Once again, I find myself months behind on documenting our outings. Now that summer’s here and I have a extra time, I plan on catching up! I really enjoy having all my camping photos and trip notes in one place! So, I’ll begin where I left off….back in mid April.
One of the things I most look forward to each year is spring in the Columbia River Gorge. April and May are typically very grey and wet in the valley and void of much color…unless you LOVE green…moss and more moss set against grey skies. A two hour drive down the gorge however will usually allow for a glimpse of blue sky and some early color. We usually plan a trip to Memaloose State Park as soon as it opens, for a weekend of wandering around Rowena Crest admiring the wildflowers.
This year we set off a couple of weeks early for the wildflower show. The weekend weather looked nice and I knew the apple blossoms were in bloom in Hood River. Although it wasn’t quite late enough for optimum blossoms we decided to go anyway so we could enjoy the views with a little sunshine. We lucked out…with all the nice early weather they’d been having in the gorge, the apple blossoms were popping early and we were even treated to a few spots with wildflowers.
We got a lovely site at Memaloose State Park. We chose to move back from the river (where the wind was howling) to a secluded tent spot near the back of the park. We gladly gave up hookups for a little quiet and privacy.
Perfect campsite!
A view of the apple orchards with Mt. Hood in the background.
Lacy apple blossoms…
A view of the valley
After an hour of driving through the orchards we decided to make our way up to Rowena Crest on the off chance that the flowers were beginning to bloom. It was still too early at the wildflower preserve, but a short distance down the road we stopped for a small hike and we were rewarded with a few early clusters of lupins and paintbrush!
Early color
We returned to our campsite in late afternoon…relaxed, had a nice dinner, enjoyed a campfire and once again we were treated to a colorful sunset.
We brought a little of our own color along….
Cooper was glad to see us return. He stayed behind for the wild flower hike because we knew there was so much poison oak in the area.
A second colorful sunset…
The (not so) Small Small Trailer 
Much like you, my husband and I fell in love with Airstreams quite unexpectedly and completely. When we saw a 16′ Bambi on the July, 2010 cover of Sunset magazine, we instantly fell in love and decided we had to have one. We purchased our new 16′ Bambi in 2011. It is our first RV of any kind … we had never before even thought of owning an RV and were not campers. But, alas we entered the world of Airstream. It made perfect sense, also, because we could now take our dogs with us almost anywhere we traveled. We live in Northern California (Napa Valley), where there are so many great campgrounds relatively nearby (the Pacific Coast, the Redwoods, Lake Tahoe, etc.). Our Bambi feels like part of the family. Thank you so very much for your beautiful blog! Your writing and photography are quite remarkable. I love your Bambi’s décor (inside and out) … you’ve given me some nice decorating ideas. I enjoy every post and am always so delighted when new ones appear.
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I hope you enjoy yours as much as we’ve enjoyed ours!!! It has sure made us get out and explore where we live!
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Nice to see another post – I actually saw this when you posted it, but was reading it on my phone. I’ve noticed in the last few trips, I’m not seeing the red portable grill. Just curious to know if it didn’t hold up, you tired of it or found something better? We just bought a Cuisanart travel charcoal grill but wondering if propane would have been better. As always, your photos are beautiful and I’m still envious of that trailer. 🙂 If you ever want to sell it….
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Barbara, I loved our little bbq because it was red and matched so nicely…but, Todd has always wanted the Weber so with our son moving into his own apartment at college next year, we donated the little red bbq to him and got ourselves the Weber. I have to say it cooks really nicely!
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Kim…can you message me on Facebook? I found an Airstream to purchase like yours but I have many questions! Will you help?
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