Thursday, July 23, 2015

Camp The Rest

Well, I had a wonderful post I wrote last night about day two of our three-day, mid-week vacation, but the Blogger app is still saying it is saving and I can't get to it. Oh well, I'll just wite the short, short version.

Oh, there will be pictures, but they're mostly on the camera still... so stay tuned for that.

Anyhow, yesterday was a wonderful day.  Since Boo and I both tend to be hit the ground running kind of people, we actually had breakfast eaten and cleaned up a d were on a trail by 9:00. We hiked a bit, a lot of up hill climb was involved, including some beautiful running water and foliage.

After the hike we went to the park office and poked around.  Then drove into Forksville (yes,  that  is  a  real  place)and stopped at  the  general  store  and  got  ice, a fire starter and a bundle of  fire wood  yes, this Girl Scout cheated and used a commercial fire starter...

Then it was back to camp for a bit of quiet time (and I got a nap), then some lunch.  In the afternoon we went back to where the camp office is and there is a swimming area in the creek roped off.  (The creek is almost a small river at this point by my standards....)

This time we had a real, if not my most beautiful, fire and s'mores.

I will tell you this, the nights were very chilly.  And our tent was under trees and we'll shaded most of the day. It was beautiful.

So, after a snuggle to be warm this morning, we breakfasted  and broke camp in a leisurely manner.  Then it was on the road to Knobel's!

We got to the park a little after 11.  We rode several rides, including the log flume.  Boo panned for gems, which is a favorite activity of his.  We had lunch and ice cream as well in there.  We ended up leaving the park right about 3, and met Gak at Red Robin right about 6 after a stop at Cabella's  on the way home.

I'm so very glad to have had this little vacation.  We needed it.  Gak got a lot of things done he wanted to get done, and all three of us are happier for these three days.

Peace to play and may your vacations be wonderful.

Camping

Yeah, yeah, I've fallen off the blogging wagon again.  Oh well, life happens.  Actually, that is why I started this thing in the first place.  Oops....

So, for this chapter, we join Boo and me on our camping trip.  It was supposed to be the three of us, but Gak just wasn't feeling up to it.  And, in the long run I accept this.  I did  not accept it gracefully or without causing pain, but I got it through my thick skull it was ok.  I really have to stop being like this.

So, before I get to today's adventures, I think I need to write down exactly why I think I wasn't able to gracefully accept Gak wasn't up to coming.  (And his reasons are valid, really!) My mom and dad have a long standing agreement that mom can have all the adventures she wants and that dad is under no obligation to join in on them.  It worked quite well while we were growing up and beyond.  But, we only ever had 3 family vacations I can remember.  (Weekends going to Kansas City to visit family don't count....) And I think somewhere deep down, or not so deep down, I felt like I'd been denied something wonderful; that American fairy tale of the perfect family vacation, with all the built in imperfections.  I'm not really sure where this idea has come from, but there it is.  So.... I guess that even though 99.99% of the time I'm thankful Gak and I have a similar agreement... I'm still holding onto that ideal. And sometimes it makes me do ugly things and say ugly things.  I need to recognize this and nip it in the bud before I hurt anyone again.  This is my problem, not Gak's.

Now that I've got the navel gazing out of the way, on to the adventures.

Today has been filled with great things and not-so-good.
Of course, the whole leaving drama I caused falls in the not-so-good category.

I had to stop by Kat's to see if Andy found the water jug.  He didn't.

I got cash, drinks for the road, and ice at Wawa.  The trip on the Turnpike was uneventful, even if I spent the first half navel gazing while driving.  Driving is good for that...

We stopped for some lunch after getting off the Turnpike near Hickory Run.  My choice of Long John Silver's  wasn't a hit with Boo, but we saw a brown bear in the parking lot when  we got there!  I do believe this is the closest ice seen a live bear outside the zoo.

The rest of the drive was fairly uneventful, except the fact I missed an exit and added 20 minutes to the trip.  We stopped at a little road side ice cream place and restaurant, which was yummy.

Then, about 10 minutes from the camp site, the skies opened up.  It only poured for a short bit, but this wasn't the first, or probably last time I'll put a tent up while it was raining at least a little.  Thankfully even though our tent is big, it is easy to set up.  And Boo was a big help holding things.

The rain cleared up and the sky was beautiful within about an hour.  But, it was enough to soak what wood there was, because of course I didn't bring any.

We mostly hung around the site this evening.  I cooked my dinner in my propane grill.  I tried to make a fire but the MOJO wasn't with me tonight.  We still had our s'mores though, just toasted over propane.

Now a boy is "done with being outside" and is fighting off sleep in the tent.  I'm going to crochet a until it gets really sark, then I'm off to bed too.