Sunday, September 11, 2011

Gone Camping ~ The Rest of the Story

Saturday morning greeted us with our husky having escaped.  Though his lead was long enough for him to get in the tent and move around inside, my son let him off the lead Friday night after they had gone to bed.  Bandit is not a dumb dog ~ and he has been tent camping many, many times before.  Thus, he has figured out how to paw the zipper to the tent door-flap enough to create an opening big enough to get his nose through.  It's freedom from there.  There were several moments of panic as we recognized that the campgrounds was off of a stretch of 2-lane state highway that has no reason to slow down.  Also, this was not our familiar neighborhood, and the phone number on his collar was for the home phone, not one of our cell numbers.  I took a flying walk through the grounds to see if he was romping though to no avail.  As I was heading back to our site, I saw our son take off down the road and knew the dog had been spotted.  No worse for ware, though knowing he was in very deep trouble, the dog was dragged by his collar back to the site.  All before we'd even made the coffee.

Saturday was still hot.  We spent the morning sitting in the shade reading or playing Apples to Apples.  After lunch we visited the swimming lake.  Dinner was everyone's favorite ~ campfire pizza pies.  By this time our neighbors for the rest of the weekend had arrived and the sun was hiding behind gray clouds.  It did rain on us for a few minutes, but nothing to really dampen our plans to hangout and relax by the campfire.

Sunday was cooler.  Our little guy wanted to go back to the swimming lake, but there was enough of a chill in the air to prevent that.  My in-laws joined us for lunch, which turned out to be a pleasant visit.  Though, I did hear that they almost didn't make it because of a spat ~ over what I wasn't told.  We got to see our nieces, too, which is always a reminder as to why I am so grateful to have boys.  Sunday evening rained on us again, but it was short and painless for the most part.  We were still able to cook dinner over the campfire and chill.

Monday morning was COLD ~ as in I-can-see-my-breath cold. And our 14-year-old only packed t-shirts.  "It was hot on Friday when I packed."  He was quite chilly that morning.  We didn't have any plans for Memorial Day other than getting home, so we were planning on a low-key breakdown and mosey home.  Then we changed our mind.  We didn't make any extraordinary efforts, but we did move with a purpose.  We loaded up after a fantastic breakfast and headed home.

Despite the laziness of camping, there is an insane amount of work in the prep and clean-up ~ and I was beat.  Of course, the fact that our camping neighbors were night owls probably contributed to my exhaustion since their rustling around at their site at all hours tended to keep me from continuous sleep.  We unloaded the gear and began the task of washing bedding and organizing in the garage, and suddenly no longer had the energy for it.  I was in bed, out cold by 845 that evening ~ even before by kids.  I finally stirred again 9 hours later when the clock on my nightstand announced the arrival of the beginning of my workday.

All in all, I'd say we had a good trip.  But I am not too upset that we won't make it out again this season.

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