Camp Like Noodle

Flowing Lake, Snohomish, WA, site #27

Campground||Snohomish and Skykomish (Coast Salish) land

Back at Flowing Lake!  We’re in another new site this time.  Site 27 has a couple of advantages over site 24 (our site from last time), but it also has one big drawback.  It’s a prettier and larger site than #24, and the ground is hard-packed dirt, which is a lot easier for Yunnie to maneuver on.  Really nice.  However.  We have two fairly close neighbours, who are quite visible.  In Leeloo’s eyes, this is unforgivable.  There should be no neighbours.  In fact, we should be the only people at the campground.  We should be boondocking.  Dispersed camping.  Down with people.  Okay, Leeloo, give me back the keyboard.

A few weeks ago, I got to unearth a long dormant skill and add to it.  At the end of every school year, we have a fun day where all classes are 30-40 minutes and generally just involve watching movies and signing yearbooks.  Then, after 6th period, we all disperse to go do activities.  There’s a DJ (used to be a steel drum band before the start of the pandemic), photo booths, giant inflatables, a dunk tank, face painting, really sort of a carnival atmosphere.  Each student gets vouchers for free food and drinks, and there’s also crafts.  Tie-dyed t-shirt making, hair tinsel, and my craft for this year: paracord bracelet making.

My school counselor bestie brought me in on this one and it was so much fun!  It was just like the jute jewelry I used to make during the macrame resurgence in the ‘90s, but colourful!  Anyhow, I got totally hooked and ended up ordering some paracord and a jig to make my own at home.  They arrived perfectly in time for me to bring them on this camping trip, and I’m obsessed.  I made a fob for a MagSafe Pop Socket remover tool, and it came out so cute!

Leeloo, Sieh, and I did some very thorough zooming around the campground with Yunnie and the bike trailer.  Judging by the reservation markers, this place is gonna be PACKED for the 4th.  We rested for a couple of hours when we got back and then the kids had a good time exploring the campsite (we’d been waiting for our nearest two neighbours to leave.)  Sieh in particular really enjoyed tromping all over.  His leash manners are also coming back to him, which is exciting (and also a relief.)  Leeloo tried to remember how to shoulder ride, and was about 60% successful.

These past 3 times we’ve been camping, I’ve ended up reading books about cats.  Or with a focus on cats, at least.  The last two were not great (Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter was so bad I DNFed it within the first 2 or 3 chapters and The Guest Cat was just depressing.). But this time we finally had a good one!

A Good Day Starts with Cats & Books by Satori Satori was very refreshing.  It’s an 癒し系 (iyashikei) light novel.  While I primarily ready sci-fi and fantasy, 癒し系 has a special place in my heart.  They tend to be focused on everyday life, and are very soothing and healing.  Manga/anime examples would be ゆるキャン (Laid-Back Camp) and ふたりソロカャンプ (Solo Camping for Two).  There’s loads more because this genre has been around for decades, but you know I’m gonna choose to highlight the ones about camping, haha.  In A Good Day Starts with Cats & Books, each chapter focuses on a different interconnected character (a common format for 癒し系 light novels), and only one of them was boring (I expected more, bartender guy.)  Really enjoyed this one.  The cats could have been more prominent, but it was still nice.

Every time we go out camping, I feel like Majel’s set up gets more and more tailored to us, and this time was no different.  Her “kitchen,” in particular, was exceptionally bomb.  I actually ended up not being able to use my exit row seating, though!  I’d sat the bike trailer’s Pusheen bed on the seat temporarily, and Leeloo was OBSESSED.  She basically spend the whole trip chilling there.  Sieh, of course, hung out in the bed with me, on the cooler, on top of the blanket I put on top of the folded up Yunnie, etc.  He does a whole tour of comforts.

Accessibility gripe (because you know I’ve gotta find SOMETHING): there were a bunch of picnic tables out on the lawn by the water.  Right next to the gravel path is a concrete slab with a picnic table on it, presumably for accessibility.  Was the wheelchair-accessible picnic table there? Of course not, it was off in the middle of the grass!  Gonna drop a note to Snohomish County Parks to do a little switcheroonie.  They’re generally very on top of responding.

Looking forward to hopefully checking out a new campground next time!  I really like Flowing Lake and do intend to come back, but once I really get the lay of the land in one place it starts making me want to explore some more.  Where do you think I should try camping next?

Flowing Lake Snohomish County Park, site #24

Campground||Snohomish & Skykomish (Coast Salish) land

Omg we’re back at Flowing Lake campground, and we’re not in site #4 this time!  Last time, we had the ugliest camp site in the whole campground, so we made sure to really scope out the rest of the sites to find the best of the best.  And the absolute best is site #24.  Pretty sure I was only able to snag this because it was Memorial Day and most people were leaving the day we’d be arriving.  (I found out later that some long time friends had actually been in our exact campsite in the days directly before we were there!)  Worked out well for us!

I’d been a little bit worried about Leeloo, because she’s been feeling kind of off about camping lately.  We’d made a lot of progress at Kanaskat-Palmer the last time we were there, but then site #4 seemed to cause a set back.  We were super exposed in that site to not only the road, but to the hiking trail, and even a house.  She was not lovin’ it.

Turns out all she really needs is some privacy at base camp!  Even with the trail going along two sides of our campsite, it was so heavily forested and peaceful that she didn’t seem to care!  There’s also not any other campsites super close by, making it the most isolated site.

This time, having the trail right next to us was actually a huge boon, because that means the kids can easily explore the woods when I take them for their rambles.  This is part of what made Leeloo such a fan of our last Kanaskat-Palmer campsite, too.  Woods access.

We pulled in, I got Majel converted to bed mode, and got the little bit of a kitchen ready.  The kids were immediately poking around, checking things out through the windows as soon as I let them out.  Since Yunnie had to ride in the front seat (buckled in, of course), one of the Sleepypods had to go in the Yakima luggage carrier on the roof.  Leeloo’s stayed because she likes to hang out in hers while Sieh prefers to relax on the bed with me.

