Another birthday weekend.
We've been going to the Methow valley for my birthday weekend now for as long as I can remember. To prepare, we had to finish installing the diesel heater in our Sprinter. With it working and our van put back together, we just needed to get it ready for the year's camping season. The beauty of our setup is, now that our van is packed, it's just a matter of tossing in the food we need for wherever we're going and for however long we're staying. Everything else is already in the van.
The Methow in spring is a wonderful place. Truthfully, so is the Wenatchee valley. It's one of the reasons we moved here. But we like to get away, so driving north a couple hours hits the spot. Also, it's another outdoor mecca with opportunities to do all the things. Basically, a multi-sport weekend that involved mountain biking, trail running, and backcountry skiing. Proper.
Since the kids didn't have school Friday, we wrapped up work and left around dinner on Thursday. Our MO is to pick up cheap Domino's Pizza (a hark back to our Friday Night Lights skiing at Stevens Pass) and leave town. We got to camp just after the last light of the day had faded behind the mountains. After putting the kids to bed, K and I relaxed in our swivel seats, reading our books and sipping wine.
My buddy Michael has joined us for a bunch of these trips since we moved to Wenatchee, making the haul from the west side of the mountains to bask in the east side sun and snow. Before he arrived this year, we had Friday to bike into town to the Mazama Store for coffee and a sea salt baguette. Sefton is much faster this year on his bike. Last year, he had just learned to ride before our trip. In the afternoon, we played alongside the Methow River that ran past the campground, throwing rocks and sticks and carving channels for the water to flow.
Michael pulled in late Friday night after we had put our kids to bed. K and I were sitting next to the raging campfire she had built, trying to dwindle our stockpile of logs from years ago. It was a quiet night, a little windy. We chatted a bit with Michael before he headed to his vehicle to crash inside on the sleeping pad he left unrolled in the back. We climbed into our bed shortly after. It'd be an early morning for he and I.
I rolled out of bed at five o'clock, just as the day was getting light. It was a quick drive from our camp to our ski objective, Whistler Mountain. Specifically, we intended to ski the west gully, a no-more-than-thirty-five-degree run that offered a solid fifteen hundred feet of fall line skiing. Of course, the day before (and the days following) had been beautiful. Warm and sunny. But as is tradition for Michael and I on our annual ski, for the day we had planned weather moved in. The pass was socked in all day and we never fully got a view of the mountain we climbed and skied. Which just means we'll be back next year. It's already on the books.
After returning to camp, Michael hemmed and hawed about staying, but ultimately chose to head back to his family. We were set to have dinner with good friends in Mazama. We had wine, delicious food (which we didn't have to cook on our camp stove!), and K brought cookies to bake in the oven. The kids watched 'Despicable Me' while the grownups chatted until it was definitely time to get the kids to bed. A ten-minute drive back to our camp was all it took and we were going through the bedtime routine.
Sunday morning, while I played with the kids next to the river after our morning coffee and breakfast, K went for a long trail run. The community trails in the Methow are incredible, built for nordic skiing, mountain biking, trail running, and hiking. Never in a hurry, we still knew we had to pack up and head home. One more stop at the Mazama store for coffee and another stop in Winthrop for ice cream before we committed to the drive home. It's scenic and there isn't a bit of traffic (unlike everyone heading back to the west side further south on I-90).
A solid birthday weekend. The van is spectacular, the kids had fun, and K and I got to do what we love. Yep, we'll be back again next spring.
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