Fort Stevens Campground

While Sarah was busy with Girls Camp (the week of June 20). I got the crazy idea to take all the kids on a camping trip. We loaded up the van and headed up the Oregon Cost to Fort Stevens. We enjoyed four great days of camping in the great North West.

The camping was great, but the mosquitoes were terrible. At first we tried to use a 'family friendly' bug spray, which of course had no affect. After getting eaten alive, we drove into town and picked up some Deep Woods Off packed full of deet. We practically went through the whole can of bug spray and still had mosquito bites.

Emma did a great job cooking the bacon for breakfast. I must be out of practice when it comes to camp cooking. I actually forgot quite a few basic supplies including salt, pepper, and ketchup for our hot dogs. Luckily there was a convenient and overpriced shop attached to the KOA campground next to ours which filled in the gaps.

Katie, of course, had to take her precious blanket everywhere with her.

'Fire Sticks' kept Jacob and Ben busy most of the time. It's amazing how playing with fire can entertain these two for hours upon end.

Joelle was glad to have Samson along with us on the trip. I did feel a little bad for the guy since he had to be on a lease pretty much the whole time.

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A short drive down the road was the beach with the shipwreck of the Peter Iredale (1906). The kids really enjoyed getting to explore the wreckage and splash a little in the ocean.

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Close by the Fort Stevens campground are the old Fort Stevens battlements. The kids loved getting to explore these old structures and seeing where the large guns were fired. We were able to take an underground tour of the command center which was very interesting, if not a little too long for some of the kids.

Fort Stevens was actually constructed during the Civil War and used up through World War II. It was interesting to learn about how the Civil War reached the West Coast of the United States.

We ended up visiting one of Fort Stevens battlements when they were commemorating the Japanese attack. They had a short presentation which ended with the firing of 3 rounds from a TOW HOWITZER. When the gun was fired, you could physically feel the concussion wave hit your body. Poor Samson totally freaked out and tried to run away.



I image this is how it would look if we let Joelle drive.

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Our last day at Fort Stevens was spent at the beach. The day was absolutely beautiful and we ended up spending a few hours building sand castles and running from the ocean waves.

A fellow camper brought his horses to the beach for some exercise. Joelle absolutely loved this and was thoroughly thrilled when he offered to let her sit on one of his horses for a few seconds.