Winter Time: The Big Trip

On Saturday we took our camper out for the first time. As a child I have fond memories of camping at lakes in my Grandparent's motor home. Hank and I wanted our children to have those same memories. So we packed up the camper and headed to Daily's Lake (only 15 miles from our house). We found our spot on the lake, and settled in. We were the only campers looking for an adventure in the area so there were lots of options. I do remember as a child my Grandpa spending a long time leveling out the camper, we decided that we would forgo this step, which meant sleeping at a slight incline, with a slight to severe rocking sensation much like being on a cruise..... on a canoe!

After everything was unpacked we looked at each other and both said, "Well what should we do now?" We couldn't go outside because it was freezing, raining, and blowing a 100 mph! So we decided to eat...We brought some shrimp pre-cooked but they were from Indonesia so Hank insisted on boiling them again. We only had a frying pan, so that is what the shrimp got boiled in. We had stopped at the Emigrant Store earlier to buy some drinks. Hank sent me in, and I came out with a gallon of spring water and one 16 ounce juice which was gone before we even got to the campsite. So consequently, we only had water to drink. Note to self when camping a Happy Hour is a must! So we will send Hank in next time, his usual Emigrant Store stop involves buying 2 ice cream what evers, at least 1 pop, and a few candy bars. Imagine his junk food collection for CAMPING!

After eating dinner Hank went outside to fish. It took him more time to set up his gear, 37 minutes, then he spent 6 minutes fishing! The camper has a garage in it as well so we brought the Rhino. The Rhino didn't even get unloaded it was so COLD outside!

The kids and I watched Finding Nemo on the laptop (thank goodness for technology). Weston who usually falls asleep at 7:15pm was up until 10pm, and so was his sister. When Hank came in from fishing we contemplated heading home so we could sleep in our own bed, but we decided to tough it out!

We thought we had the sleeping situation under control, with the pack and play and the pull out bed in the couch for Bella. Well it was so cold, and we had to have the heat on high to heat the lower part of the camper, so the little itty bitty upper bedroom master suite was 500 degrees. So we built a bed beside our bed for the kids. Weston slept well on it, but Bella was in between Hank and me and at the bottom of the bed twisted in the quilt. Hank was so nervous she was going to fall off the foot of the bed and launch into the living space of the camper (a 5 foot drop) so he slept with his legs curled around the foot of the bed to protect her. Not to mention that he did not have any blankets because Bella had built herself a nice snug cocoon. Needless to say when the sun came up we hit the road! We didn't even change out of our PJ's. Wouldn't you know we saw someone on the gravel road that we knew and had to stop and chat. I had to cover my legs with a 3 ring binder, since my nightie was a little short!

We haven't given up camping, but have decided camping is a group activity to be conducted in friendlier weather conditions. Hopefully the next outing will have a better outcome!

We had a beautiful view and saw 100's of Elk grazing.