Banks Lake Camping Trip

This weekend Stewart took me on an annual camping trip with a huge group of his friends in Eastern Washington. Since this was basically our first overnight trip together I was really excited. We got to Steamboat Rock State Park at the north end of Banks Lake on Saturday evening after driving more than four hours from Seattle. We dropped off our stuff and immediately grabbed a cooler full of beers and headed off down the sandy beach to find Stewart’s friends. 20 minutes later we were on the boat.
A few hours later back at the camp site we had dinner and hung out around the camp fire. I felt a little out of my element being with a bunch of people I didn’t know, but everyone was super nice. The next morning we were on the boat by noon and proceeded to stay on it all day long. Cliff jumping, inner tubing, wakeboarding, and wake surfing took up most of our time, with occasional breaks for beer bonging. I was able to get up on the wake surfboard on the first try! Super exciting, since I have never even been able to wakeboard before.
Wake surfing seems to be much easier. I really wonder who came up with this concept. Everyone sits on one side of the boat to weigh it down and then drive in a slow circle. This turns the wake into a smooth wave that a person can “surf” right near the boat, without even having to use a rope! After the boat pulls you up you just let go and the wave carries you, it was pretty sweet. Stewart was even talented enough to catch and drink beers while surfing.
After another fantastic dinner courtesy of Brett’s mom, we once again sat around drinking and talking by the campfire. By the time a 1980s sing along began things were really starting to get rowdy. I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard in a long time.

The next morning we were awoken bright and early by a bunch of little kids screaming and laughing. I can’t believe I forgot to bring ear plugs. One little six-year-old boy took a particular liking to me and spent the entire morning following me around asking questions prompted by Matt: “What’s cookin’ good lookin’? You should be cookin’ somethin’ up with me!” Thanks a lot, Matthew.

The weather had been overcast the day before, but our final day was clear blue skies and hot hot heat. Taking turns wake surfing never became boring. I can only assume this is because we were sipping cool brewskies the entire time. I saw Brett wakeboard for the first time and I just have to say – WOW! Flips and 360s and everything crazy you can do on a wakeboard, he did it all and never crashed. Truly impressive.
Matt, Stewart and I had originally planned on heading home around 5 p.m. That time came and went and we still couldn’t drag ourselves off the boat. Seeing the boys continue to guzzle down beer, I sighed, stopped drinking and concluded that I would definitely be the one driving home. At 8 p.m. we finally pulled the boat out of the water. Connie had prepared another amazing dinner and it didn’t take much convincing before we were once again sitting around eating and talking.

A little after 9 p.m. I was finally able to force the boys into the car. Dragging myself away from this party was unbelievably hard. Of course, Matt and Stewart both passed out about 20 minutes into the drive… which left me with approximately four hours of driving on dark roads after two nights of virtually no sleep, drinking and sunshine. Not a good combination. I had to stop and get coffee and take a jog around several rest stops just to keep my brain from totally shutting down.

We didn’t get back until after 1 a.m. and all of us had to work the next morning, but overall it was completely worth it. More than anything I’m thrilled to have had such a fantastic weekend with Stewart. I’m so glad he likes me enough to bring me around his friends – who are completely fantastic and fun. I love meeting new people. I ended up with new friends, a lump on my head where I got hit with the surfboard, multiple random bruises all over my body, a dozen itchy mosquito bites on my legs, really dirty hair and a pretty decent tan. Not too shabby if I do say so myself.

Mayfield Lake in two weeks, yay!