Belfair State Park Weekend
It’s Saturday afternoon and we’re heading back toward Hood Canal to camp at Belfair State Park. Covid is still raging as I’m very well aware.
I’ve spent the last month calling people with positive Covid tests and their close contacts. My team collects data to inform our state public health response and to make sure those who need it most have accurate information about isolation and quarantine. We’re also trying to provide resources so these folks can safely stay away from others.
Most of the people I talk to are conciously trying to help stop Covid spreading– doing their best based on their understanding. Me too.
Bill and I have been been staying home. He goes into the office once a week for about 20 minutes to swap paper files. He wears a mask and there’s usually no one else there. Bill does our shopping once every week or two. Sarah and a Erik are at our house for Pinniped practice on Sundays–outside and distanced with more tunes and less songs–Sarah’s immune system is not robust, we’re especially careful around her.
So why am I spending the weekend camping with my grandkids and their parents?
It’s not the safest choice for us or our society and I’m not certain it’s a responsible choice.
Yes, I will hug the kids, hold hands with the kids, and read books to the kids while they snuggle on my lap. We’ll wear masks in public areas but not in our campsite. We’ll self impose a 2 week quarantine on ourselves just in case. Enough? I don’t know. I’ll check back in two weeks with an update.
Rob picked great campsites. A few trees, a perfect creek, and the beach just down the road. They rented a motorhome so we all had comfy beds.
Ben is four. He wanted to take off his water shoes so they wouldn’t get wet in the creek.
He happily stood right on the edge of the water and built a line of rocks. A particularly nice rock in the middle of the creek caught his eye and he asked if I’d carry him out to it.
I said I’d hold his hand.
A minute later he was tromping up and down the creek, giggling when it reached the bottom of his shorts and generally having a great time.
The line of rocks turned into a very long T.
Alex, at nine months, isn’t quite walking, but he’s close. He pulls himself up and cruises along. He loves to walk if you hold his hands. Alex got very grubby, very fast crawling everywhere. (Alex takes after me!)
Getting clean is just as fun as getting grubby
We always bring our scope for looking at birds. Tonight we used it for spectacular views of Saturn, Jupiter, and the Moon. Saturn was tilted just right. The rings were so clear. We could see several of Jupiter’s moons, and craters on our moon. Lovely.
UPDATE: All is well. Parents, Grandparents, and kids all fine. I’m limiting my interactions to Zoom, Skype, and Teams from now until an effective vaccine is available.
