The weekend after Reduced Day Camp, had two more experiences that became important lessons for me.
After a three hour drive, we made it to Mom's favorite place in the world - Namanu |
Saturday, we drove three hours up to the Sandy River near
Mount Hood to visit Camp Fire Council’s Camp Namanu. Mom went there for a week
every summer between the second and ninth grade, took us to family camp when it
was allowed (starting when I was in high school), and now attends “Friends of
Namanu” weekends annually. A few years ago when my sister and her girls were
visiting, we took the kids to family camp and had an amazing visit. Saturday
was Namanu’s open house, a time for potential campers to see the place. As I
have no intention of sending Toe there this summer, we kind of crashed the
party, but we wanted to take the opportunity to show Toe around again (it has
been four years since his last visit) and have an outdoor experience (As a side
note, I did talk to the camp director about whether she could accommodate Toe’s
CF if we ever felt he was up for camp – she actually knew about CF and gave a
conditional yes. A remote possibility for us, but it was nice to know there was
even an option. Family camp has been cancelled this year and potentially
long-term).
It was supposed to be hot that day – the forecast predicted
100 degrees. Toe wilts in the heat, but we decided to risk it. We’d ride up
with the air conditioning on and rely on the lower temperatures in the forest.
Worst case scenario, we’d drive there and not get out of the car…
Surprisingly, the weather was perfect. The sky was overcast
and temperatures hovered in the low 80’s. The air felt perfect to me – slightly
warm with a breeze. However, Toe did not get that memo. It was too hot for him.
He made it to the story house, near the entrance and wanted to play in the
meadow. After a few minutes in the meadow, I took him to the art barn to cool
down, where he did a project and then we set off to get a souvenir next door.
By this time, he was hot and cranky. We took him to dip his feet in the water
and it placated him momentarily, but it was shortly followed by a meltdown. We
finally had to pour a full water bottle over his body and wrap his head in a
wet towel to get him back to the dining hall where Mom drove to pick him up. We
had been there under an hour and a half, mostly in the shade. It was 81 degrees.
The calm before the storm. Twenty minutes later, he was DONE. |
Lesson # 1 – Right now, the kid can’t take the heat. That
trip to Klamath Falls/Ashland that I was hoping to do this summer to visit
friends will probably not happen. Nor will the road trip I had fantasized about
taking to visit my sister in Illinois. Actually, any summer travel seemed
pretty impossible from that day’s experience. I had a sinking feeling about
travel in general. We can’t travel during flu season. We shouldn’t really
travel during the school year because Toe misses so much school from illness
anyway. I thought summer was our time. Apparently I was wrong.
The next day, we went to the Mill Ponds for a North Coast
Land Conservancy event. Toe started the morning cranky because he had been up
late the night before and was very tired. But there were dip nets and
magnifying glasses and critters. Pretty soon, Toe and his dad were fully
absorbed in catching snails, damselfly larvae, beetles, and marsh grass. Mom
was there, too, and it turned into a perfect outdoor experience for our family.
We were the only non-NCLC people who attended the thing because it was
threatening to drizzle and was 64 degrees.
The visor is actually a pair of special magnifying lenses he borrowed from our guide. |
Lesson # 2 – We live in the right place for this kid. We’ve
had weather solidly in the mid 60’s to low 70’s this summer while inland, they
are experiencing a real scorcher (for us) – 90’s almost every day. We can
actually go outside here and enjoy the weather, especially on cloudy, cool
days.
So, I’m having to recalibrate my thinking. We’re going to
stick to coastal regions as much as we can this summer and continue to
experiment with warmer weather in situations that are short. A friend of mine
said, “You should go to the Olympic Peninsula!” I remember going camping there
with my mom and a dear friend when I was in college. I was hoping for sun, but
we got drizzle and fog. I remember thinking, “We drove all this way to have the
same weather we have at home?” I am learning to appreciate that cooler weather.
The Olympic Peninsula is looking mighty fine.