I do not remember the year we started the tradition, but sometime in late 1970s, the Leon and Lovena Livingston family started an annual family reunion camping at East Table Creek campground along the Snake River. I am guessing it was 1979. It may have been 1980. All of my mother's siblings would come. (Aunt Madalyn's family did not come the first year or two but later, they came every year.) We would camp along the river for a full week. This post is about memories I have from those reunions.
Every family except Aunt Colleen, Aunt Madalyn, and us had some type of camper for the adults to sleep in (Aunt Shirley & Uncle Carlos: popup tent trailer; Uncle Justin & Aunt Barbara: RV; Aunt Geneal and Uncle AC: camper trailer; Uncle Leon & Aunt Joan: camper trailer) Dad would bring our fifth wheel horse trailer for he and Mom to sleep in. The adults all slept in these trailers. Aunt Colleen & Uncle Ray, Grandma & Grandpa, and the girl cousins slept in these campers as well. The boy cousins slept in tents.
When we started this tradition, several of the oldest cousins were already graduated from high school. They were married, attending college, serving missions, etc. (Carla, Jan, Kirk, Kathy, Lisa, Lori, David, Nancy, Kent, Kris, and Kelly). These cousins might come and go for part of the day or for singing around the campfire but they did not always camp overnight.
Every morning, the boys (the boy cousins, Grandpa, and the Uncles) would get up and go fishing on the river. Grandpa Livingston knew all the best fishing holes in Snake River canyon. The aunts would sit around the picnic tables and play Pinnacle while they visited. The girl cousins would sit around the picnic tables and talk about "Days of Our Lives." (NOTE: They may have done other things but I was usually fishing, so I do not know exactly what they did. What I wrote here are the things I remember observing them doing.) The girls also typically planed one "shopping" day in Jackson.
For meals, we cooked over the campfire. We had bacon, eggs, and pancakes for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and fried fish, fried chicken, with Dutch oven potatoes for dinner. Uncle Leon always brought a truckload of "day old" baked goods from Albertsons. Each of us could have one Shasta "pop" drink for lunch and another one for dinner.
At night we sat around the campfire, told stories, and sang songs.
In the boys tent, we would play board games into the wee hours of the morning.
During the day at the campsite (when we were not fishing), we road BMX bikes, played in the river, chopped wood, and played card games.
The first year we camped, someone brought a game of horse shoes. We would spend many hours pitching horse shoes and competing with each other. This became an annual tradition.
Most years, we planned one day of swimming at Astoria Hot Springs. We also went to see "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" at the "Pink Garter" theatre (now called The Playhouse) in Jackson several years. Our cousin Mark (and his wife Wendy) were actors in this play several times.
This tradition of camping at East Table Creek continued through the 1980s. The last time I remember camping along the river was the summer of 1989 after I returned from my mission. Annette and I went in the summer of 1993 (when Jamie was about 6 months old) to this reunion. However, we camped across the highway instead of along the river.
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