It was overcast, and since the forecast was for a bit of rain we got all cuddled up inside with the space heater on.  You can really tell that things are warming up, because I could only turn the heater on low, and even then I had to keep turning it off because we’d start to get too roasty toasty.  While we watched the rain softly falling against Majel’s windows, I finished reading the english translation of The Guest Cat by Hiraide Takashi.  It had elements of sweetness, but overall it was depressing and left me feeling annoyed at some of the characters.  Oh, well, better than the magical cat shelter book I DNFed on one of our last camping trips.

While I read, Leeloo and Sieh poked around in Majel, settling here and there for naps.  A little before 7pm, I got their pre-made meals out of the cooler and sat them in front of the space heater to defrost.  About a month ago I bought a set of stainless steel plates with silicone lids.  I can now briefly thaw the raw food that we’re going to bring, premix the supplements in, and then refreeze it all.  It worked AMAZINGLY.   They ate every bite of their dinners.

Remember how I said we kept getting too warm with the heater on?  Well, we didn’t even need it for most of the night.  It wasn’t until just before dawn, when the temperature hits its lowest, that I woke up shivering and turned it on.

Day 2:

After breakfast and resting a while, I got the bike trailer down from the luggage pod on the roof.  It’s so cleverly designed that it sets up in like, 1 minute.  I’m not even kidding.  Definitely less than 2.  Got Yunnie out of the car, hooked the bike trailer to her, and then got back in to rest with the kids again. 

Today my need for lots of rest was actually a good thing, because the garbage truck came around at noon.  Leeloo does NOT like garbage trucks.  She has to carefully monitor them the whole time they’re around, and she can’t relax until they’re gone.  It would have been very upsetting to her if we’d been out and about when it swung by.  I try to keep track of when all of our campgrounds have their trash pick ups, specifically for her.

Once the truck was gone, I got the kids into the bike trailer and myself into Yunnie, and then we were off!  Leeloo and Sieh were so excited!  There was so much to look at and the campground was almost empty after the busy weekend.  We met a nice lady with a little terrier who jumped excitedly at her side when it saw us.

This was our official introduction to wet pavement on steep hills, which worked in a way that was remarkably similar to light gravel.  I had to slow waaaaaaay down.  There are a lot of really steep hills in this campground, and OAS (Yunnie’s brand) says to not exceed 9 degrees inclination or declination.  We were definitely exceeding 9 degrees by a wide margin, haha.  Thankfully,  the kids seem completely unbothered by my attempts at recreating various scenes from The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift.

We rolled down to the dock, but not onto the dock, because that thing is rotten and I didn’t want us getting stuck or falling in.  I did, however, take us on the lake shore trail that during our last camping trip we’d found practically impassable with the rollator.  I’d been pretty sure that a wheelchair couldn’t handle it, which turned out to be a mostly accurate assumption.    Technically we made it all the way, but about 10 seconds in, the trail ripped the tire of one of my front casters half-way off.  I was HORRIFIED and at first thought Yunnie had broken.  Thankfully, I was able to convince the tire to return to its designated position, and we rolled onwards, but at a much, much slower pace.  I had to weave back and forth, trying to find us the least horrific path.  We made it, but it was rough.  I’ve done it so you don’t have to.  I’m Johnny Knoxville, and this is Jackass.

We zoomed around a bit more, and I found that like with the gravel, Yunnie only drifts when going down hill.  I was leaning forward going up the super steep hills because I have a bit of a paranoia about falling backwards (absolutely abhor it.)  Probably didn’t need to do all that because Yunnie was handling it like a champ, but better safe than sorry.

While we were cruising around and testing Yunnie’s capacity for hills, we happened upon our old nemesis, site #4.  When I’d been communicating with the county, one of the things they told me they were going to do in order to rectify the situation was that they’d put in a work order for a clean up of the site.  It no longer looks like there was a massive flood leaving logs and brush all stacked up, and there’s even room for a tent now!  It’s still a very bare site, though, and that house is RIGHT THERE.  Glad they work so quickly and efficiently!

After that we headed back to good ol’ site #24 where we got some much needed rest.  I had lunch and Leeloo and Sieh had Churus.  Later, I took them out for some quick individual walks around the campsite.  They loved this, and I really wish that walking around didn’t wear me out so quickly, because they could have kept going.

After they had their bit of a wander, we piled back into Majel and the kids’ grandma called.  We’ve been reading the most recent Dungeon Crawler Carl book (“A Parade of Horribles”) aloud, so I messed around on Animal Crossing on my Switch while she read.  Leeloo is a lot like Mongo.

After dinner and before going to sleep, I finally found on the county website where it talks about replacing the dock, and it turns out they’re going to replace that horrible lakeside trail, too!  They also have completely new accessibility features planned, such as a path to get down to the swimming area, two wheelchair accessible picnic tables for the covered eating area, and an accessible kayak hand launch at the dock, which is also going to be made accessible when they replace it.  Very exciting stuff!  Love to see my tax dollars at work for something positive.

Day 3:

Last day camping!  The sun was shining and it was gorgeous outside!  We got up and had breakfast, and then immediately headed out in Yunnie and the bike trailer, because I wanted to make sure that Leeloo and Sieh had lots of fun before we headed home.

We went and checked out some of the walk/hike-in campsites, which are the only campsites with much of a view of the lake.  They’re pretty damn nice.  I also spent some more time documenting which campsites would be good alternatives if we couldn’t get our now beloved site #24 at some point.  While we were zooming around, I noticed that quite a few sites could work for wheelchair users, except there was often a few inches discrepancy between the packed dirt of the site up to the paved road.  You’d either need big front wheels or be able to pop a wheelie.

There’s a site with an accessibility tag that isn’t marked as accessible on the map, so I’m not sure what’s going on with that.  It’s across the campground from the bathrooms.  There’s a short-cut path through the woods but it’s not wheelchair-accessible.  While the pull-through is paved, the picnic table (which, if I recall correctly was not wheelchair accessible) and fire ring are not on pavement, actually making this one of the less accessible sites.  Many of the plain dirt sites are more fully accessible.  The accessible site that’s marked on the map is #18.  It’s right next to the bathrooms and is fully paved, including under the picnic table (which didn’t seem to be wheelchair accessible for some reason?) and the fire ring.  Okay, that’s it for your Official Accessibility Report.

Back at site #24 I took the kids out for another wander.  Leeloo was so happy about the nice weather and she had a great time stomping around.  She also danced around and rubbed on Majel numerous times, really showing her some love.  So glad that she sees her as her safe spot.  Sieh got to stare longingly up at more trees during his walk, which is really all he wants out of life.

