Ok, I know you've all been waiting to hear about Hartstine Island, our last camping trip of the summer. Our girls had been waiting all summer to go. We left Newberg August 22 and returned August 25th.Hartstine Island is in the southernmost tip of Puget Sound. To get there we traveled North on I-5 to Olympia Washington, then headed west on HWY101 to Shelton, a small forestry town (see the map linked to the photo album).
The entire area looks like a lake or river, until you get near enough to smell seaweed and saltwater. When you walk along the pebbly beach, you unexpectedly find barnacles, crabs, sand dollars, and oysters. The water level is affected by the tides, although it is still a 4 hour drive north to where this water opens up on the ocean proper.
The cabin we stayed at belongs to my friend Sonia's uncle. It's a place she and her family have been coming to for years and years, originally purchased as a Christmas tree farm by her Great-Grandparents. So while we "camped" in the bus, to allow others to use the cabin's bedrooms, we had access to the huge bathroom, modern kitchen, and spacious dining room table.
Sonia has a lot of friends. She invited 35 people, and most of them showed up at some point during the weekend, although there were about 20 of us who stayed overnight. Annick and Sean brought their new baby Eadon, and Will and Kathleen brought their daughter Gretchen. Kate and Torey brought their kids Claira and Zoe.This meant my Zoe and Cassie had plenty of kids to play with. Zoe was especially surprised to be the second oldest kid there. She's used to being the littlest, but rose to the "be a role model" challenge just fine.
We had awesome weather for Saturday. Activities included pickleball, swinging in the large swing, relaxing, reading, talking with friends, swimming (for those brave enough to ignore the cold), canoeing/kayaking, and hanging out. Saturday evening the party really got started with great food and loud music. After S'mores, the girls joined the patio dance party and had a blast!
Check out the photo album here:
Hartstine Weekend
Sunday morning was fairly nice, but most of the guests had to leave to prep for work on Monday. By the afternoon, we were the only guests left. It started pouring really hard, and so we made use of our indoor games and activities. We took naps and worked on craft projects. Sonia was leaving the next day for the desert- going to the Burning Man art festival in the Black Rock Desert, Nevada. One of Sonia's favorite traditions about this is the many costumes that people wear. So she worked on her costumes and got them organized for later when she would be tired from travelling and unwilling to search through unsorted stuff.
The sunset that evening was spectacular, I couldn't stop taking pictures, and then they all turned out so good that I had a really hard time weeding them out. Check out the full array here:Sunset Photos
We were sad to leave on Monday morning, but happy that we came and created yet another fond Hartstine memory.
2 comments:
The sunset photo is awesome indeed. What a wonderful place. Wish I were small enough for the swing, although it looks as though it could hold me. Jeanne/Mom
Actually, you can fit in that swing! It held our friend Sean (200+ lbs) and his 4 month old baby.
I should ask Sonia if she knows where to get one like it. The little part that the girls were using to run around is technically a foot rest.
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