Oh, the Joys of Camping!

We just had a joyous time at Jubilee Lake in Oregon for a final summer wrap-up family camping trip.  Of course, how could you not be jubilant at a place called "Jubilee Lake?"   To start, we had a tremendous thunder storm on Thursday night and into Friday, complete with wind, rain and even funnel clouds that never quite touched down but made eerie sounds and swirly clouds in strange formations that sent chills down your spine and made all the hairs stand on end.  That was in Burbank on Thursday, so I was just about ready to cancel our trip for Friday since the "chance" of storms hadn't quite passed yet.  However, we went ahead as sort of planned and left the house late in the evening for the 2 1/2 hour drive.  A few stops, lots of coffee and several crazy kid songs stuck in the head later, we arrived (in pitch black on wet ground) at a campground called Jubilee Lake.  Site Sight unseen, we picked a campsite and began setting up the tent before the oldest and youngest kids woke from their uncozy slumbers in the van.  It was cold, potentially rainy still and almost midnight as I drove the boys back up the road to pay for the night.  We finally climbed into our sleeping bags with our beanie caps pulled tight over our heads and fell asleep for a few hours before waking to a series of elk calls from somewhere nearby.  So we climbed out and discovered a creek behind our camp (kind of cool until you step in it with your slippers...ahem, Flaminguito) and began exploring our destination.

Please enjoy a few shots from the weekend that ensued at this link: Jubilee Camping .  If you click on the slideshow, you'll get some of the commentary along with the pictures.