We had a short rest after that, then I packed us up, and we hit the road.  Really digging on this campground.  Do you have any really baller campground recommendations for us in the greater Snohomish/King County-ish area?  We’d love to hear about them!

Flowing Lake, Snohomish, WA, site #4 Campground||Snohomish and Skykomish (Coast Salish) land

It’s been a while!  We’ve still been going camping every month, but I haven’t done write-ups for the past two camping trips because they were sort of more of the same at Kanaskat-Palmer.  Our February trip was actually quite snowy (without much accumulation), so that was cool, very aesthetic, and our March trip had some snow mixed in with rain.  More excitingly, we got a spot in March that had a really great forested spot attached to it that got Leeloo out of her camping funk.

Now in April we’re trying something different at Flowing Lake campground.  It’s a Snohomish county campground near…Snohomish. That sounds a bit repetitive.

I actually didn’t think we’d be able to spend spring break here, because I was waiting on some paperwork to go through. For state parks, I can use my blue permanent accessible parking placard and card to get half off of campsites, but for county campgrounds there’s a different pass that you have to be issued. The funny thing is that I was able to use my accessible parking card as evidence of disability to get the card, haha. Like, you guys, cut out the middleman and just let us use our placards. Thankfully, the card arrived sooner than I’d anticipated, and we were able to book a spot for 3 nights.

I got the kids and our gear all loaded up (with help from the kids’ grandma) and we headed off to Snohomish.  It’s a nice drive past lots of older homes and shops and woods. I feel like I can breathe out there. New buildings really stress me out. 1960s and earlier is my happy space.

We got to the park and followed arrows to take us into the camground, and found our campsite.  It was…a little bit different than what I thought I’d booked.  I’d been like “cool, cool, even though there’s a house nearby (visible on the layout map of the campground,) so long as they’re not noisy it shouldn’t be an issue.” 

Uhhh, this is what we got.  We have the ugliest site, lol. That’s not hyperbole, it’s legitimately the worse one by a fair margin.

When I book, I try not to take sites that larger vehicles might require.  I’m driving a little 2003 Toyota Highlander, I only need 15 feet for parking.  I also try not to take drive-through spots, for the same reason, and because those are probably really great for people pulling trailers.  But damn, I guess I’m just gonna have to take the nicer spots as I can get them regardless of driveway length, because this is pretty ridiculous, haha.

[As I am typing this a small child on a bike just stopped, looked at our spot, and said “I feel bad for them, their campsite is really ugly,” hahaha.]

When we got home, I actually emailed the parks system asking them if they could please update the picture that they have for this site on the booking app so that this doesn’t happen to anyone else.  I included a screenshot of the booking page and a photo that I took of the campsite so they could see the difference.  The very next day they emailed me back that they’d not only opened a work order to clean the site up (apparently no one had thought to inform them of the storm damage and logging), listed the site as “full sun”, and designated it as drop-in only, they also updated the listing using my photo!  I couldn’t stop laughing.  Majel is famous, you guys.

But, while we definitely had the ugliest campsite, the campground itself is lovely.  There’s lots and lots of trees, a dock for people to fish off of, a playground, covered picnic table area, a huge gazebo that you can reserve, a beach volleyball court, and a swimming area! There’s definitely something for everyone here.

Also, everyone we interacted with was super friendly.  All the kids wanted to pet Leeloo and Sieh, which Sieh tolerated for the sake of his sister.

We met three 8 year olds (they thought it was hilarious when I pointed out that if Leeloo and Sieh were human children they could all be in the same class together, haha). Very sweet, polite kids, who made sure to stop any scary noises (rc cars, electric dirt bikes) they were making when I’d walk by with the kids.

We also met a little girl who was very excitedly telling her family that there was a kitty who looked just like their kitty.  I asked her if she had a brown tabby but she didn’t seem to know what that was so I asked her her cat’s name.  Muffin!  How cute.  We had a Muffin when I was very little, back in the ‘80s.

We met a little boy who was super cat crazy (relatable, lol), and he even gave me a stick of gum!  We had a good chat about the merits and availability of different gum flavours.  Overall, the whole trip was really good socialization for my kids.

We even saw another adventure cat while we were there!  Yogi was hanging out on the dock with their humans, so we rolled over to say hi.  Super chill kid.

The kids, especially Leeloo, also got to do some vehicle exposure therapy.  Every so often a car or truck would pass us while we were walking on the road.  They did so well, they even stopped ducking and hiding almost immediately.  I think it helped that even when they were noisier v8s, they were all driving so slowly.

We had our wander, checked things out, then I hauled us all back up onto the hill and returned to our aesthetically-challenged campsite.

We took strolls the first two days that we were there.  I waited until it started getting hot in Majel, because I had to manage the need to not be in her in direct sunlight when the temperature was in the upper 60s with my need to be in her to rest.  Didn’t want to set out too early and then need to stay out longer than I could manage just to escape being roasted.

Days 3 and 4 were nice and rainy, so we just hung out inside.  I still would have liked to let the kids have a wander around the campsite, but I wasn’t willing to risk it with all of those haphazardly stacked logs all over the place.

I used all that down time to do some pre-ordering that I’ve been meaning to do. In May, the next Murderbot book AND the next Dungeon Crawler Carl book are both being released, so I ordered copies from what used to be my local bookstore when I lived in Seattle (shout out to Elliott Bay Book Company!)  My mom and I are both obsessed with these two series (yes, my 71 year old mother is a HUGE Dungeon Crawler Carl fan.) Very excited for both of those.

I also bit the bullet on something I’ve been putting off for way too long.  I get super stressed making big purchases, but I finally found a lightweight, foldable, electric wheelchair that is both affordable AND has a safe battery (TSA approved.) Not only is it way cheaper than most of what’s out there (easily half or even a quarter the price), it was also on a spring sale for $410 off.  Aaaaaand because I’m cheap and love a good deal, I also found a code for an additional $50 savings, haha.

