Family camping trip. That hasn’t happened in more than five years. Michael and the boys would go and I would stay home to take care of the animals. (and enjoy some peace and quiet.)I’m really glad I could go on this one because it was wonderful.  The Barnes family took care of all of our animals so we could go together. They love animals and wanted to make sure we could go as a family. Wonderful people.

This was our camping site at Suttle Lake.For our first time there it was a decent site. Because we took the canoe we opted to not take a lot of the cooking stuff.

It was super hot out even up in the mountains. With a lake like this we were able to cool off nicely.

This was close to our camping site. The dock was great and next to it is the boat launch.The maximum depth is 75 feet.

The forestry workers always do a great job but it seems like the ones at Suttle Lake really enjoy their jobs. They really  have done an amazing job of keeping everything clean and accessible. There is a 3.2 mile trail around the lake. Here is Joshua starting out on his run around the lake. Actually, we all utilized the trail. I walked it while taking pictures. Joshua and Nicholas ran and Michael did a combination of walk/run. Nicholas was the only one to run it three days in a row. He is preparing for a “Spartan Race” on August 11th

These are just some random pictures. From left to right: wood in the water, picture of Black Butte (where the head of the Metolius is.) The big picture is of Mount Washington with its pointy top

Ducklings.

Here is part of the trail. Very easy to walk on as long as you are paying attention to the roots that are here  and there.

Once you crossed this bridge it was 3.2 miles to go.

These are random pictures around the lake.

We had a great time. Will go back again sometime. Oh, and the skimping on the cooking stuff didn’t turn out. My method of  camp food is I cook and or prep everything at home then warm up or put together the things I had prepped.  The “Cowboy Delight” didn’t get as warm as I would have liked because I didn’t have a large enough skillet. Same thing for breakfast. Thankfully I always bring English muffins, Peanut butter and blue berries. It is easy to toast the muffins in a small skillet.

The boys decided to go into Sisters and buy a football. This was how we spent our last day in the lake.

Three days without electronics. Our entertainment was watching chipmunks chase each other. They seemed to be two different kinds of chipmunks. One was larger and had three stripes down the back, the other was smaller with only two stripes. The bigger was always going after the smaller. One day we came back and a large chipmunk was a little to curious and had fallen into a bucket of water. We got back in time for Joshua to scoop it out of the water so it could scurry off. One time when I was in the camp alone a smaller chipmunk decided to check out the water bucket that had dirty dishes in it. He started off with two back feet hanging on to the rim. Then one foot came loose then the other. He didn’t get soaking wet like the other because he used the dishes to jump out.

Here is one enjoying some left over breakfast.

We didn’t get any pictures of the canoe in the water but it was fun.

Take care,

Karen