*SIGH* Why Did it Have to End?

I'm convinced that nature is God's version of Prozac or therapy, at least for me. He created so many gorgeous things in this world......mountains, old growth trees, little sparrows, lush forests, hot sunshine and valleys. We went camping this weekend, if you couldn't guess :-) The Oregon Rally Group was putting on the annual Oregon Trail Rally in central and coastal Oregon. Erik and I went, along with a few of his co-workers and their friends or fiances. We had such a blast driving around in the woods, finding cool spots to take pictures and even more fun, finding interesting, hidden places to "relieve ourselves".

The weekend started off with a nice, long drive from Federal Way to Hillsboro, Oregon. We stayed at a place called Horning's Hideout, where Erik and I have stayed a few times before. I've probably mentioned the peacocks in the past :-) Anyways! We built a great fire and tried to stay warm. Horning's Hideout is WAY down a the bottom of a ravine so it was quite cold.....but it was worth it for the scenery. The owners had set up our firepit and even left us a tuplip on the table..... We will definitely be back again next year!

We were up with the sun on Saturday morning and started out with breakfast, which was Fried Piles (a bacon/egg/english muffin meal made Hadlock style). We then went to Hillsboro Stadium to see all the Rally Cars lined up and ready to go. THEN, it was a long drive out to the Tillamook National Forest to start the mayhem :-) My heartbeat jumped when I heard the first car about a mile away from us, roaring down the logging roads. The first few cars are always the fastest and give us spectators a thrill with loud entries, flying rocks and tons of billowing dust. GOOD STUFF. There was a long wait until the next pass through that corner, so we all piled in our trucks and headed up a really steep hill, up to the top of a mountain. There, we had an ariel view of a few sweeping turns, which was awesome despite the fact the cars were kinda far away. We fired up the grill and made yummy burgers and drank tons of beer. Oh and the sunshine!!! We were probably up oh, about a thousand feet or more and it was still over 70! Erik got a sunburn on his neck and face, as did the rest of us. We built complicated rock towers, played with Charlotte (the little Jack Russell that was hanging out with us), ate grubbin' camp food and enjoyed the fresh air without all the distractions of life. Wonderful. Best time ever. Didn't have a care in the world. I wasn't thinking about work or money or my mom or my weight or my issues with friends or anything else....... complete relaxation. Won't ever forget it :-)

Phew! As if that wasn't enough fun, we headed out towards a campsite Erik and I had been a few times. We found a site all nestled back into some trees and got settled in. After getting all our tents set up and things put away, we settled around a huge fire, roasting brauts, drinkin' cheap beer and munchin' on goodies....great times.....beautiful scenery with HUGE trees and a cool river nearby.

We ended up walking down to that river early Sunday morning......it was breathtaking. The sun was hot already, even at 8 in the morning and the breeze coming off the river was just perfect! Eventually, we noticed we were actually at a spot where 3 rivers came together and joined forces, which was cool. Charlotte loved trying to nip at the little shore waves and the boys got a kick out of trying to build rock towers using oddly shaped rocks :-) I took a ton of photos, but not all were digital so I can't post some of the coolest ones here.

The rally race on Sunday wasn't quite as exciting as it was on Saturday, but that's not unusual. After exploring logging roads and cool dirt trails, we finally decided it was time for one last grilled burger and than we needed to make the long trek back up I5.

This last weekend couldn't have been more perfect if I had planned it myself. The people we were with were great, the food was excellent, the rally was good, the weather was incredible, we slept great and got to ignore email, cell phones, traffic and the news....... perfection. All I could do on the way home is recap everything we had done and thank God for creating such a fun place to explore.

I am refreshed........ 100% rejuvenated and ready to take on the next thing..

I've been trying to post photos here but Blogger is apparently having trouble uploading photos........ again.

Oh well! I'll try to post 'em this week sometime.

Time to work now!!