Sisters Weekend

Imagine what it would be like to arrive at a State Park where you plan to spend a ‘quiet’ weekend.  You find the spot you’ve reserved. . .only to find that you have parked right in the middle of a group of forty ladies with vintage and newer trailers and tents?  That happened to one couple last weekend.  They spent quite a bit of time sitting outside their big motor home – smiling and laughing and enjoying our fun!  As I walked by the second day I asked the man if he felt a bit overwhelmed to be in the middle of all these gals.  He said he has four sisters and he was loving every minute of this!  He was a trooper.  He helped back trailers into tight spots, he and his wife shared conversation when we stopped to chat with them and he smiled the whole time!

My sweetheart towed our ‘big’ trailer eleven miles to the State Park where I spent the weekend camping with thirty-nine Sisters who are part of Sisters On The Fly and some guests.  Sweethearts are called ‘Sister Misters’.  Guests are called ‘Sisters Wanna-Be’s!’  This group of gals came over the mountains from Central Oregon.  

Caravanning is the way many of the Sisters travel – there is safety (and fun) in numbers.  The caravanning gals always have radios so they can communicate with each other.  It’s the only way the first gal – the last gal – or any of the gals in between can let everyone what is happening or if there is a problem.

Watching the caravan of Sisters arrive at the campground was like watching a parade!  There was such excitement to see that they had made it safely over the river and through the woods!

Our weekend together officially began on Friday evening.  Several of us reserved Thursday night so we could spend more time together.  It was an informal, casual time to relax and chat around the fire.  Some of us sat and chatted way too late!  The weekend kicked off with a fantastic Chicken Curry dinner together – all prepared and served by our two camp hostesses.  On Saturday morning some of us went to a historic barn at the park Visitor’s Center for a talk by the education director of park.  She was dressed in period costume as she told us the history of the area.  We had a lot of free time during the weekend.  There was time for us to fish, walk, relax, go antiquing or whatever we wanted to do.  Since I was a ‘local’, I led a group to a nearby quilt shop.  Then I took a couple of gals back to the shop the next day.  We had a 'Roving Dinner’ (aka Progressive Dinner) on Saturday night.  We had been divided into groups, depending on the location of our campsite.  Each group was given a different course to prepare for the meal.  We all ‘talked’ by email ahead of time and decided what we would serve and what we would bring to make it happen.  We started at the first group of trailers for Appetizers – then we moved to another group for Soup and Salad.  I was in the Main Dish group and then we moved to the next group for dessert.  I think we had enough food to feed the whole campground!  After dinner we gathered around the campfire for a concert of fun, old songs presented by two of our gals who are musicians.  Our time together ended with a continental breakfast on Sunday morning before we all headed home.  There was a sad feeling in the air as we said goodbye and watched our Sisters drive out of the campground.  There were lots of hugs and promises to get together soon – and some of us will.  In two weeks I’ll join quite a few of the gals from this group for another campout together.  Next time it will be a BIG group.  It's the annual get-together of gals from all over the Pacific Northwest.  Oregon, Washington and Idaho gals will gather together on the Washington Coast for three days of sand and sea fun.  The best part for me will be seeing my Oregon Sisters again!

(Miss Daffodil won’t be ready for the Washington gathering.  My sweetheart will tow the ‘big’ trailer up for me.  He will return to bring us home.  If he should forget us – hey, I’ll have comfy accommodations at the beach!)

Photos courtesy of Vintage Women With Trailers, an informal gathering of gals who love vintage trailers.