A month of weekend travels

One of my 101 List goals was to "Travel somewhere every weekend for a month."  I just finished my month of weekend travels.

The first weekend, I met my roommate (Karen) at a campsite just past Idaho City in the Boise National Forest to spend the night.  It was beautiful and we were right by the Payette River.  Got there just in time for dinner.  Just hung out and read for most of the evening.  Then we had breakfast the next morning before I headed back to Boise, and Karen continued to explore the area.

The next weekend, Karen and I went to visit her aunt and uncle in Gooding and spent Friday night with them.  The next day, we visited Little City of the Rocks and Hagerman Fossil Beds.  The Little City of the Rocks was quite pretty and it was fun exploring.  The Hagerman Fossil Beds was a bit disappointing, but at least I got a stamp in my National Parks Passport!

The third weekend of adventures took a big group of us to the Oregon Coast for Memorial Day weekend, where we stayed in a house that Karen's extended family owns.  I've never been to the Oregon Coast before and it was absolutely beautiful and so peaceful.    I already want to go back.  The weekend was full spending time with friends (old and new), laughing, visiting fun places, eating, and reading.  We went to the beach multiple times (including going tidepooling early one morning), visited the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, Salt Works, and the Tillamook Cheese factory, went to cute little shops in little beach towns, toured a lighthouse, went on some hikes, played games, and just hung out.  Such a great weekend.  I miss it.  Visiting there, even for a weekend, was the first time that I thought that maybe I'd be able to live in a rural place... just because it was so beautiful.  My pictures certainly don't do it justice.

And this weekend (the final weekend), Karen and another friend and I headed to Craters of the Moon, where we met up with one of Karen's co-workers and that co-worker's parents.  We camped Friday night and then explored Saturday morning.  We hung out and relaxed Saturday afternoon (I got quite a bit of reading done), before heading to Gooding to spend the night with Karen's aunt and uncle.  

It's definitely been quite the month of fun and adventures.  It's been fun to have things to look forward to on the weekends.  It helps me get through some of the harder days at work.  It's also helped me to realize how much longer weekends seem to last when you are actually doing things.  (They seem to go by much faster when you wake up at 11am and then read or watch TV for the majority of the day.)  I'm excited to have a few relaxing weekends coming up, though I am definitely planning on going on some more adventures soon.