Camping - Banks Lake, WA

This past weekend we went to Banks Lake camping & fishing! We stayed at the Coulee Playland Resort. This was our first camping trip we didn't stay at a KOA campsite and you know what, we had a great time!

http://www.couleeplayland.com/

We met a co-worker of Philip's there, Marlena, and her husband and family. We got there Friday at around 3p in the afternoon and we left Sunday at 12:30p to head back home. It is about 250 miles or about a 4.5 hour drive. Philip went out fishing with the men on Friday night, and then the entire families went to this off the wall property that Marlena's dad own about 50 miles away towards Wilbur, WA and fished on this private lake. It was like serious dirt roads the last 15 miles to get there and then an old gate had to be unlocked and we 4-wheeled our way into another 5 miles I believe or so to actually get to the lake. It was low 90's, high 80's for the weekend so that was nice, and I got a lot of sun to show for it:-) This area on the east side of WA has many lakes (Soap, Blue, Sun, Banks, and Moses); it was very nice and warm and it was really great just doing stuff outdoors and 'really' camping, not just visiting museum's and aquarium's!

Jordan caught about 15 fish all by himself! Philip would cast his line for him and then Jordan would hold the pole and reel the fish into the boat, and then of course Philip would have to take the fish off the hook. (I'll get pictures posted once the camera is loaded). I think I caught somewhere around 30 or so fish; they were all crappies...it was the kind of fishing I liked where I didn't have to pay attention and really fish because the fish just got hooked on my line with very little effort; in fact once I was putting sunblock on when one fish bit:-) Philip got to learn how to clean & gut the fish since he had to do some of the work to be able to bring 2 bags of the fish home! We are going to have a fish dinner in a few weeks when my mom and dad come out since my mom knows recipes on how to cook this type of fish...

Justin just hung out with folks around the lake this time. I didn't put him in the boat because I actually wanted to fish and not just hold him, plus he was a little off (sick) which I think he still is and is why I'm taking him back to the doctor on Friday. I think he has pneumonia again:-(

On the way home coming back over Snoqualmie pass on I-90, a vehicle crashed directly next to us in the fast moving lane. We actually saw dirt fly and the truck roll...towing a camper trailer and trying to safely stop is a hard task that Philip handled very well!!! We were lucky that the middle lane we were in and the slow lane didn't have a lot of traffic in it that everyone was able to safely pull off to the shoulder or slow down and stop without being hit. As soon as we stopped, we were directly next to the rolled over truck. All of the contents of the vehicle were all over the freeway, so Philip and other folks kicked the stuff over to the side off the freeway whilst this one lady was on the phone with 911; I'm sure she was in shock and all, but she had no friggen' clue where she was at! She had to ask Philip and myself what freeway she was on...clueless I tell you. To make a very long story short, the truck ended up propped upside down on the jersey barrier and the fast lane of the freeway which was VERY good for one of the passengers since she apparently didn't have her seatbelt on and came falling out the sunroof and end up under the car in the opening that was under the car. Needless to say everything could have been way worse, but of the 3 passengers in the truck, none of them died which is really amazing to me since the truck was pretty mashed up.

On a side note, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sister who turns 34 years-old today!