This weekend, Mary Beth, Elijah, Tölpel, Jazz, and I went camping with friends from Logos to celebrate a birthday. It was quite the adventure.

When we arrived at the national park, all cell phone service went out. Since all the camp sites in Washington State were booked up, we drove to the mountain hoping that we might be one of the lucky ones to get a walk-up spot (WA campsites must keep 30% of each site available for walk-ups). As we circled through one site after another, we finally reached the last one. There was no room.

So, we keep driving up the road until it ended. Other campers were there. There as an outhouse, and a river nearby, and wide open spaces.

(End of the road: Parking Area)

(Elijah Coming out of the tent to play)

(stream)

(The river)

(The crew)

(Elijah sleeping while I checked out a cave)

(Stream coming down the mountain)

(Four dogs and the rest of the crew)

(Elijah’s checking things out)

(View from the tent)

(Elijah had so much fun playing with the dogs, dirt, and rocks. Couldn’t have been happier.)

This was not the camping trip that any of us expected, but it turned out to be much better than our expectations. It was a fun, rustic camping experience. Each morning, we woke up, fetched the water from the river, boiled the water, made coffee, cooked breakfast, and enjoyed God’s gorgeous creation and one another.

And now, that the internet is back, all is right with the world.