I’m really hoping that this can help get me back outside on a more regular basis.  Right now, I don’t even take a walk around the block because I know it will wipe me out and throw me into a crash. I went from taking my kids hiking every single week to never even going for walks. This powerchair should allow me to go on paved trails (and maybe even some handpicked dirt trails, who knows,) while helping me conserve my energy. It’ll still be tiring, but it’ll be a lot LESS tiring than walking. It won’t be back in stock until the 25th, so I won’t get it until the end of this month or early May. The anticipation is killing me!

I’m also planning on seeing if I can attach the bike trailer that I bought for the kids right before I got whammied with ME/CFS.  If not, I can still use an adventure backpack, but the trailer is so cool, I really want to start getting some use out of it.

Anyhow, tangent over, the kids were definitely getting a bit antsy, especially because I’d booked us for 3 nights instead of 2, as the campground has a policy for booking Saturdays and Sundays together.  Defo a bit long when we’re all cooped up in Majel. They don’t usually tussle while we’re camping since they’ve got so much interesting stimulation going on, but Saturday evening they were starting to get a little frisky.

We never saw any camp hosts or rangers while we were there, which I thought was a bit strange.  The person who responded to my email had even mentioned that in the future I could talk to a ranger about moving to a better campsite if I had any issues, but I couldn’t find one even when I looked.  As a result, it also seemed like the campground rules weren’t really being enforced.  

The main rules were: no off-leash dogs (I saw one), no repeated barking from dogs, no music being played on speakers (my super nice direct neighbours were blasting classic rock…thank god it was something I could jam out to or that would have driven me up a wall), and no alcohol or fireworks whatsoever.  Barking was generally stopped really quickly, and if people were drinking they had the good sense to be hiding the evidence.

Sunday morning we got packed up, and a short while before our noon check out time we headed out on our way home.

Overall, Flowing Lake is a campground that I’m definitely looking forward to visiting again, just staying in a nicer site next time.

ACCESSIBILITY NOTES:

The trails around the campground are not super friendly to mobility aids.  We didn’t even try the hiking trails, because even though they were hard packed dirt (usually a win), there were lots of rocks and roots.  It would have been slow, exhausting going.  Sieh was very disappointed.

Part of the trail that goes between the day use picnicking, play, and swim area and the dock is paved, but has been left to the tender ministrations of the surrounding trees’ roots for far too long.  I could barely get the rollator through there.

The dock has big rotted chunks missing out of the tops of a number of the boards, so I defo wouldn’t recommend taking anything wheeled on it.  Probably a tripping hazard, as well.  There is apparently a plan to replace the dock, but I didn’t see a timeline for this.  Granted, I didn’t look very hard.

Graveled paths are mostly made with small, thin layers of gravel, so not too bad, but also not the best.  There is no trail of any sort going down to the swimming area.  You’ll have to be able to manage getting across a fairly large grassy field.  Beware the sandy beach volley ball court.

There are also two steep hills in the campground.  I’m not sure of the grade, but if you struggle with inclines like I do, they’re a doozy.  Thankfully there are a number of campsites that would allow you to not be up on the hill (though you’d then only have access to the day use bathrooms.)

Until next time!

Kanaskat-Palmer State Park, site #25 Campground||Muckleshoot (Coast Salish) land

January 8-10th, 2026

We weren’t able to go camping at all in December due to the TWO atmospheric rivers that were causing flooding. We technically could have gone earlier in the month, but I had work, so no dice. Poor Leeloo didn’t understand why I went from telling her we were going to camping to telling her she’d have to wait until January. She was sadly pushing her “CAMPING” speech button a lot. Thankfully, we were able to go camping in January with no issues!

Rolled into our campsite pretty late (well, later than usual, at around 4:30.) It was already starting to get dark, so I quickly got the inside of Majel all situated so that I could let the kids out of their Sleepypods. I got the tarp up over her so we’d have the covered “porch area” and also not have to worry about rain getting in the window where it stays slightly open for the extension cord.

While I was getting us set up, an orange tabby trotted by our campsite. I called out to them, they stopped to look at me for a moment, and then they carried on about their business. They didn’t seem skittish, so I assumed they were supposed to be here, but I did check in with a volunteer to see if anyone had lost an orange cat. Nope! Kitty lives here, and there’s a black cat, as well!

Once our campsite was sorted, I rolled on over to the iron ranger to get us checked in on paper. It was totally dark at this point! This time around I chose a campsite that was closer to the bathrooms via the paved road so that I wouldn’t have the smooth but far road vs bumpy but closer trail conundrum. 

I was so exhausted, I could have gone to sleep right away, but I had to stay up so that I could feed the kids their dinner at 7pm. Once we hit that mark, all bets were off and it was bed time, lol.

DAY TWO

Woke up all snuggly and warm with Leeloo on my chest. She slept there all night, unlike last time when she spent most of her time in Sieh’s Sleepypod. Sieh spent the night on the seat next to me, just where he sleeps when we’re in bed at home. It all felt very companionable.

Got the reflectix down from the windows and took in the view. This campsite is fairly open and has two pull through sites across from it, but there was hardly anyone in the campground at all, so we couldn’t see anyone else from our spot. And since we were in a back-in spot, I wouldn’t see anyone when I’m laying down anyway.

More train sounds this morning, which was great. I was originally worried that we wouldn’t hear any trains in Kanaskat-Palmer because they state that trains are quite rare on this line, but we actually get to hear them a couple of times each day.

Got us all our breakfasts, and settled in to chill.

Around 1pm, I got Sieh ready to explore the campsite. He got so excited when I got his harness out! Once he was warmly dressed, we headed outside…but the train was going by again, and apparently Sieh is not a fan of the rail sounds. We went back inside Majel to wait for it to pass, then tried again.

He was much more relaxed this time, and enjoyed poking about, nibbling on grass (and trying to nibble on non-grass, as well. Thankfully, I keep a close eye on him.) He saw some little birds scratching around in the fallen leaves, got to stare worshipfully up at a tree, and…ate some more grass, lol.

After he decided that he was ready to go back inside, I got Leeloo dressed in her fleece dino sweater and her harness. She was incredibly interested in looking out when Sieh and I had the door open, but she was pretty nervous about being outside, a lot like she was last time. Very strange for her.

Since Leeloo didn’t want her wander, I got both kids into the big boxy backpack and loaded them onto the rollator. We did our loop of the campground, which they really enjoyed, especially since there were hardly any other campers.

