The Rest of Us

Back at home, we've been actually doing some things other than keeping up with Davan's camp life to the best of our ability.  This is what we did this weekend:

Anthony's Dad has been a Boy Scout leader sense Anthony's older brother was ready to be a Boy Scout, maybe even a little longer.  Boy Scouts was a huge part of Anthony's childhood.  Dick has stayed with the scout troop, even though he's moved to the other side of town and even though it's dwindled to nearly no members at times.  Right now, there are, I think 5 or 6 troop members, but only those two went this weekend.  Conor is Anthony's sister's son, so, other than Scott, it was pretty much a family trip, even though it was technically Boy Scouts.

As you might have caught from the video, Scott, who has backpacked once before with the troop, didn't do a very good job of planning his pack and gear.  He does have another backpack better suited for overnight trips.  We don't really know what possessed him to think this was a good idea.

Conor, who bears a family resemblance to Anthony and Dick and looks more like Davan's brother than his two sisters' brother at times, was well outfitted.  I'm sure people thought he was our son and we'd brought his friend along and made him carry that mess on his back.  Oh well.

Camping at Elk Meadows is a (pretty much) yearly thing for our little family group.  I know Davan won't be thrilled that we went without her.  I have told her we can go again in September if she doesn't mind the cold nights that will mean.

Yesterday I packed a picnic dinner and Anthony, Ranger and I walked up Mt Tabor.  I spend time on Mt Tabor, which is a park/inactive volcano here in Portland, about once a week, as I run up there on my hill days when I'm training regularly.

It's mostly residential streets between here and there, but one section on the way up is this alleyway.  In the mornings, there's a dog in the yard to the right.  Ranger and that dog do not get along.  Sometimes I'll go a block out of my way to avoid dealing with a thrashing Ranger on the end of the leash.  Last night, though, all was quiet.

Entering the park.

There are miles of hiking trails on Mt Tabor.

At the top, there are benches with a nice view of downtown.  We picked one on the shade to sit and eat our dinner.  Unfortunately, you can't actually see downtown in the glare of the sunlight.  That's where the view is, though.

Ranger was hot, but happy to be out and eating dinner - I took her's up, too.

There is a road that is closed to cars around the very top with views all around.  In the summers, they have a series of criterium bike races up there.  Anthony is thinking of participating next year.

After dinner, we walked down a different side of the mountain to go to the off leash dog park.

That made Ranger very happy.  It's a huge off leash area with walking paths and open areas. 

On the way home, we passed by a friends' house and stopped to say hi when we heard their voices out on the deck.  They'd just gotten home from an extended road trip that included camping, backpacking and rafting.  It was nice to see them and hear that their kids are going to take part in a show that Davan is also doing.  Yay!

We had a lovely evening out.  It was nice to break away from the screen after our marathon of way more TV than we ever watch over the course of the Olympics.