123. Howard Miller Steelhead Park, Rockport, Washington

After our misadventure in Sedro-Woolley, we picked up our groceries and headed out to Rasar State Park to find a campsite.  We had a walk-in site, and though it was hardly any distance from the parking lot to the site, it was a bit inconvenient given that I was on my own with a three-year-old and every single trip to the car was a bit of a production.  So I decided to head east on Highway 20 in search of a picnic site - I knew there were many places along the way that would be nice to stop at and explore.  We ended up at a little county park in Rockport on the banks of the Skagit River - the same river I had pictured Charlotte in earlier today!  I pulled out the kitchen box - only to find my camping stove in pieces.  So much for the delicious pasta dinner I had planned - and so much for hot water for dishes too.  We made do with a lunch picnic.  While I was getting things ready, Theo and Charlotte were racing around on the grass near the picnic table when she spotted this playground around the other side of the nearby building.

"Maybe we can play at the playground!" she said.

"What playground?" I asked - I couldn't see any playground!

But eagle-eye Charlotte had spotted one.  It was pretty strange as a public playground goes - just a collection of Little Tikes equipment - only more of it than you would normally see in a private yard.  Charlotte wasn't picky though - especially as it was something that her friend Theo could join her on!  I was without a loaded GPS at this point, Paddy having recently died in a freak accident.  It was killing me to know that there was probably a cache hidden in the park and I didn't know where to look!  I actually took a peek in some likely-looking spots, but to no avail!  In the end, we found the closest cache, "Here's to Slough" the next day when we were caching with our friend Mr. ClueFinders.  The playground is located at N 48.29.119 W 121.35.636 and is point no. 123 on the map at the bottom of home page.

122. Riverfront Park, Sedro-Woolley, Washington

This weekend, Charlotte and I undertook our first mama-daughter camping trip!  We've been on lots of overnight trips before, but have always stayed with family or friends - this was our first time camping.  It was the May long weekend, so the border was pretty hectic; we headed inland to hit the border at one of the "quieter" crossings.  So much for that bright idea.  We eventually made it to Sedro-Woolley, the last big town we would encounter on our trip.  The plan here was to hit the playground and then stock up on groceries for the weekend.  The playground was chock-full of kids, which was great in one respect and not so great in another.  I was horrified at one point to realize that I'd lost sight of Charlotte after tending to Theo.  For a few moments, I just couldn't see her at all, even though I thought I was carefully looking at every single possible spot on the playground.  The fact that we were not far from the banks of a very fast river crossed my mind - but I needn't have worried, because little Miss Boston Strong was playing on the roundabout with the boys.  She sure knows how to hold her own with the big kids - she just lets them know how things are going to be.  So the whole mystery of her disappearance had nothing to do with her and everything to do with me, so I tried not to let on how worried I'd been - but she did get a bigger hug than usual next time she came to check in.  The playground is located at N 48.29.425 W 122.13.431 and is point no. 122 on the map at the bottom of home page.