Once we completed the loop, I decided to see if we could make it down to the river. On this side of the campground you can hear it really clearly. I really wanted to take them down to see it at least once, so I decided to brave the unpaved trail. I was emboldened by the sign that said it was only .1 of a mile away. This was a really bad idea XD. I mean, we made it, and they had a nice time (Sieh especially was standing up out the top of the backpack, eagerly watching where we were going (they really miss hiking *crying emoji*)

We got down there, stared at the river for a bit, then headed back. I really should have turned back when I realized how steep the hill was getting down there, but I was determined. On the way back, Sieh walked alongside the rollator for a bit, until another camper stopped to talk to us and he wanted picking up.

Came back and COLLAPSED into Majel. Not supposed to be getting that much (or really, any) exercise. But now we can say we’ve been down to the river (which is the main selling point of this state park) so we don’t have to do it again, lol.

Lazed about reading while the kids had their post adventure baths and then naps. Since we’re officially past the 12 days of Christmas, I bid adieu to holiday music and switched to some Enya and assorted New Age music to keep with the chill vibes (I’m rocking with my old iPod, which I haven’t added music to since like, 2013.)

The kids scarfed down their dinners on top of the cooler, then went back to their favourite spots for their post-dinner baths.

It was after dark when I heard one side of the tarp come loose. The ground is super saturated, so even if I get the pegs in really well, a good gust can pull them right out, and there isn’t much stuff to physically tie down too at this site like there was at the last one. I tied down the one side to a sturdy sapling, and got back in Majel.

About half an hour later, the other side came loose. Sigh. Got out and just tied it down to the side mirror, because there really wasn’t anything else to secure it to. It wasn’t SUPPOSED to rain overnight, but I’d sleep better if I wasn’t worrying about water getting in the window or soaking my poor rollator (that has to hangout outside due to lack of space inside.)

Worked on this post, then I finished making most of the reflectix window covers for Majel (just have the back window left to do) and man, it really makes a difference in the heat retention. Leeloo slept on my chest all night, but it definitely wasn’t to keep warm. I even had to turn the heater down, because it was getting a little too roasty toasty!

DAY THREE

Woke up with Leeloo on my chest and Sieh fully on my lap.

Got up and took down the tarp since it was still a bit windy and we definitely didn’t need it anymore. Lolled about in bed for a bit longer, then got the kids their breakfast. Sieh kept trying to eat his before I had it all mixed together, lol.

After that, Leeloo snuggled up in her Sleepypod, and Sieh posted up on the cooler to keep an eye on things in the campsite. I read my book.

After a bit, I noticed that Sieh seemed to be actively watching something, so I sat up to take a peek out the back window, and it was the other campground cat! They were going to all of the spots that the kids had been walking around yesterday, with special focus paid where Sieh had been eating grass. They eventually wandered out of sight, but it was cool getting to have seen them.

Around noon I started getting us packed up to head home, because check out is at 1pm. When we camp fully contained in Majel like this, it’s so quick and easy to get packed up. I put the kids in their Sleepypods and buckle them in, fold the back seat up and chuck the bed in the far back, put my rollator back behind the passenger seat, unplug from the campsite power, and off we go!

Kanaskat-Palmer State Park, site #35 Campground||Muckleshoot (Coast Salish) land

November 27-29th, 2025

FIRST DAY

Trying something different this time. We were way too chilly during our October camping trip, so this month I decided to spring for a site with partial amenities. This means electrical hook ups!

Since it’s cooler now, I opted to not bring the pop-up catio. I might make it a part of winter camping at some point (if it proves warmable with a space heater), but for now we’re rocking hanging out in Majel.

I have to say, this is the cosiest I can remember being while camping in a long time.

Sieh was a real trouper and only yelled a couple of times on the way there after we stopped at a red light. He prefers being on the freeway, or at least a long highway with no stops, and gets impatient if we stop. He’ll also yell if I get a phone call, so his grandma got a real earful when she called us when we were about 10 minutes out from the campground. Leeloo, as always, was an excellent traveler.

We left home around 2pm and arrived at the campground a little after 3pm. Because it’s the off season, the welcome hut was closed and we went straight to our campsite.

The past two times we’ve camped here we’ve been in the non-utilities loop, so this was a bit different. Our site wasn’t very private, but the view from inside Majel was nice, so no complaints here.

Once I got us parked, I checked out the power situation. On the website, it just says that they provide 30 amp hook-ups which we don’t have since Majel isn’t technically a motorhome, lol. I’d brought an adapter though, and was sincerely hoping that it would work. Imagine my surprise and delight when I found that alongside the 30 amp, there were also 15 amp outlets! No adapters necessary!

I quickly plugged in and tested the space heater to make sure that everything was all copacetic (in case we needed to head home), then wandered off to find the Iron Ranger so I could get us checked in.

We’re definitely farther from the bathrooms in this site, and unfortunately the trails are graveled instead of paved, so my rollator shakes like crazy on the way to and from. I could just go around the loop on the paved road, but then it’s farther. Getting the bejesus shaken out of me or walking further, what a conundrum.

Got us all checked in and headed back to our site. I had just started getting the tarp set up on top of Majel when it started raining. Got pretty wet because I was too lazy to put my poncho on, but I got the tarp all set. We now have a wee covered porch where my rollator can hang out, and also we won’t get water inside Majel from having the window cracked for the extension cord.

Tried things a bit differently so far as setting up Majel inside goes. I left the smaller side of the back bench seat up, and only folded down the seat on the wider side. This makes it much easier to get in and out, as well as providing a space for the water jug in the footwell. We also had to bring our own water this time because they shut down the water spigots for winter. I’ve got a pretty sweet set up for our jug and water pump.

I’ve still got the fantastic Coleman cooler in the ‘trunk’ section, but this time it’s behind the seat I left up. I can sit the space heater on either the cooler or the seat, which is nice. We’ll see how well the cooler can keep ice in a warm car for 2 full days!

The litterbox is in the passenger seat wheel well again, which has been working well for us.

I couldn’t find the cargo hammock ceiling thing while I was setting up, but it turns out that we functioned just fine without it, and its absence actually made maneuvering inside Majel a lot easier. I’m only 5’9”, but I can’t sit up straight inside her on my Hest mattress, I have to lean forward, and having something suspended in the ceiling would have further decreased the available head room. I like it, Picasso.

