Today was the first day of our very first family camping trip. It has been going great. We woke up at 5:30 AM to start our camping adventure. We had everything ready from the night before, so I loaded up the car. Katie got Penelope ready. Without knowing we wanted to leave early, Penelope woke up at 5:40, which was actually convenient for once. By 6:40, we were in the car and on the road. Penelope seemed to sense that something was going on, but she went with it. Our plan had been for Katie to nurse Penelope at home, then we would give Penelope her breakfast while waiting for the ferry, then she would take a nap while we drove tom the ferry to the park. Much to our amazement, the plan went perfectly. Penelope enjoyed the ferry, but was more interested in the people than then scenery. She fell asleep as soon as we drove off the ferry, and she slept the whole way to the campground, about 1 hour 45 min.

When we got to our campsite, Katie took Penelope on a walk to register, while I set up the tent. Then Katie and Penelope set up our sleeping bags, while I finished securing the tent and setting up a trp over the picnic table. We let Penelope have some crawling time before getting back in the car. We expected Penelope to try eating dirt, and she did, but we didn't think she would like it! Penelope ate a lot of dirt, which wasn't too bad except she also tried to eat these small rocks that were a definite choking hazard. We kept most of the rocks out of her mouth, but one got past our defenses. Luckily, Katie saw it, and I was able to fish it out with my finger before she choked on it. Our first close call. Also, I should pint out that we did not intend for Penelope to eat dirt, but there was no way around it. We tried putting her on a clean tarp, but she shut crawled to the edge to eat the dirt and play with the rocks.

Next, we drove to the Sol Duc area of Olympic NP. We ate lunch at a picnic table at the trailhead parking lot, then we loaded Penelope into the backpack for our first hike. We hiked about a mile to the Sol Duc Falls, which were really cool. The water fell into this narrow rock canyon, and a bridge crosses right near it for a great view. Penelope fell asleep on the way there. Rather than turn around right away, we continued further up the Sol Duc river toward Deer Lake. The full hike to Deer Lake was three miles on way, so we just went a little bit then turned around. Penelope woke up from her nap and was able to see the falls when we passed it again. She was interested but not impressed.

I just want to say that hiking with a 20+lb infant is hard. The backpack felt very good, and I really liked it, but it is a lot of work. Especially because Penelope doesn't always sit still and sometimes she hits me with her toy (I attached Madam Butterfly to the backpack) or pulls at my clothes and hair. It was a lot of fun to hike with her, but definitely the hardest hiking I've done in a while.

After the hike, we drove up the road to Sol Duc Resort, where they have pools that are fed by sulfur hot springs. We had to lie about Penelope's age so that she could go in the coolest "wading" pool (99deg F). You have to be at least one to go in, so when they asked we said she was one. There were two hotter pools, as well as an unheated chlorinated pool that Penelope could have gone in, but that pool was really too cold. Penelope was unsure about the hot spring pool at first, but after a while she got used to it and started splashing. She could sit in it since it was so shallow. Katie and I took turns sitting with Penelope or sitting in the hotter pools, which felt amazing. It was great after a hike. We stayed in the pools about 40 minutes, then showered and drove back to camp.

Fixing and eating dinner with a baby was tricky because someone always had to be with Penelope to prevent more rock eating. We ate in shifts, and fed Penelope her dinner, too. Cleanup was also done in shifts. Katie nursed Penelope to sleep, then we went to bed. It was only 8pm, but we were tired and had nothing else to do (usually I make a fire and stay up watching it, but we decided no open flames with the baby around).

It got very cold at night, and none of us slept great. Penelope's hands were exposed, so Katie tried to snuggle with her, but Penelope didn't like it. Around 3:30 AM, Penelope woke up and started crying. We changed her into her bunting to cover her hands and head. Katie had to nurse her to get her to fall back asleep. Then we all slept until 6:30 AM. Another lesson learned: start with the bunting.

