A Weekend Excursion

This weekend, my family took a little excursion to Crater Lake. This was a long-awaited excursion that we had been looking forward to for months (and I have been wanting to see Crater Lake for years!). Unfortunately, things didn't quite go as planned.....
First of all, the weather forecast was for cold and lots of rain. So, what we planned as a camping trip, was changed at the last minute to staying in a cheap motel in Eugene for 2 nights, with a day trip to Crater Lake in between. We had all really wanted to camp, but camping in the rain with 2 dogs and a toddler is not exactly at the top of my "sounds like a good time" list.
Todd was already going to be in Eugene, so Finn and I drove down to meet him on Friday. I will spare the details, but the start to my trip went something like this:

• Was up all night Thursday because Moshi (the new puppy) was up every hour with diarrhea. Debated on if I should even make the trip on Friday, as traveling with a sick dog is no fun. Fecal results from the puppy's stool sample that I had dropped off Thursday morning were still not in.
  
• Decide to pack up and get on the road. Stop at grocery store to get lunch for the road. Start driving to Eugene. Later realize that the sandwich I ordered has avocado (which I am deadly allergic to) and so I cannot eat and my soup is not the one I ordered... instead it's a blue-cheese soup, and since I am pregnant, that was a no-go too. So, my yummy lunch on the road turned into a disaster.
• 9 miles from Eugene Moshi has diarrhea in the front seat of the car. Then she steps and sits in it. Then she has diarrhea again. Then she vomits. Poo and puke is sliding into the crevices of the car and all I can do is hold onto the dog so that she doesn't track it all over the car.
• Get to hotel. Clean car and dog. Talk to vet and find out Moshi has giardia. Go wait at vet in Eugene for an hour so we can get her meds to help stop diarrhea.
  
• Get to concert we had tickets for late, as the vet took longer than we hoped. Enjoy second half of first set. Then the monsoon-like rains begin. We made it a few songs into the second set before we were all soaked and Finn was begging to go back to the motel.
• Wake up Saturday, eat breakfast, and start the drive to Crater Lake. Finn tells us he needs to poop, but since he is newly potty trained, will not go without his potty seat (which is still at motel). So, we put a diaper on him and keep driving.
• Finn poops. A lot. Slightly resembles Moshi's bowel movement (this is way too much information, I know). Comes out sides and top of diaper. Use all wipes cleaning it up and we are still not sure we got it all.
• Get undies and pants back on Finn and he decided he needs to pee outside the car before we get going. He misses and pees all over the only pair of pants we have with us. We put him back in the car seat naked from the waist down.
• Get to Crater Lake. Put clean undies and Todd's socks on Finn instead of wet pants. So much fog and rain that we can barely even see the lake.
  
• Drive around the whole lake and see practically nothing. Drive back to Eugene in the rain. Go to sleep at cheap motel . Wake up. Drive home.

So, essentially, this trip was a disaster, and not at all the trip to Crater Lake I had been envisioning for years. However, somehow, I think we all still managed to have a good time (mostly) despite the cards that were stacked against us. This just reminded me how important family is, and how sometimes, the worst of adventures are still wonderful and memorable solely because you are spending time with those you love.

Here are a few pictures from our trip... we didn't take many because we mostly just saw fog, but the glimpses we did get were beautiful. I hope to make it back again one day, with a less-adventurous adventure.




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