Since I knew I’d be hanging out in bed, I brought extra pillows from home so that I could be super comfy.

Once I had Majel mostly set up, I released the krakens…and Leeloo promptly climbed out of her Sleepypod and into her brother’s. I love how much snugglier they get while we’re camping, and how it translates into closeness at home as well. Starting camping again has been so good for their relationship, and their mental health overall. We all needed this.

I had brought some reflectix with me so that I could get started making some basic window insulation, and got the two back door windows and the two trunk side windows cut out before I ran out of reflectix. It really does make quite a difference! Once the Black Friday black out is over, I’ll order some more and finish the job, though I’ll probably just buy a sunshade from Daiso for the windshield.

Around 6:30, Sieh finally ventured out, and after using the facilities immediately parked himself directly in front of the space heater. Once he’d warmed up a bit, he climbed onto the bed and got all snuggly in the quilts. Leeloo remained in the pod.

A little after 7, I started prepping everyone’s dinner. Leeloo finally graced us with her presence and proceeded to inhale her dinner, little kitty backhoe style, standing on the back of the seat while I held her plate for her. It’s seriously so funny how she eats. Most cats lick up their food, but she takes these massive bites straight down into the food, just like a backhoe digging a hole, haha.

Another change for this camping trip: I switched to using paper plates for the kids. I don’t have any dishes to wash and I absolutely love it. Don’t worry, I at least got the biodegradable ones so they can be composted. Another concession to my low energy stores.

After eating, Leeloo returned to the pod for her bath, while Sieh performed his ablutions in front of the space heater.

I watched this week’s episode of Kakuriyo season two, filled out our camp info in our camping journal, and then read manga on Libby until bedtime. I turned the space heater to low and we all fell asleep.

DAY TWO

Woke up this morning to Leeloo climbing onto my chest and shoulder to warm up. Apparently the pod was a bit cold so she had a little shiver going on. She warmed up pretty quickly, though, and we had a nice snuggle. Sieh was…directly in front of the space heater again, lol.

Woke up and got breakfast started for everyone.

Decided I’d better start writing this entry before I forgot what we did, lol. While I was writing, Leeloo decided to honk Majel’s horn at the rest of the campers. Which made her nervous, so she had to go hide in her brother’s Sleepypod XD

After I finished catching up on my writing, it seemed like a good time to see if the kids wanted to go for their walks around the campsite. They both seemed really keen, but Sieh was ready first, so he got first dibs.

At first he was pretty nervous. Last night, our neighbour to the left was a motorhome, so we didn’t see them outside at all. Today, a little truck pulled in and two people were setting up one of those fancy cone tents. Remember how I said our site didn’t have a lot of privacy? Yeah, turns out it was actually a bit of an issue.

I held him in my arms for a minute or two, then walked over to the grass and set him down. Immediately, he forgot about our neighbours and got to work inspecting grass and sword ferns.

He was being very sweet, and kept coming over to stand with his little peets on my knee for head kissies and pets. Such a sweet brave boy.

After a while, Sieh decided that it was time to head back to Majel, so it became Leeloo’s turn.

Leeloo was extremely not thrilled about our neighbours. She was definitely nervous, but she calmed down when I let her onto my shoulder. Did not want to be put down, but also wasn’t trying to get back into Majel, so we hung around for a bit like that.

Decided we should get in our loop stroll while the kids were all dressed and kitted up. Hauled the square backpack out of the front seat and got the kids set up in it on my rollator, and off we went!

They seemed to really enjoy this, and they didn’t even duck down when we passed by people (even though someone dropped a trailer hitch on the pavement right as we walked past.) The backpacks really are a safe space for them, even after all this time. We ran into two of the camp hosts who stopped to chat when they saw the kids. Apparently they used to have a tabby who sat on their fluffy cat jut like how Leeloo sits on Sieh, haha.

Finished our loop, got the kids in and their harnesses and sweaters off, and updated this again. Leeloo went to chill in her pod instead of Sieh’s this time, while Sieh cuddled up by my knees in the copious amounts of bedding.

I had some lunch and read some more manga.

I got the kids’ raw food out to thaw and ate a slightly early dinner myself. Leeloo finally got out of her pod and climbed up onto the backpack (I put it on its side this time so it wouldn’t topple over and have her honking the horn again, haha.

The kids ate good dinners, and settled in for their post-feed baths. Sieh ended up scootching so close to the heater that it started smelling hot, so I made him move before he caught himself on fire or burnt out the space heater. He is so my child, lol.

Did some work on a fanfic I haven’t touched in about two years (I never post until they’re complete, so at least I wasn’t keeping anyone waiting), washed my face, and went to bed.

DAY THREE

Woke up a little after 8am to the sound of the garbage truck coming through for the campground dumpsters. Poor Leeloo, she shouldn’t have to put up with LOUD NOISE while camping.

Didn’t get the best sleep during the night because we were having big gusts of wind that were causing the tarp to make scary sounds (well, they were scary to Leeloo.) I was waking up every time she’d get tense on my upper chest and shoulder, and then I started anticipating her stress so I started waking up every time I heard the tarp start to make noise. Sigh.

Then I woke up because there was a weird smell in my dream so I immediately returned to the waking world to find Sieh lying directly against the space heater. I had it set on low, but his blocking the air flow wasn’t doing it any favours. I turned the space heater off and we just cuddled up under the blankets. From now on, I’ll put the space heater up against a ledge when we go to bed so he can’t sleep against it.

After being awoken by the garbage truck I got up and took the tarp down (no more rain in the forecast but lots of wind and we were all over it.) Then I prepped breakfast for everybody and tea for me. Gotta start my morning with my Barry’s.

Hung out and did my AM Duolingo (I’m trying to wrap up Japanese by the end of the year) until noon, then started getting Majel in order for the drive home. I was a bit lazy and just folded all the bedding and the mattress into the back.

Got Majel all situated and the kids in their Sleepypods, and we headed for home! This was such a cosy trip. Definitely going to be booking sites with utilities in the cold months from now on!

(Also, the Coleman cooler is so absolutely legit. It kept ice solid in a warm car for the entire trip, AND an extra day at home.)