Today (Sunday) we woke up and had breakfast: hot cocoa and oatmeal for us, banana apricot mixed grain jar food for Penelope. Again in shifts. We fixed lunch for ourselves and Penelope, then loaded into the car for the drive to the Hoh Rainforest. We hoped Penelope would sleep the whole way there, but she cried for about 30 minutes while trying to fall asleep. She ended up getting almost an hour nap.

At the Hoh Rainforest, we hiked about 2 miles in along the Hoh river trail, which is a long trail that many people use for backpacking and summitting Mt. Olympus. The weather was great. Mostly sunny and no rain, not what we were expecting. We stopped and had lunch along the river bank. Penelope got her first diaper change in the woods. Then we headed back, and Penelope quickly fell asleep. She napped for about 40 minutes, and woke up as we got back to the start of the trail. Then we did the short "Hall of Mosses hike, an easy 0.8 mile loop with lots of cool old trees and moss.

After that, it was snack time for Katie and me, then back in the car. Penelope had her snack while we drove. We headed to Rialto beach on the Pacific coast. It is a rocky beach with huge driftwood trees. Penelope was a bit restless from being restrained so much, so we let her play with the rocks and crawl around some. These rocks were much bigger, so harder to choke on, but we still kept a close watch.

After 30 minutes on the beach, it was time to head back to camp. Katie took Penelope into the tent for some much needed "baby time": crawling and playing with toys with no restrictions (well, few restrictions). Meanwhile, I went to take some photos of Lake Crescent, which is adjacent to the campgrounds. I fixed up dinner, then we fed Penelope and took turns eating and cleaning up. Penelope got some more "baby time" in the tent before nursing and going to sleep. Katie read a book, and I write these notes. Now it is 8:35 PM. Katie and Penelope are asleep, and I will follow shortly.

Our last day in the Olympic National Park was not as busy as the first two days. We all woke up a little before 6 AM. Penelope slept a lot better the second night, but she woke up around 4:30 AM and had trouble falling back to sleep. With the bunting on, she couldn't roll around and sleep on her side like she likes to do. To help her sleep, we took her out of the bunting, and then I slept with her half in my sleeping bag and half covered by a blanket.

In the morning, Penelope had some baby time in the tent while Katie started packing stuff up and I made breakfast. After we ate, we broke down our campsite and packed everything back in the car. Since we were all tired from our previous hikes and it was time for Penelope's nap, we decided to skip the hike we had planned to do at Marymere Falls. Instead, we drove to Hurricane Ridge. Penelope fell asleep well before the turnoff we would have taken for the falls hike, so we were glad we didn't stop and have to wake her up.

The drive to Hurricane Ridge was about an hour, up a steep and winding road in the fog. We went up hoping to get a view of Mt. Olympus, but the top was completely fogged in. There was also tons of snow on the ground, so we couldn't walk around. We stopped at the visitor center, and we bought Penelope a book, but overall it was a bit of a dud. The weather did not want to cooperate with our plans.

We drove back down and stopped at the main visitors center. We bought Penelope a National Parks Passport so that she can collect stamps of the parks with the date that she visits them. We stamped it with Olympic National Park for her. Then we had lunch at a picnic table outside.

Since Penelope doesn't like being trapped in the car all day, we walked around Port Angeles, the city near the main park entrance. There wasn't much to see, but they had a nice waterfront path. By about 1PM, we figured Penelope would be ready for her nap soon, so we gave her a bottle, strapped her into the car, and drove back to the ferry. Penelope and Katie both fell asleep.

There was about a 1 hour wait for the ferry, so we entertained Penelope in the car with her toys and walked around a little bit. On the ferry, Penelope had a snack. We also saw dolphins from the boat, which was cool. Then we got off the boat, drove home, and cleaned up all our stuff.

Overall, it was a really fun first camping trip. We learned a lot of important lessons, and I think it will be easier the next time we go. I would have like to get more hiking in, but it is hard to fit everything in around Penelope's nap schedule and also give her the all important baby time. Penelope did make the trip a lot more fun and exciting, and I look forward to more camping trips with her and watching her get more excited about the outdoors.