Selway River

This past weekend we went on a 3 night camping trip along the Selway River (approximately 2.5 hours from Moscow) with our good friends the Ingwells & their "sometimes" friendly pooch, Hailey.  Aaron, Carter, and Hailey drove out early Friday to secure a campsite and Laura, Isabelle, and I headed out a little after.  The weather was beautiful and the drive was great - driving along highway 12 toward Montana is one of the most scenic drives you may ever take.  Upon arrival we were very impressed with our isolated little campsite right on the river (even equipped with an out house!).

Our campsite

Saturday we went on a really nice 4 hour hike (no one was on the trail - I think most people coming to the area were fishing, rafting or 4-wheeling) and returned to take a plunge into the icy river water - it felt so so good!

Isabelle giving momma some love & Hailey

our little family, baby bump and all..

Our camping trips have taken drastic changes in the past few years.  We have put away our light weight gear and moved on to a really big (heavy tent), a big camp stove, and yes...an air mattress.  And I have to say, for this time of our lives car camping is just perfect.  I hope someday to come full circle - break out our "out of date" gear and tent camp again some day with our family - but for now car camping is lovely.    One of the major perks being all the delicious food we ate!  Ribs, chicken kabobs, breakfast sandwiches,  hash browns and ohh the pudgy pies...delicious sandwiches grilled in cast iron mold.

We also discovered Isabelle is in more than one way like her mom.  When I was young anytime I did something a bit out of the norm (like camping) I puked.  And well between all the fun Isabelle was having and the heat (it was in the high 80's-90's) she threw up twice.  Once at night - that was not fun - and once in the morning during breakfast.  She was such a trooper though, as soon as it happened she felt so much better, brushed her teeth, and moved on.  We think she was also slightly dehydrated, the heat and sun really drained me, and I can only imagine what its effect was on her body.  In the future we now know to really push the fluids and try to keep her out of the sun and relaxed as much as possible.  

lounging by the beach at our campsite

enjoying the scenery

Sunday we did another small hike along another small river and then just took the rest of the afternoon to relax at the campsite.  Monday morning, after a delicious breakfast, we loaded up and drove home.  All in all a blissful weekend on the river.

Hope you all had a great long weekend!