Kanaskat-Palmer State Park, ADA site #21 Campground||Muckleshoot (Coast Salish) land

October 9th-11th, 2025

Got Majel all loaded up, though this time with the new-to-me Yakima rooftop cargo box. I also swapped out our old igloo cooler for my big Coleman one I bought several years ago. Got the kids loaded up and off we went!

Leeloo, of course, was a model passenger. She just chills the whole time in her Sleepypod. Sieh was really good, too! I hardly heard a peep from him until we were almost to the campsite!

Got here and found that the welcome shack wasn’t open, and is only open Friday through Sunday, noon to four during the off season. This foiled my plan of popping inside to check out the tiny shop (I wanted to see if there were Kanaskat-Palmer State Park stickers.)

Last time I just checked in at the drive-up window, which was incrediby convenient. This time, I thankfully ran across a couple of camp hosts to ask them what the procedure was for checking in with a paid-in-full registration, because all the signage was for people who hadn’t paid.
Apparently, you fill out a little paper form, then pop it into what the camp host called the “Iron Ranger,” lol. Easy peasy, and now I’ll know for next time.

Got the pop-up catio all set up and moved the kids into it. Right away they climbed out of their Sleepypods and started checking out the campsite through the mesh walls.

Since it had rained earlier in the day, and the forecast called for more rain while were here (and let’s be honest, we’re in western Washington…what are the chances that it’s NOT going to rain?) I got to weather-proofing. It turns out that putting the rain fly on is a lot easier with two people! I really struggled getting it on this time! I think if I were like, 6 feet tall and less fatigued it would have been less of a battle. As it was, I wore myself out on it! Next time I might try throwing it over the catio before I even pop it up.

Then I got the front porch guyed out with the poles (my first time doing this.)  It was super easy, thankfully. Since this is an ADA site, it’s paved instead of graveled/dirt, so you can’t use tent pegs. Thankfully, I was able to score some water bags intended to work as replacements for tent pegs, and they worked great.

I didn’t want to have to tarp the whole picnic table (the water bags are fantastic, but why do more than I have to?) so I actually brought one of my new camping items: a kitchen table set up. It fits perfectly under the catio porch, and has room for everything I need.

When I decided to try camping again, I got a few items that I knew I’d need, like the pop-up catio, and then a few that I wanted, like the camp kitchen. I also got a ridiculous water pump that I have been incredibly happy with. I was wondering when I would even get a chance to use the camp kitchen, since I’ll only be doing campground camping and campgrounds almost always have picnic tables, but it’s totally come in clutch already.

After I got the pop-up catio and camping kitchen set-up, I moved on to getting our bed ready. Here’s how we do that:

Finally got everything set up, and got myself some cheese ramen started for an early dinner. The kids were all cuddled up in Sieh’s Sleepypod, because I was a bad dad and only worried about making sure that we had everything we needed to stay dry, completely forgetting to check the temperature.

It’s been in the 60s to low 70s lately, and I assumed it would just stay in the 60s, but you know what they say about when we assume. It’s in the low 50s, and it dropped down to the upper 40s last night. I didn’t bring any puffy coats, so my poor kids are wearing their vests over their jammies for warmth. They look a bit of a hot mess, poor things. Next time I’m definitely bringing their snow suits!

Next time I want to get a site with partial utilities so that we’ll have electricity and I can bring an electric space heater for the catio and the car. To be honest, we really could have done with it this time, haha.
It started getting dark, so I moved the kids and the food into Majel. I prepared their dinner for them on top of the cooler, which also worked really well as a dining table.

I’m incredibly pleased with my Coleman cooler. I talk a lot of shit about Coleman (because let’s be honest, a lot of their stuff kind of sucks) but a few years ago I was researching for a good quality but reasonably priced-cooler (sorry, YETI) and this specific cooler came up multiple times.

I never got to properly test it out back then, because that was the year of camping trips that went far, far south (carpenter ant-ed out of one trip, then couldn’t find a site without deer flies during another) and I just sort of gave up on camping at that point, because it was wearing me out.

So this is my cooler’s first offical test, and it’s doing great so far! It’s so nice to not have to buy ice after just one day. It’s a bit big (because at the time I was hoping to start making homemade dishes while camping, not realizing how disabled I was becoming,) but it works! I use a tip I found on tiktok, which is to put all your food into little rectangular trash bins inside so that if the ice melts nothing gets wets, and that’s been a winner, especially with my old Igloo cooler.

With our new cargo box on the roof, all the stuff sacks etc go in there once I get set up, so Majel stayed nice and tidy. I was able to put the litterbox in the footwell of the passenger seat (last time I had to put it on top of my suitcase,) and both that seat and the driver’s seat stayed empty. The kids even cuddled in the passenger seat for a while.

Once they decided they were cold, they climbed back and into the sleeping bag with me. So glad I got this over-the-top 0 degree sleeping bag! If it’s too hot for it, I can just unzip it and lie on top, but last night it was really helpful! Between that and the two throw quilts we stayed nice and warm all night long, even with the window open for ventilation!

I only used one of the window screens and one of the window guards, because we needed ventilation to not wake up wet, but I didn’t exactly want to encourage a breeze. It worked out well, and I could have totally left the second screen and window guard at home. If we get to camp with an electric heater, we won’t need to worry about condensation at all!

DAY TWO

Went to sleep around 9pm, and woke up at 8am. Poor Leeloo, at home we had garbage, recycle, and compost pick up on Thursday morning before we left for camping, and then Friday morning the campsite had garbage pick up! Two days of “LOUD NOISE,” as she says with her speech buttons.

I was worn out from existing and from driving and from getting the camp all set up. Eventually got out of bed and got the kids into the catio and started breakfast activities. I’m so glad I have space for a wash station in my camp kitchen, because it’s really convenient. Got the water boiling for tea, human breakfast, face-washing, and dish-washing. The kids were very impatient at the late breakfast, because they’re used to their grandma feeding them between 8 and 9.

After breakfast we hung out for a bit, and the kids cuddled in the mini tent for warmth, until Sieh decided he’d like to have a walk around the campsite. We went out and of course my small and fancy cow kept trying to eat every single blade of grass that we saw.

He did take a break from the grass to go and worship some trees, though. The way he looks at trees, man.

