Good-bye Summer

Several weeks ago, Natalie and I had what I hope will be an annual camping trip. All in all we had a good time. She was a big help in setting up the camp site and she was good at entertaining herself when I was busy cooking. We learned some valuable lessons along the way. One, if possible try to check out the campsite ahead of time. I chose it online and picked it because it was close to the bathhouse. Well, not only was it close to the bathhouse, but we could hear every time the door opened and slammed shut and even when the toilet flushed!! The site also was VERY rocky and had a lot of tree roots. Poor Natalie was always tripping. Second, flip flops are good only in the shower. Natalie would live in flip flops all year long if I let her. She was always falling out of them, falling or stubbing her toes. Third, bring bug spray. I know that sounds a bit odd, since we are camping outside and there are bugs outside, but we had bees (small and large) flying around all the time. It would have been very handy to have a large can of Raid to aim at them!! Fourth, never leave your garbage hanging in a tree. Since I had not seen any type of critters throughout the day, I figured that the garbage would be fine and I left it in the tree. About 3:40 AM I heard scurrying feet outside and I am not sure what all was out there. I stayed put in the tent and Natalie slept through it all. The next morning when I got up the bag had been ripped out the tree with a big hole in the bottom of it and it had been opened up and gone through. I did find a banana peel at the end of the campsite. Fifth, always clean your dishes before going to bed. We had made some s’mores. We ate them over a plastic bowl. I figured I would wash them in the morning since there was only a small amount of marshmallow residue on the bottom of the bowl. So I stacked the two bowls together and left them in the dish pan to wash the next morning. After I got up and saw the garbage bag on the ground, I realized the bowls were missing. Now these bowls were about 6” X 6” and I never did discover what happened to them!! That made me even gladder that I did not get up at 3:40 in the morning to see who was outside enjoying my new camping bowls that I had just bought. Needless to say, the next night everything was washed up, packed up and in the trunk of the car! Sixth, the tee pee style of campfires is not effective. I tried this style (remembering my Girl Scout days) the first night with limited success and the next night with limited success. I then tried the box stack (don’t know that it is the correct name) and had the best campfire. It lasted all night long and it was great sitting by the fire while Natalie entertained me with her own original song and dance routine! I had originally planned to cook our supper in the fire but when the second attempt failed to produce a good and long lasing fire, I ended up cooking on the stove. Seventh and most importantly, camping is a wonderful way to experience God’s creation, to slow down the pace of life and a great way to have lots of one on one time with the people in our lives who are the most important to us.

Natalie outside our tent.

The lake we swam in. It was sooo COLD!

We have had a great summer and have done so many things. I am looking forward to the pace of life slowing down just a bit!