It took a while to work itself all out - and then, John snapped this picture and texted it to me when it became clear Cyrus was London-bound.

We all cheered and celebrated for Cyrus in our tent - especially after having grieved for him for over five minutes.  John was able to meet up with him later that evening, and even though he was disappointed with his performance, he was ecstatic to be an Olympian representing the United States of America.  

Throughout the night, as I woke up intermittently assessing my pain and recognizing it wasn't gone yet, I thought of Cyrus and his victory.  When I woke up Tuesday morning, I too, felt victory.  It was tentative, as I worried the pain would return with vengeance at any moment.  I was actually worrisome all day for it to kick in (what a waste).  But, instead, God had given me a victory - in that pain didn't steal my personality or experiences again for the rest of our trip.  

Sometimes, defeat, even though painful - can make victory that much more profound.

California or Bust: Girls Only Camping Trip Day One

Woo hoo! Time to go camping! And nothing like having to back the car all the way into the garage because of the rain coming down while packing Monday morning.  Where there's a will, there's a way....yes, we got all of what we needed in.  And, after the fact, I can honestly say, we did not over pack...all this stuff was pretty much what we needed and used for four days camping.

This was the drive south.  Yes, good choice to get outta dodge!

Our girls were very enthusiastic.

However, due to Dramamine - this was the backseat scene within an hour of leaving our house. 

After a stop off to fill up with gas in Medford, we were headed over the border.  Normally, I LOVE Oregon, but I was really okay to see this sign.

And, then, to see this sign.

And, soon.....this view.  Wait, is that blue skies?!!!

 

Finally, within an hour of getting into California, we hit McCloud, Oregon.  The campground we were aiming to stay at was just five miles from this cute little historic logging company town.

And, there it is.   Michele absolutely NAILED it in terms of finding the IDEAL place for us to stay.  It really is an achievement to have done that sight unseen - and we are VERY picky about campgrounds and sites to stay at.  But, this place had it all and we had a unanimous decision in no time about where to set up home for the next three nights.  I probably complimented Michele a half dozen times throughout our trip of just how perfect her suggestion was to come to this particular location.

We made pretty quick work of getting the tent and campsite set up. 

And, then on to dinner.  Because we have a brand new stove/oven combo (before, I'd had both components, but not combined) - we picked foods we could warm up easily in the oven.  Dinner #1:  Orange Chicken and Fried Rice from the Safeway deli!  What can I say, our kids are picky and this is one of their favorite meal choices!

Unfortunately, within an hour after finishing dinner, the rain drops began.  We hussled to stow the things that shouldn't get wet back in the car - and we stowed ourselves in the tent.  We'd tried to do a good job setting up with the rain fly to protect us in case this did happen.  Huge praises to the Coleman Company for creating a tent that did withstand hours and hours of steady rain.  We did not get wet!  However, the kids were a little hyper and not quite ready to hit the hay at 6:30.  They played card games, worked on lanyards, and played with their stuffed animals.  Eventually, we all fell asleep to the steady, loud rain.

We went to sleep hoping to find clouds having cleared out in the morning - and refreshed for lots of adventures ahead!