As the ADA site, we’re right across a lawn from the bathrooms, and a bunch of people came all at once to use the facilities, so Sieh decided it was time to retreat to the tent. They’ve both actually been doing really well with having people being out and about at this campground, which is a relief. The last time I took them camping out on the Olympic Peninsula, we had a trail right next to our campsite and they just wanted to hide from people the whole time, which had not been their norm. Glad to see that it was mostly just a fluke.

Once I got back with Sieh, Leeloo decided she’d like to have a go, so we went out to patrol the perimeter. First she checked out that sweet, sweet grass, but then she got down to business. She marched all over the camp site, then wanted on top of Majel (I think she’s too bundled up to jump up herself (“you can put your arms down when you get to school.”).

After she felt like she’d seen all she needed to see, I actually got her to ride on the rollator! We’ve never tried this before, aside from them being in a Sleepypod to go to the vet. Pro tip: if you have one of the big round Sleepypods and are despairing at having to carry them (I love them for their safety features but they are AWKWARD to haul around,) they actually fit perfectly into a strap-back rollator! Our vet’s office actually thought it was a specialized Sleepypod stroller, haha.

Anyhow, Leeloo did great on the rollator, we rolled all over the campsite until I got too worn out and had to go lie down for a bit.

Right as we got back into the pop-up catio the rain started up, so perfect timing!
I love that there’s just the right amount of room for the camp kitchen and my rollator to stay dry.

Leeloo joined Sieh under the fluffy camp throws, and I settled in to start getting this typed. It rained off and on while I worked, and then I took a break to make some cup ramen for lunch (very YuruKyan style.)

Finally tried out my Ohuhu markers that I bought a while ago. They seem pretty legit (not that I know anything about alcohol markers,) and I got to mess around trying some different things. I’m pretty bad, but I just got them for fun as a step up from the mild liners that I use for my book journaling.

I got two small packs (the ones that have fine tip/chisel tip and the chisel tip/brush tip type.) To be honest, I like all of the tips, but I think I might lean slightly towards chisel/brush, since you can make fine lines with the chisel tip, and beyond fine lines the fine point doesn’t really have many uses.  I’d have drawn my kids but they’re all snuggled up under blankets staying warm, so I drew the pop-up catio porch view instead.

Around 6, I started getting the kids settled into Majel ahead of the temperature drop. I made a thermos of tea and settled in with them for the night. At 8 I prepared their dinner, which they scarfed down, and then they both crawled into the sleeping bag with me.

We listened to the rain coming down, and enjoyed our mutual snuggles as we drifted off to sleep.

Unfortunately, I forgot to put a diaper on Leeloo and she ended up wetting the bed during a sleep sprint. Thankfully, I had the waterproof blanket over the fancy Hest mattress, so it escaped unscathed!

THIRD DAY

We woke up slightly wetter, and definitely stinkier than we were when we went to bed. I ended up covering the window that I had open for ventilation due to how cold it got, but of course if you neglect ventilation you invite condensation.

(Thankfully it had stopped raining by the time I went to get out of bed, so I was able to pull out everything but the kids’ Sleepypods from the pop-up catio while I waited for my tea water to boil. I served the kids their breakfast in bed, then, when they were done, transferred them into the catio so I could start getting us packed up.
Since I was packing right up to the wire last time I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t rushed this time. I leisurely washed the dishes, got all the stuff sacks down from the rooftop cargo box, and started packing things up.

I really can’t overstate what a gamechanger the rooftop cargo box is. Instead of having to perfectly tetris everything away as I’m packing up, I’m able to be much more relaxed. If I was going camping by myself, space wouldn’t be at such a premium, but with the kids, just like with human kids, I end up bringing at least double the stuff! Aside from the bed set up, I’d probably just bring a tarp, a chair, and a table if it was just me, haha.

I had to take a break from packing, because while Leeloo settled into her Sleepypod to digest her breakfast, Sieh had other plans. He yelled and yelled and yelled, and smashed his face against the catio zipper until I finally gave in and took him for a walk around the campsite.  Where he, predictably, just wanted to eat grass. Sigh.

Even after that, he was still cranky about being in the catio, so I hurried up and finished packing everything aside from the kids, the litterbox, and the catio. I went and got their big square grey and green backpack out of Majel, and put it on my rollator. Then I summoned the kids.

Sieh was annoyed that he wasn’t coming out for more fancy cow activities, but he settled down pretty quickly once I got them pushed out to the road that runs through the campsite.

First we rolled down the lane and back, and then I took them on the RV loop to check things out. Sieh got a little nervous about the people we were passing, so he retreated down inside the backpack, but Leeloo stayed popped up and taking it all in. She did so well! I’m so relieved that she’s starting to overcome her acquired nervousness around people while “on the trail.”

The park employees were hard at work, cleaning bathrooms and doing whatever else needed doing. We saw two of their trucks, and the cute little golf carts that the camp hosts drive while out and about.

When we got back, I popped the kids into Majel with their litterbox, just loose so they could take care of business and hang out while I got the catio taken down.

Only two spiders this time (and two baby slugs!). The slugs are indigenous, which is great, but why do they have to get on the catio when they have so many great plants they could be crawling on? Also, one of the spiders was another great big reddish one in between the catio floor and the footprint. Ugh.

Right as I was bundling the collapsed catio into its carry bag, the rain started up again! We actually had really good luck with not being caught out by the rain, so I’m grateful. Tossed the catio into the trunk, took a last look around the now empty campsite, then we hit the road!

I did manage to check out the little gift shop on our way out of the park this time! There’s a small display of postcards, keychains, stickers, stuffed animals, and a couple of other things. Pretty minimal, but I managed to score vinyl stickers for 3 of the state parks I’ve been to with the kids! And for only a buck a pop!

Just like on the way to the campsite, Sieh was such a good boy and only yelled for a couple of minutes at one point. Leeloo, of course was silent. She’s a really excellent traveler.

The kids were so happy to see their grandma when she came out to the car to fetch them when we got home. It took so long to take off their ridiculous outfits (I totally forgot to do it before we left, so I couldn’t blast the heat like I’d planned) but then they were free! Free to groom, free to run around the house and the actual, permanent catio, and free to groom their little bodies that had been covered in multiple layers of clothes.

That’s all ’til next time!