De do do do, De da da da, Is all I want to say to you...

For our anniversary (July 10th... yes, I am behind... again!) Ronnie and I went to central Washington to go camping and see The Police in concert. My parents came up to stay with the kids and we took off Friday afternoon. It was a wonderful trip full of a good balance of relaxation and adventure. We camped, hiked, fished, rafted, and went off-roading more times than we would have liked to.

To start the adventure off, we set out for our first camping destination, Cooper Lake. After hiking in a bit and finding the campground to be full, we settled on Tucquala Lake, about 10 more miles north for the first night. We set up our tent, made smores, and chatted around the fire before bed. The next morning we went out on the lake for a little fishing. Nothing was caught but we still had fun on the crystal clear water. After a little rowing around the lake we packed up and went to find our 2nd location to stay for the night of the concert. We ended up off-roading on some back road that had been torn up by motorcycles and 4-wheelers. After a few panic attacks, Ronnie's sweet driving skills, and many many bumps, we got out and settled on a second location south of the 90 near Taneum Creek. It was a fun spot tucked in the back of the woods where we had a little hill to climb and pitch our tent. We set up our camp and headed off to the concert.

Tucquala Lake

View from our tent

It was at the Gorge Amphitheatre which is an AMAZING venue set up on a cliff overlooking the Columbia River Gorge. The show was just as amazing as the venue and probably one of the best concerts I have ever seen; I think it is right up there with U2. The Police reunion tour marks the 30th anniversary of them coming together as a group. Sting was a bit greyer and sporting the rugged look, but man can he still ROCK! All three of them were amazing, especially Stewart Copeland (drummer), he was so intense the whole show. We had great seats on the floor and were able to get up and dance with all the other crazy Police fanatics. They played just about every popular song and even a few less known. I loved hearing Roxanne, Every breath you take, and the longest rocked out version of I Can't Stand Losing You. The sun set over the Columbia River just after they took the stage and the moon was big and bright behind the 12,000+ fans relaxing on the grassy hill; It was picture perfect.

Ronnie and I were talking the next day during our hike and he said "you know, I think the concert was just about the only thing that went as planned this weekend." He was SO right, and I think he jinxed us too because not only did we have trouble finding our camp sites but our small 2 mile hike we took on the way home turned into a 3+ hour trek to find Mirror Lake. We thought it would be fun to scout out an easy hike to do with the kids later. We borrowed a book full of kid friendly hikes from a friend and set off up the mountain. I think it would have been just fine had there not been huge snow drifts covering the trail. I found myself thinking many times, "this is how people become lost in the woods..." We finally made it to the 2 lakes and the last one, Mirror Lake was more like Frosted Mirror Lake because it was still partially frozen over! It was the strangest thing to be hot from the sun above but feel the cold from the snow below your feet. It was still beautiful and we are glad we did it because we will be back with the kids... in late August! That wasn't the last of our adventures though... After the hike, we drove back down off the mountain only to hit the pavement with a thud; we totally blew a tire! UGH! We eventually had to call a tow truck to come get the car. Yes, we both know how to change a tire but would be lousy thief's cause we couldn't figure out for the life of us how to remove the anti-theft lug nuts to get the wheel off. I guess you need a key- which we don't have! Thank goodness for Acura warranty and my superhero dad who came to rescue us so we didn't have to wait the three hours in the hot sun for the tow! We finally made it home and so did our car, just a few hours later. It went to the Dr. in Bellevue and got those fancy lug nuts cut off of all 4 tires!

Cottonwood LakeMirror Lake

We had a great weekend celebrating our 9th anniversary and were able to scout out MANY different lakes, trails, and camping spots for future adventures.

A cute store we found in Ronald Washington

The biggest ant hill I have EVER seen! It was COVERED in ants- GROSS!