Cody’s Birthday Weekend!

For Cody’s 30^th birthday, I (along with the help of some wonderful friends) planned a camping trip to the Mt. Hood National Forest at the federal campground, “Indian Henry”.  None of us had ever camped there, but we all decided that the campground was beautiful and totally worth coming back to again.  The campground is situated on the banks of the Clackamas River and is full of many hiking trails that lead to the river and through the forest.  After many long months of scheming and planning, Cody’s SURPRISE adventure birthday weekend was pulled off without a hitch!  What an amazing weekend we had too! 

The weather was beautiful – high 80’s to low 90’s, the campsite was beautiful and amazing, and overall I think a good time was had by all.  Thursday afternoon saw our months of planning come into effect as we grocery shopped, packed and got organized.  On Friday, Cody was off to work, blissfully unaware of the weekend plans that lay ahead.  I was up early getting us ready to go, packing backs for us and Bernie, and with some help, I got the jeep packed and ready to go.  From there, we all met at the Birchard’s to finish packing and then off we went! 

 

  

 

As we headed out of town, we put the scavenger hunt in place for Cody, that would lead him up to the campground, and he would earn some goofy prizes as well for his efforts. 

 

  

 

Upon arriving at Indian Henry, we hurried to get the campsite all set up and organized so that when Cody arrived, all he had to do was drink some beer.  We had just finished setting up the campsite when we saw his truck coming down the path.  We all jumped up, hootin’ and hollerin’ as he drove in.  He was awfully surprised at all of our hard work and efforts to make this a great birthday weekend for him.   

 

  

 

Since Cody had deciphered all of the scavenger hunt clues and made it to the campground, he got to open up his prizes.  The highlights of his prizes were the giant foam cowboy hat and rainbow-clown-afro-wig combo that he’s always wanted.  They also became quiet the entertainment for the weekend!

 

  

 

  

 

On Saturday we hiked down to the Clackamas River and let Bernie swim around.  Bernie loves the water, so he was having the best day.  Our friend Shane, who had flown in from Oklahoma early to participate in Cody’s birthday weekend decided that he wanted to test the waters, so he took a jump off some rocks and into the icy waters of the Clackamas River.  As cold as the water was, it did provide some relief from the 90º weather! 

 

             

 

In the evenings we enjoyed playing games, and hanging out around the campfire together. 

 

  

Matty finding out what happens (again!) when he falls asleep at the campfire!

 

  

 

Cody & Shane crash after the long weekend.

 

All-in-all, this was a wonderful weekend, which I’m sure Cody will remember forever.  I’m so happy and thrilled that everything was pulled off so well, and that things were able to remain a surprise for him until the very end.  Thank you SO much to all our friends who participated, helped me plan, kept me from going crazy when I thought he knew what was going on and for putting up with my neurotic-self!