Memorial Day Weekend..

We camped this Memorial Day Weekend outside of Yakima in Tieton. I still can't believe we found a campsite to reserve just a few weeks before the long weekend. This was a big deal for our little family because it was Lola's first camping trip and something Sarah and I have been wanting ever since we have been together - our own dog running around our campsite. It was awesome and hilarious. David, Angie, Cameron, and Cydney joined us and it was a great group. We did a day hike on this trail that was an Elk refuge area or something. The weird part is that there were Elk bones all over the place, so I think it was more like an Elk feeding ground. Lola was off leash running around with Lucky loving every moment. She was one dirty dog when we were done. It took her a long time to figure out that she was outside and it was okay to lay down and to pee whenever she needed to. The first day we had to take her off her staked dog-run and put her on her leash, walk two steps and then she would pee. She wasn't comfortable I guess, what a silly one. She also digs really large holes so if you camp with us you better have some ankle support.

David was kind enough to watch Lola for us on Sunday so Sarah and I could check out the Sasquatch Festival at The Gorge. The location was 90 minutes away, but what an amazing night of music. Massive Attack, LCD Soundsystem, Booka Shade, Atrack, and The XX - holy crap! This was a night that you find your mind bringing up memories of it months later. It was truly enchanting to see Massive Attack perform alongside some legendary vocalists. The lights and sound were perfect and the energy of the crowd couldn't have been any better. I can say the same thing for LCD and Booka, really amazing live - we danced the entire night.

I ended up getting a flat tire somewhere from The Gorge to our campground. I filled it up on our way home and it only held for 10 miles. In the monsoon rain the tire really went flat and we pulled over. Our only option was to push all our gear to the back seat and pull out the spare tire and go to work. I got the car jacked up once, and it fell off the crappy Audi of America jack. I figured, I rushed the job and didn't get it set right. On my second attempt of getting the car up, as I was taking the flat tire off the car, the jack bent and the car rolled back. I got my hand out of the way and almost lost it! The car was resting on the tire that was now jammed into the fender well and the brake rotor was jammed into the inside of the wheel. Awesome. The car looked great lowered, always wanted to see that. :) It was a pretty big deal, it scared Sarah to tears. Good thing I am fast like Ninja. I promptly took the jack and slammed it to pieces on the side of the highway and threw it off into the weeds. We called highway patrol and he showed up 10 minutes later with his jack. Swapping tires, I couldn't get my lugs to find a thread. We tried everything and were at it for almost an hour. I ended up calling my Audi buddy and he laughed and knew exactly what happened. When the car rolled back, the axel turned so not having the wheel guide tool in the holes on the hub, the axle rotated the hole openings behind the hub closed opening. (if that makes any sense) He told me to put it in neutral and rotate the axel by hand until the lug openings on the hub rotated to the open slots for the lugs. Amazing! Always have an Audi friend in your phonebook! Towing from Yakima to Seattle would have been horrible.

It was a wild weekend for sure