Well… that was an adventure!
When both of our partners decided to go to Burning Man, A and I decided that we needed to have our own little adventure. We agreed on a camping trip, and after looking at smoke and weather forecasts, eventually decided on heading to the Lake Chelan area. I found a Hipcamp, booked it, had it get canceled on me, found another Hipcamp which did not get canceled on me, and a couple weeks later, off we went!
As we embarked on this journey, A and I realized that, while we’ve spent a lot of time together as we’re in the same D&D campaign, we actually haven’t spent any time one on one together - or as ourselves, not our characters. But, fortunately, it all worked out and it turns out we’re pretty good travel buddies.
I took care of the camping logistics and packing - getting my van ready, finding the hipcamp, and bringing the silly little things like a stove and sleeping bags, and A did all of the food planning, which was amazing. I was definitely the less organized of the two of us, and I’m a pretty organized person. It was great going with someone who was so on top of everything!
We hit the road Friday after work, and as we began our 3+ hour journey, I realized that we’d be getting to our campsite well after dark, and would still need to set up camp and cook dinner. We decided to stop for some burgers on the way instead. It was absolutely the correct decision, since, as we figured out the next morning, I couldn’t get the camp stove to stay lit.
We stayed at Elevate Vineyards outside of Lake Chelan, and it was gorgeous. The moon was super big and bright both nights so we weren’t able to do any astrophotography, but we got some beautiful sunrise and sunset photos the next day. Our spot was directly facing sunrise, which was absolutely wonderful to wake up to, though a little earlier than I would have liked. Simmon, my dog, has been in a little bit of a funky mood since Mateo’s been gone, and he decided he needed to guard A and I all night long, so none of us got all that much sleep. But, getting up that early meant not only seeing sunrise, but also the deer that were traipsing around the vineyard.
We tried unsuccessfully to heat up some water for tea the next morning, but try as I might, I could not get the little camp stove to stay lit. Still, we had a lovely breakfast, read our respective books as the sun came up, then packed up camp and headed to Leavenworth for the day. Despite growing up in Washington, A had never been there, so it was fun to show her around. We got some caffeine and vegetarian bratwursts, and used the actual flush toilets, and with all our immediate needs met, went off to explore the town. We popped into a couple shops, and I got some excellent PNW paraphernalia. There was also an art market going on, and though we were tempted by many of the items, neither of us ended up making any purchases.
After a couple hours in Leavenworth, we started meandering back to our campsite, stopping at an absolutely massive antique mall and then a riverfront winery. I have never seen anyone greet Simmon as enthusiastically as the young worker at the antique mall. She was on the ground snuggling him like her life depended on it. He… tolerated it. He was pretty tired at this point, but he was okay with the affection.
The winery was also lovely, with a beautiful view of the Columbia River. You could even take your wine right onto the water, dipping your toes while you tastec. They also had a grilled cheese truck, so, once again, we did not cook dinner at our campsite.
After the winery, we headed back up to our campsite to watch the sunset, drink more wine, and read our books. We caught a stunning sunset, and, despite the wind, had a lovely evening. We made friends with the other campers - and Simmon made friends with both the other campers’ dog and the two resident dogs of the vineyard - mini Australian shepherds that were the perfect size for him to play with.
The next morning, A and I didn’t even try to light the stove. We ate a quick breakfast, then headed out for a little hike near Lake Chelan. We stopped at a coffee shop because yo girl needs her chai in the mornings, and we agreed that maybe a shorter hike would be a good idea, since we were both breaking in new hiking boots. And great news - neither of us ended up with any blisters from our boots.
Then we started heading home - and that’s where things got a little exciting. I knew we needed to get gas fairly soon, as I was at about a quarter of a tank. The van has a pretty big gas tank, so the range should have been about 90 miles, which would honestly get us pretty close to home. I started looking for a gas station and saw one right as we passed it, and figured that would have been a VERY exciting turn into the parking lot, so I’d just hit up the next gas station. That was a poor choice.
Little did I know that the next gas station was several miles and an entire mountain pass away, and I watched the “miles ‘til you need gas” tick down extremely rapidly. The music in the car was a great comfort, since as long as we had enough service to stream music, we probably had enough to call AAA for help if it came to it. I spent the next 30 or so miles coasting as much as possible, accelerating extremely slowly, and praying to whatever powers that be we would make it. A said she would be shocked if we didn’t run out of gas. She was eventually able to get enough cell service to find the nearest gas station, which was still 15 miles away when she pulled up directions. We watched the miles on the GPS go down, eventually getting to “okay, we could walk from here if we needed to.” We coasted to the gas station on fumes, and I had the biggest adrenaline crash. A was kind enough to take over the driving.
At that point, we had a bit over an hour until we were back at A’s house, and we both agreed we weren’t quite ready to be in our own homes by ourselves yet. We’d had such a lovely weekend overall with each other, and while we had finally heard from our partners that they were safe, if delayed, at Burning Man, neither of us wanted to be alone. So I dropped A at her house, she took a shower and said hi to her cats, then she came over to my place where we had a throwback movie double feature (The Road to El Dorado and Atlantis) while finally eating the dinner we were supposed to have the first night at camp.
Overall, this was such a fun trip, and I’m really glad I got to share it with A. Despite the gas station snafu and the two black widow spiders in our camp bathroom, it was honestly such a lovely weekend and a well-needed break from our real lives. I’m not sure if Simmon felt the same way, however. He’s basically been sleeping since we’ve gotten back, snuggling A the entire time we were watching movies, waking up for yesterday’s breakfast and then going back to sleep except for a couple of walks. I think A might be his new favorite person. And I think he has pretty good taste :)
