Nerd Vacation. Fossils, Ghost Towns, and Chelan-- Oh My!

I've been lucky enough in my adult life to take a vacation every summer.  Dave and I tend to agree on a few vacation requirements:  it must be warm, there should be a beach, there needs to be opportunities to swim/lounge by the water.  Last year we went to Seabrook.  We had a great time, but it was a little chilly and the beach was very far away and complicated to get to (cross a highway, descend steep rickety stairs).  We decided to return to Chelan this summer instead.  Of course, we improved the vacation by getting in touch with our nerdy side.

Google is a godsend when it comes to planning activities.  A quick search revealed fossil hunting opportunities in Republic, WA.  Looking for other activities nearby, I learned there was a ghost town.  We began our vacation in the remote town of Oroville, five miles from the Canadian border. The drive is quite lovely (and long).  Dave and I were both struck by the beauty and entertained by highway signs like "High Kill Area."  It's a good thing we learned last summer that Linus gets carsick and now keep a puke bucket in the car because Linus was throwing up about 3 hours into the trip.  We moved him to the middle of the car from the back and that seemed to help.

Things about Oroville--cheap lodging, lots of empty storefronts, wide streets, and you find yourself saying things like, "We need to find a bigger town.  I know, Tonasket!"  The kids liked the motel, especially the pool.  When we went to the room, Linus exclaimed, "It smells like Uncle Tim's house!" Hmmm.

After a long day of driving, we were up early the next morning to drive to the Stonerose Interpretive Center.  As suggested we brought goggles with us.  It's a short walk from the center up to where you can dig.  You just bring down what you find so they can sort through it, let you know what you found, and see if they want to keep anything.  Linus ended up with about 70 fossils, kept 15 (3 per paid admission), and the center kept 3.

The next day we headed to the ghost town of Molson (about 25 minutes from Oroville).  The old school serves as a museum and then a quarter of a mile down the road is the remains of the town.  The museum has lots of creepy mannequins that Eileen quickly took notice of.

Linus was a bit grumpy that day.

From Molson, we headed to Chelan.  Dave and I stayed at Campbell's resort back when we were dating and then again when I was pregnant with Eileen.  I've learned that the key to vacationing with young children is convenience.  Campbell's is located in the center of town next to everything you could possibly want/need.  It has two pools, two hot tubs, and private beach areas.  It also has several condos.  We stayed in a two bedroom with a kitchen.  Life is much easier when the kids sleep in a separate area and you don't have to constantly go out to eat.  We were also were steps from the beach and pool, thus we could hang out on the beach and still hear a sleeping baby inside.  It was awesome.

All Eileen wanted to do was build sand castles and Linus just wanted to be in the pool.  Piece of cake.  I got some cool new sand toys before we left for the trip.  The bucket came with little knights, flags, and horses, so the castles were epic.

We even snuck in a little mini golf.  

I bought a groupon for the water slides.  Linus had no fear and went down every one that he could.  I was fine with just going twice.  Robin and Eileen found it exhausting and passed out under a tree.

 Robin enjoyed hanging out with Mama all day on the towel.

Dining al fresco

Eileen insisted on wearing her hair like Cinderella for the entire trip.  Fine by me!  Much less time consuming than Elsa or Anna hair from Frozen.

 We rented a kayak.  I forgot how much fun it is to be out on the water.  Eileen was less sure.

 On our last day this guy turned 9 months.

I love vacation.  This was our best one with kids in terms of stress level.  I even managed to squeeze in an amazing massage at the spa at Campbells.   We will definitely do a trip to Chelan again.