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?
Camp Like Noodle 