Camping in Joseph, Oregon.

This summer on our West Coast Road Trip we stopped in La Grande, Oregon to visit my sister and see her new small town.  She spent last year in Switzerland, so we got used to her being far away, but the girls miss their Aunt Brittany, so of course any change we get to see her, we make happen, even if it means we have to drive a couple thousand miles.

Since it is such a small town we could literally walk everywhere we went in the town.  We only stayed one night just long enough to do some henna at Side A Brewery. We had such a fun night, I explained how I use doterra essential oils in my henna paste, enjoyed some wonderful food, and made a few new friends.

The next morning we drove to Joseph, Oregon to camp in a nearby site.

It's so interesting to me how she ended up in Oregon, because all these small towns we drove though reminded me so much of Switzerland.

This is Wallowa Lake and here is the camping info.

The girls loved exploring the campsite and recreation areas, they picked flowers and found critters.

We walked over to the lake to put our feet in, but even though it was the middle of summer the water was still freezing, this was the deepest we went in.

Back at our campsite we started winding down for the night.  I really liked this Raspberry Sour from 10 Barrel Brewing Co.  - if you read my Portland post you know I wanted to go there but since we had our dog with us we couldn't go there.  I highly suggest their beer and I noticed they just started selling them at Total Wine here in Phoenix.

When your honorary uncle is a massage therapist and you complain about your tiny hamstrings you get campsite massages.

And when your actual Aunt is queen of the braids you get a braided crown, perfect low maintenance camping hair.

It was so cold as soon as the sun started setting, we broke out the firewood and added our layers. I'm such a wimp when it comes to the cold, I'm always cold, so anything below 50 and I'm in a full winter wardrobe with faux down and smart wool socks.

We tried to keep warm with a game of Frisbee, the girls got lots of practice throwing it around.

and then this deer walked by our site.  We camp a lot but rarely in places with such intense wildlife.  It was really a pretty wonderful site, minus the hundreds of other campers in their RVs with generators going until 10pm.  I'm not sure I'll ever understand why people spend so much money to be 'outside' in their campers.

As the moon rose up and the sun settled down, we drifted to sleep for the night.  Recharging and resting before heading to a new city in the morning to visit my other sister.  Next stop, Washington.