Bridgeport is a small town in the middle of Washington, just past the Cascade Mountains. The area is desert and there gorgeous apple/other fruit orchards all around. I'm not going to lie, it was a long @ss drive out there, but the first morning when we woke in the upper bunk of the Westy and gazed out at the view, it was worth it. Did you notice that I didn't say we saw the view until the first morning? That's because the drive took so long that it was near dark just as we were pulling into the campsite. A few stressful times needless to say, but we did manage to get the Westy set up, the kids fed and into bed ok. (All in the dark too!)
Before we left, I quickly checked the weather forecast and it said: Bridgeport, 38 degrees...Feels like, 38 degrees. Oh boy. This was the one time I wished a sunny forecast to be wrong. It wasn't. Especially the "Feels like" part. Here are some pictures of us trying to avoid melting in the sun.
Having the sprinklers on in the middle of the day in that heat probably wasn't the best use of water, but you didn't see us complaining.
Maddy and Ethan had a great time playing with Joshie, Avery, Sophia and Skye (a friend of the Van Dops). In fact we saw very little of Maddy since she was so busy playing with her friends. She and Joshie spent a lot of time hanging out in the back of the truck. Here they are rocking out to their own made up song. This was after spending the day in there with the camping chairs and playing 'business'.
Ethan also had a great time, but he tended to play with all the toys the Van Dops brought. Here's a good shot of his 'camping face'.
Here we are having breakfast. We brought the bikes so Ethan was riding his bike while we made breakfast. No we don't make him wear a helmet while sitting in the camping chairs. (Though I have to admit they do come in handy with those tipsy chairs!)
Here is group shot taken just before we left on the last day.
The drive back home was quite the adventure. Remember the 38 degrees? Well the Westy's motor doesn't like either. We were driving about an hour into our first part of the trip and the heat from the sun along with the heat from the engine was too much for the motor. We had to find some shade and pull over for while to let the engine cool. It was pretty stressful to think that we could find ourselves with a toasted engine in the middle of that heat with the kids and just a little bit of food floating in water in the cooler. Once it cooled, we were off again. We made it to Winthrop (A small Cowboy themed town) for lunch and we met up with the Van Dops again for ice cream.
Then we were off again. Well, that's until we hit the hills for the Cascade Mountains. Again, heat plus having to work extra hard on the hills and our poor Westy need many breaks. We knew as long as we could get up to the top of the pass, we could cruise down on the other side. So we had no choice but to take it easy and just make frequent stops.
One of the stops we hit a little snow.
Here she is having a rest part way up.
Once we made it to the top, we knew we were ok and were able to relax. The rest of the drive was just long. The kids thankfully fell asleep again between 5:30 and 6:30pm so we took advantage of the later bedtime and stopped in Bellis Fair for dinner and a quick trip to Target. We didn't get home until 10:30 that night, but after a quick bath, the kids happily and easily went to bed. That ends our camping trip. It was a lot of fun and I look forward to many more to come. Definitely hoping to make this an annual trip! Thanks to the Van Dops, 'Lowricos', Skye and Vangie for a memorable weekend.
