I might have stretched the truth a little when I told my (now) husband that I loved to camp. When I was a kid we went camping at least once a summer, but not more that two or three times a year. My mom planned super yummy dinners for us. And we had hot chocolate and powdered sugar donuts for breakfast. What was not to like? Well, now I am the mom and that means it’s my job to think up and cook super yummy camping dinners. When we were tent camping I had two dinners that I would make. Camping could therefore only last two nights (pretty smart). Before we left I would make a grilled chicken pasta salad, put it in a ziploc bag and stick it in the cooler. I would also prep all the ingredients for taco salad, put them in bags and into the cooler. DONE. Breakfast was muffins. Lunch was usually leftovers. I had the food pretty figured out, for two days anyway, but there was still all the other parts of camping. Sleeping in a tent is not the easiest thing for a light sleeper. Somehow, camping just isn’t as fun as it was when I was a kid. I still wanted my girls to have those fun memories though.

My husband I and decided to buy a trailer. It has been fabulous! We have already gone camping two times and I am actually looking forward to camping again. I have already decided that we are going camping next week.

So, here is the point of this post.

Phillip’s Lake, Oregon.

We have decided to limit our trips to a two hour radius from home. Two hours is about all our kiddos can handle unless we are headed to the cousins. Luckily, two hours can get us to some pretty amazing places. Like Union Creek Campground at Phillips Lake. 

Nice spot, huh? I wouldn’t mind going back, but we have other places to explore. This was a great place for us to spend several days. There is hiking around the lake and fishing in the lake, swimming (if you can brave the cold) and our favorite camping pastimes of burning things, like marshmallows, in the campfire. There are also a couple of historical sites within a short drive. We went to the Sumpter Valley dredge. A large piece of mining equipment siting in a pond. I found it fascinating. We had lunch at the Elkhorn Saloon. It is a bar, but there is a side entrance for seating in the back where kids can go. It isn’t fancy  (it is a bar, I can’t stress that enough), but they have some amazing hamburgers! They have some crazy combos on the menu like the George Washington that is topped with cherry pie filling and cream cheese. No, thank you. I had the BLT burger and it was yummy! I also recommend the onion rings. After lunch we took the kids to the Sumpter community park. Where they played until the adults were able to move again after all the food we had consumed.

Another draw is the Sumper Valley Railroad. Unfortunately, we were there on a weekday and the trains only run on specific weekends. The girls and I are planning on going back just to ride the train. Yes, I will drive two hours for a half an hour train ride. They have train robbery weekends and a Christmas train. It sounds like something we would love to do.

I can’t believe that I am actually looking forward to camping. Not like backpacking or sleeping in a tent camping, but parking the trailer in the woods with electricity and running water kind of camping. I think it totally counts. If my kids and husband are happy I will trailer camp any time.

P.S. We had a blast adding to the rock stack forest.