August, 2011

We took our Airstream Bambi on her first camping trip this weekend to Ilwaco, Washington. We had already planned on driving our son up to Long Beach to stay with his cousins and grandparents at a condo for the weekend, and we decided it would be the perfect opportunity to take her out and see how everything worked.

Heading down the driveway on our first adventure!

The trip started perfectly. Todd was able to maneuver the trailer down the driveway quite easily…something we were a bit concerned about. The drive over the mountains was fine and the truck seemed to have plenty of power.

We made reservations at the local KOA campground since this was a last minute trip and all the state parks were full. We were pleasantly surprised by the KOA. The campground was beautiful, situated in a little meadow, surrounded by trees. There were very few people there, and since our trailer was so small, we were able to camp in an open space near the tent area. We were relieved because being lined up next to a parking lot full of giant RV’s really isn’t our idea of camping.

When we arrived, the weather was beautiful – blue skies and warm temps. We set up camp and tried to make a campfire. We worked on that fire for almost three hours. After the rainiest year in almost 75 years, the local firewood was just too wet to burn.

Ilwaco, KOA Campground

The next morning it was a bit cool and cloudy – typical beach weather. We drove over to Cape Disappointment State Park to hike around a bit. The scenery was beautiful and we had a great lunch. Near Waikiki Beach, a local man set up an outside pizza cafe using a wood burning oven. The pizza was wonderful, and he treated us to some homemade coffee ice-cream for dessert.

Meanwhile, back at the condo,Scott and his cousins spent the afternoon swimming and riding bikes. We ended the day with a nice fish-n-chips dinner with Todd’s parents.

Sunday morning, we woke up to the “more typical” coastal rain. It started out quite heavy and then proceeded to mist enough just to keep everything soaking wet. We packed up ready to head home feeling pretty pleased that our first trip was a success!

We’re already looking forward to our next outing where we’ll be boondocking for 5 days! That will be an ADVENTURE!!!

Pulling the Bambi over the Astoria Bridge.

Scott and his cousins checking the place out.

View on our first night.

Cute little kitchen

Cozy Glow

On the boardwalk…

Todd and his mo

Relaxing