Camping along the Metolius River

What a wonderful week. It’s not often that my side of the family is able to get together to spend time with one another. We’re all busy with jobs and families and we live in different parts of the country. It’s a rare opportunity when we’re able to unite and it makes the time we have together even sweeter.

My brother and I were raised here in Portland where my parents lived for 30+ years before moving back to their home state of South Dakota. My brother is a Marine and has lived all over the country. He’s currently stationed in South Carolina…in the sunshine. He hasn’t lived in Oregon for over 20 years and his memories of our state are soured with recollections of overcast skies and RAIN! It was fun to remind him how beautiful Oregon summers are!

We had just six short days to spend together and we made the most of them. We spent the first part of the week at Camp Sherman on the Metolius River. Despite massive wildfires in the area, the skies remained clear and smoke free. This is a spot that Todd and I love to camp. It was fun to share it with our family.

Camp sites are hard to come by this time of year but we were able to secure one right next to the river and the day use area. The perfect place to set up picnics and ample room for the kids to play. The kids had a great time! Football, freeze tag, sword fights, swimming, rock skipping and archery (with a $5.00 bow and arrow) filled the days. Marshmallow roasting, moth catching and poker games filled our nights. Great fun!

Evening walk along the river.

The Metolius as seen from our camp site.

Perfect place to pitch a tent for the kids.

Mom and Dad stayed just a short walk from our campground at the Metolius River Lodges. The little cabins were roomy, clean and had well appointed kitchens. This would have been a great place for a family reunion if we had not been camping!