It's about time!

So why do I have a photo of a pile of crap posted in this blog? It's because that pile of tents, sleeping bags, gear bags, sleeping pads, etc. is our camping gear waiting to be loaded into our CR-V tomorrow morning for the first "waycamping" trip of the season! Finally the weather has cooperated and there will be high temperatures in the balmy lower to mid 60's on both Saturday and Sunday! The night temperatures will be around 45 degrees which is a bit chilly for tent camping, but we've camped in worse (try 35 degrees in a rainy windstorm). Also, we have two little dogs who love to sleep at the bottom of sleeping bags and they make awesome foot warmers.

So the camera and gps batteries are fully charged, the maps are printed and we are SO ready to hop on the ferry and get this weekend rolling. I've printed out the National Park's driving tour (we're camping at a fort within Ebey's Landing National Historical Preserve) and have extra flashlights packed for exploring the military batteries at the two forts (Fort Ebey and Fort Casey). This particular preserve is actually the first National Historical Preserve in the United States, created in 1978. It's different than a National Park or National Monument in that the land within the preserve is all privately owned. The area is a pristine example of early settlement in the islands of the Puget Sound. By the 1970's the area was still not much different than it had looked in the early 1800's when it was settled. Many of the early homes, businesses, barns, farmlands still existed. So the National Park Service purchased the development rights from the owners of the properties within the reserve. Then a locally elected management group was set up to maintain the preserve. The farmers can still farm their land, people live in the old homes, and the old buildings of early Coupeville (a historic town within the preserve) are still filled with small businesses. However, now there are mandates in place that limit development within the residential and business areas and the farms cannot be subdivided and turned into new housing developments. The two WWII era forts within the preserve are run as state parks. It's a wonderful park unit within the state of Washington that very few people know about.

So, I'll report back on Monday to share the adventure.