Our annual camping trip took us to Clear Lake campground in 2005.  We scouted it out in 2004 and it looked pretty good.  It had a nice lake and the sites were large and separated.  But when we arrived, the lake was completely dry!  We specifically purchased a raft to take out onto the water, too!  It turns out this lake is artificial and is used for irrigation.  August was just too late.  There was the tiniest amount of water trickling through, almost like a stream or creek.  Instead, we rode our bicycles on the dry lake bed.  It was very odd, kind of like being on the moon... but with oxygen, full gravity and no pesky astronauts.

To recover, we drove over to Timothy Lake (also man-made, but much larger) and took the boat out there.  That little adventure started and ended well, but there was a tense moment in the middle where I didn't think I could row us all the way back to our starting point.  We rowed out a bit, kept our eyes on our launch point and made a mental note of some landmarks.  But as we ate lunch, the wind must've picked up and before we knew it, we were practically to the other side of the lake.  I just took a peek at some aerial photos and based on the size of the lake, the fact that we couldn't see Hood at first, then couldn't see our launch point when we started back in... I'm guessing we were over a mile out as the crow flies.  And I didn't quite row back in a straight line either... I headed towards the shore a bit and then ran along the shoreline to try to avoid some of the wind.  I also had to have the kids and Amy lay down a bit.  They were like sails!

I think I rowed for about 45 minutes to an hour over what probably ended up being nearly 2 miles.  It was just an inflatable raft that sat on top of the water, so it didn't really make for great rowing.  It just didn't "cut in."  (I'm sure there's a nautical term for that... oh well.)  Obviously we got back safely.  The kids dipped into the water a bit off the side of the boat when we were closer to shore.  They enjoyed it.

I've always said a vacation isn't really good unless something goes wrong.  I'm not sure I want that to be true when I have my kids with me...

Goofy guy.	I swear Patrick's just doing this to give me the finger.	I bought one of these tent things to create a refuge from the bugs.  It ended up trapping them in there with us.
Amy finally breaks out the smores!	Patrick smore...	Jarod smore...
Amy smore...	DJ wants more smore!	This was another unfortunate event.  Amy got stung in the cheek.
The kids came out of the tents to comfort mom.	Despite being stung in the morning, Amy was good to go for the boat thingie.	Here we are paddling out the first few feet.
Then I get into full row.  But I suck... or the boat sucks for rowing.  Check out the video (3.08MB WMV).	We got out far enough to get a nice view of Mt. Hood in the background.  Just gorgeous...	Patrick brought his glove and ball to play with...
But after all that rowing, I was really tired.	I sense a smore desire...	Amy snapped this one of herself, I guess.  You can see her bee sting under her right eye.
Last day... time to pack up.	Make sure the fire's dead.	And snap the obligatory family picture...