Team Johnson just had a busy week. The Ruppert family held a reunion in Richland last weekend and we attended. (This is Chris' mom's side.) Uncle Gene offered to let us stay with him since we were taking the dogs. We initally wanted to find a place to camp but decided to take Gene up on the offer. We left Friday in the late morning and headed over White Pass rather than Snoqualmie. We've gone that route too many times between home and college! Since my grandparents live off I-82 in Selah, we stopped in for a short visit. We tried to catch Sandra and Hal but missed them by 30 minutes (bummer!!). Aunt Janice was there and got to meet Owen. Grandpa started the Kaiser up for Chris to hear (it sounded good!) and the dogs had fun running around the property.We arrived at Gene's around 6pm on Friday. He has a few acres out in
the country so the dogs had lots of room to play with Gene's dog Harley. We made our way to Allen and Christie's house where the festivities were being held. There were so many relatives there, including people we didn't think were coming. People kind of popped in and out Friday night and Saturday. Terry took the '39 over for the big car show and parade. Chris and I tried to take Owen, but it was just too hot and he was miserable so we didn't last long. I felt kind of bad because Owen was being fussy for much of the reunion and didn't want anyone to hold him. I kept telling people that he's not always like that! Hopefully next time everyone sees him, he will be the sweet boy that we're used to! Anyway the reunion was great and we hated to see it end. Gene was so kind for letting us stay with him, and for keeping our dogs entertained and exercised! I think they were sad to leave his house.
the country so the dogs had lots of room to play with Gene's dog Harley. We made our way to Allen and Christie's house where the festivities were being held. There were so many relatives there, including people we didn't think were coming. People kind of popped in and out Friday night and Saturday. Terry took the '39 over for the big car show and parade. Chris and I tried to take Owen, but it was just too hot and he was miserable so we didn't last long. I felt kind of bad because Owen was being fussy for much of the reunion and didn't want anyone to hold him. I kept telling people that he's not always like that! Hopefully next time everyone sees him, he will be the sweet boy that we're used to! Anyway the reunion was great and we hated to see it end. Gene was so kind for letting us stay with him, and for keeping our dogs entertained and exercised! I think they were sad to leave his house.
Our friends happened to be renting a house at Banks Lake from Monday-Thursday and invited us, which worked well since we were already east of the mountains for the reunion. We didn't want to stay in the house (and we had the dogs) so we told them we'd camp nearby and meet up later. We drove on 2-lane highways through small towns like George and Ephrata. We ended up finding a place to camp at Steamboat Rock on Banks Lake. What a beautiful campground. The lawns were very lush and there were a lot of trees. We set up camp and got ourselves settled in for the night. Owen did great in the tent! The next morning we broke everything down and drove past Electric City to see the Grand Coulee Dam. The last time I was there was back in '96 when we took the boat to Lake Roosevelt, so it's been a while. We drove around a little bit and headed back toward Sunbanks Resort where our friends were renting the house. We thought we'd be going back to the Dam so I didn't take any pictures, which I regret in a big way since we didn't make it back there. Lesson learned...take pictures the first time just in case you don't make it back. Anyway we met up with our friends (Brad and Julie, Paul, Cameron and Beth, Shawn, Kelly and Zach) and found a campsite within the resort. For the price, the campsite was NOT worth it except for the fact that we were right on the water with a whole cluster of sites all to ourselves. So the privacy was nice and the dogs loved being so close to the water. We spent the rest of the day and most of Tuesday just 
hanging out with our friends. Cameron brought his boat and took Chris, Brad and I out for a couple hours while Julie watched Owen. Chris and I went tubing together and Cameron tried his hardest to flip us. Chris fell off once and I managed to stay on the whole time. Later we found out that Cameron was pulling us at about 26mph which is pretty damn fast when you're on a tube. Cameron also had the wakeboard which neither of us have tried. It's a lot harder than it looks, and I have bruises to prove it! Anyway, we broke our camp and headed out around 5pm. We made our way to Highway 2 (again, avoiding big freeways and favoring more scenic routes) and ended up at Lake Wenatchee. Brad had suggested the state park but we decided to stay next door at Nason Creek because it was empty. We loved the privacy there and they really take care of the place. If you go, I recommend trying to get space 24. We spent our last night sitting in front of a big fire enjoying the quiet night. We headed home the next morning and along the way, Owen decided that he'd had enough of his carseat. I don't blame him...he sat in that thing for over 600 miles! So we had a fantastic time and I don't think it could have been better. Owen did well and the dogs have never behaved so well. Now it's time for some rest and recovery so we can go again!
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