Bald Knob Lookout Sept 19-21

Before the summer began when we were making plans for travel and leisure, Jack found us a 3 day vacation down in southern Oregon at a fire lookout. He has been talking about going to one since we moved to Oregon and for a mere $25 a night, we finally booked our first trip. All summer Jack kept mentioning how excited he was for our trip. This trip turned out to be one of the the greatest vacations we have ever taken. We have decided to try to make it an annual excursion as our time spent there was so priceless.
It was so simple. We made meals, chilled out in the lookout, went for walks/hikes, took naps, played banana grams, listen to Radiolab or music, but most importantly had this amazing time just the three of us with no distractions or stress, just pure enjoying of each other. Annabelle blossomed in this energy. She was so happy, energetic, and talkative. She seemed to bask in the energy of her family being together in nature. I think she picked up on how her parents as well bask in this type of opportunity. Biyou got to come and besides his added "challenges" of whining in the car when the baby was sleeping, or barking at the noises he'd hear at night, we love being able to take him on adventures.
The lookout tower is two stories and has 360 views of mountain tops... Weather moved quickly over the rolling hills and we watched it like a movie. There is a door on the floor that you could close at night so we were completely protected at night in our fortress. I liked knowing this because bringing a baby out in the middle of nowhere invoked worse case scenarios played out in my mind. One of my fondest memories from the trip was when we walked through this old growth forest at dusk. We stood there and listened to the silence. The depth of the silence that the forest echoed penetrated my being and for a moment in time the silence around me brought a deep silence within me. These trees had a presence that was larger than I had ever felt. I was so happy to be in such a magical place with just my family alone...quiet. I realized how our daily life completely contrasted this silence and this alone is what inspires me to make this an annual trip.