Potholes State Park

May 27-29, 2011

We booked this camping spot because of it's proximity to The Gorge for Sasquatch festival. We had such a good time last year that we decided to make arrangements early so we found this spot before we heard about the lineup. Well, the lineup sucked so here we are - camping in the East. This isn't a bad thing since it is May and you will not get good weather West of the hills until after July. We took an extra day to make this a four-day weekend and to not travel on a holiday, so David, Sarah, Lola and I soaked it all in. First off, the campsite isn't that great. It is placed on a lake so you get your share of boat noise and bugs. There are a couple gems in this campsite, but there is no reason to go here unless you are heading to The Gorge for something. The weather was hot but very buggy and cold at night. If you traveled into the picnic area of the grounds then things go awesome. The huge park and picnic seats right on the water made for some great relaxation in the sun. We played many games here and soaked in the much needed sun vibes. I guess if you have a boat you can explore the water and find islands as the water level drops throughout the year and explore which is awesome.

We went on two hikes and those are the last hikes I will ever go on in Eastern Washington. On word, Ticks. Our first one was a dune hike without a trail. It was very interesting land and we found a dope spot to hang out on as our destination but the trip out there was a buggy mess and Lola decided to quit walking halfway through. The second hike was close to camp and was actually really nice. We got back to the trailhead and noticed a bug on Lola, then we noticed many more bugs and we realized we found Ticks. There were hundreds all over Lola digging deep and trying to find red treasure. We started freaking out and headed back to the lake thinking we could drown them off of her. Sarah got in the water and dunked her and it didn't work. A couple young girls came by and offered some advice and we all came up with a plan. We picked some off and started checking ourselves. I had one and sarah had one but we needed to take a shower for a closer look later. We called up Angie for advice and ended up heading into Moses Lake for some pet meeds. Luckily, the vet was there already so we didn't have to pay for her service.

We got back to camp and busted out the tweezers and a cup of soap water and started pluck's. We pulled 89 of those fuckers out of Lola! One horrible experience. We all lockup up our hiking clothes in garbage bags and took showers. Lola ended up sleeping outside the tent in her crate and rode home in the car inside her crate! We probably pulled 10 more suckers when we got home and found 5 or so dead soldiers through the next few days.