In which we brave the wilds and have some adventures

With Mini-Memblers starting Kindergarten later this month some adventures were in order before that change hits the household. After mulling it over I decided he and I would go camping at McCormicks Creek state park.

Camping is funny, you cram your vehicle full of stuff, drive to the campground and then for awhile it looks like the car barfed it's contents all over the campsite. Then things get sorted out and the tent appears and you cram all you can back in the car. Then the rest of the time it's like a daily (or more often) repeat of that, the car barfs all over, you sort it out and cram it back in. Then home where it has it's final sick all over your house and you just kind of wallow in the mess because you're just DONE craming stuff back where it belongs.  

So I picked McCormicks Creek because it's one of my favorite parks and because it was just over an hour away.  Mini isn't the greatest passenger at times to put it mildly.

I didn't actually plan very well, but it turned out really well. We didn't have reservations or anything and they weren't sure they had a space for three nights but they did find one and we settled right in. The campground was maybe 1/4 full which was nice. We had someone two sites over and there weren't many others close by us which was nice. When everything was sorted we went out for a short hike. We hiked until Mini wanted me to carry him, which was the signal that we were ready to go back.  Then we went for some firewood and had a short fire and then crashed out.

Our first day we went swimming, it's a nice enough little pool. We splashed around for an hour and a half and then the busses arrieved. One bus after another of kids, I think there were boys and girls club, camps, church groups, it was really something. So we left and had lunch and a hike and saw the remnants of a 1860's farm and the spring house and what had been the barn and went back to the campsite to get changed for the pool. Upon getting back I realized I made a big camping boo-boo. I had placed the loaf of bread and a package of rolls in a tub and then placed something on top of them. I was intending to put the whole thing in the van but forgot. Well a critter got to them. Took all our rolls and half the bread. Zane held the torn bag of bread up and said "LOOK MOMMY! They left some for us!". 

 Then after that it was back to the pool. The nice thing about the pool the second time was there was shade over the little pool and Zane was happy splashing around in it so I laid in the shade while he systemically eradicated all dry spots on the concrete around the pool. Mommy win! 

The next day we swam again. This time we hiked a trail first, we hiked to Wolf Cave and we poked in it until my claustraphobia got the best of me. I guess you can go all the way through if you can squeeze through a 1 1/2 foot wide opening on the other side! Zane wanted to go father but it was just a big no from me. But it was a nice 2 mile hike and a lot of fun. It was a trail for pansies in a way, there were benches every so often all through the trail. Zane would scream BENCH!!! and run and sit down :D Then we hit the pool again and after swimming it was back to the campground again.

We ate hot dogs, canned biscuits, I made a pie iron sandwich(Zane looked at it in distrust), chips and cookies. It was a good dinner.  

So I had debated going home a night early because there was rain predicted. In the end I decideed we ought to stay, I hated the thought of not getting the third night I'd paid for, and camping in the rain is a character building experience.  I have plenty of character of course but a good mother keeps their child's character development in mind :D  And I thought how bad can it be? 

The answer was bad. It could be really really bad.  There was a solid hour of torrential downpour and crashing thunder.  Then the rain kept up another two hours.  We happened to have our tent at the low point of the campsite so I could feel the water running between the tarp and the bottom of the tent. Some puddles appeared in the tent. Everything just felt damp. The rain started about sevenish? Zane crashed out in short order after that robbing him of his chance to fully build character.  I could hear the people two campsites over who had just come in hours before dealing with their toddler. The toddlers cries went from "I don't really like this" to "can't this be over NOW?" to full blown "I'M DYING HERE AND YOU DON'T CARE!". I could hear the parents patience wearing thin. I was so eternally grateful that MY tiny tent companion would rouse periodically, look around groggily then be drug under again.  I tried to sleep, it didn't work but it was still really peaceful. Even with things feeling dampish we stayed really dry on the mattress and were cozy under our blankets. 

The next morning we did another hike, a short one neither of us was really into. We did the nature center which is really cool! I hoped the tent would dry. It didn't.  I ended up cramming it and the tarp into a trash bag and it's in the backyard right now set up and waiting to be folded up properly.  Then after stuffing all the rest of the stuff in the van, I forgot the bag of trash(there wasn't much and no food waste but still :( ) at the campsite and we came home so the car could be sick all over the house.

All in all it was a wonderful trip and I'm looking forward to doing it again :D