Getting Close to Nature -

Went camping this weekend with the girls - we had a blast. It was great getting away from work and school and chores around the house. Discovered a few things NOT to do while camping in the boonies, one of them being not taking walks thru the woods without a flashlight.

On the way back from the restrooms, I decided it would be fun to sneak through a path in the woods and meet the girls as they were coming down the road and scare them... only it didn't quite work out that way. I stumbled onto an empty campsite, and it just happened to be the only "barrier free" campsite as well (meaning that it was compatible for physically challenged people). This particular campsite had a raised firepit, and of course, my shins found it, and i went flying headfirst and my head also found the firepit. Of course, I'm wearing my pajamas, and since it's freezing, I'm also wearing a big sweatshirt that doesn't happen to match at all. So here I am, laying in an empty firepit, covered in ash, laughing at myself. If anyone had found me they would have thought I was an escaped mental patient. As it was, I was a bit stunned, and acted quite stupid for the rest of the night, laughing at eveything.

Cooking was another adventure; we had great food, but the bees wanted it as bad as we did, so we broke the numbr #1 camper's rule and actally ate in our tent. The wild animals weren't too bad, although a racoon raided my parent's campsite and ran off with an ice cream pail of all their bread. They found the pail the next morning, halfway down a nature trail, of course minus the bread. The racoons around there are actally pretty tame; one came right up to our site and was close enough for me to pet him. I think he wanted our s'mores, but mom told him to get lost. She doesn't seem to want to get that close to nature.

I took the canoe out with Beth and tried to fish, but all I caught was a fantastic sunburn. It was well hot; we finally took the boat back and hit the beach. The water was icy cold, but it felt wonderful. It was so refreshing that I got the insane idea to swim across the lake (with some other campers) to the other beach, and then back. I think there and back, it was about a mile, so I think I got my workout for the day. Richard Simmons, eat your heart out!

So here I am, back to the daily grind of work and school. If I had my way, I'd camp all year (minus the bees and the firepits in the middle of nowhere, of course).