Annual Memorial Day Trip to the Deschutes River, Part I

To start out with, let me tell you that we are crazy, naive, adventurous, and Swiss :) ! But .... we had a wonderful weekend and a great time! Some of you might remember that we took a trip to the Deschutes River last Memorial Day weekend with our dear friends, John and Keiko. We decided to make this an annual event and went together again this year. Last year, we stayed at the campground by Trout Creek (about 12 miles from Madras). This year, we decided to hike in (first crazy idea) to a campground about two miles from the other campground. Clemens, Andrin and I left on Thursday in the morning. We had a nice drive and stopped in Sisters to feed Andrin and have lunch ourselves. By early afternoon, we were at the campground and started hiking to our campground. Let's just put it like this: it was difficult and Andrin cried most of the way. We are still not entirely sure what was bothering him ... was it the heat? or him teething? (we discovered this later) or him just being unhappy? At one point, I sat down in the shade with Andrin and Clemens went ahead with his backpack and then came back to pick up my backpack and I just carried a much happier Andrin. The tent site was great! There was another group of people there, but they did not bother us at all and the boys even enjoyed talking with some of them because it turned out that they were fly fishing guides that had guided on the river for decades. We had a great place by the river where it was shady and cool because of the nice breeze from the river. And the boys also discovered early on that the water there was nice for fishing (Clemens will write a little bit more about the fishing part later on :) Andrin loved being outside all the time. He played for hours and loved all the attention and entertainment that he got. As I mentioned above, he was teething ... one of his top teeth is breaking through. It was painful for him and he was not happy on Thursday. By Friday, he was doing much better (just in time when John and Keiko joined us .. they floated down the river and met us at the campground). Andrin had some problems sleeping and it was rather difficult because our usual tactics to help him get back to sleep are difficult to perform in a little three person tent (crazy idea number two). But even though he struggled and kept waking up, it was wonderful to introduce Andrin to camping, a thing that Clemens and I just love. After all, we all made it home safe again today and are settled in again. Andrin had a nice bath to get all the dirt off his body and we are in the process of washing everything that got dirty and dusty. We are home, happy and tired, but glad that we took the chance to take Andrin with us for a four-night-long camping trip at such a young age! And even though we are crazy, we would not hesitate a minute to do it again (we are actually already planning our next trips, maybe just car camping and no walk-in camping though :)

Andrin is getting ready to hike in to our tent site (still all smiles).

Andrin and Mami are ready to hit the hiking trail.

New toy ... Mami's shoe laces ... (you have to become creative when you are away from home :)

Our tent site ... early in the morning (Andrin was awake early and Clemens took him for a walk).

Andrin happy as can be early in the morning ...

All these toys to discover ...

Playing with Godfather John.

First lesson in fly fishing ...

Even Andrin's teething toy is shaped like a fish!

Playing with my new friend Keiko ...


Who said that you have to sit in a chair?

Godfather John struggling with the assembly of the new Weber grill ...

At the river with Papi.

I can even eat my toes if I really get hungry and desperate ..

First try in knitting.


John's breakfast French toast ...

Keiko was the first one to discover this coiled up snake right by the cans ... Is it a rattle snake?

There is the rattle ... The snake did not use it at all around us and we were really close. And yes, I also saw the snake, even though I was not yet brave enough to make the pictures. But I was proud that I stayed calm, that my heart beat was normal, and that I was not screaming like I was going to die!!!

Giving Mami kisses.

Another new toy ... Papi's sun glasses.

I had ... carrots.

My first encounter with a salmon fly ...

And squish ...

Group picture.

Group picture ... (Clemens and I hiked out and John and Keiko took the boat and our gear).

Until next Memorial Day weekend!