Camping

We left to go camping Friday afternoon and came back last night. We went to Theodore Roosevelt (again) to camp. It was the first time we'd gone camping, just the five us. Great times were had by all, but not all of the time...

Stupid me, we went camping when it was freezing. When we planned the trip, a month ago, we assumed it would be warm. And, it was warm here all week. But, Friday wasn't warm at all. It. was. freezing.

In getting ready for our two day trip, I packed, planned meals, gathered camping and fishing gear and scoured pinterest for suggestions. (I did not, however check the weather.) I guess that like Houston loves to be hot, North Dakota loves to be cold. Thankfully, I packed gloves, hats and jackets just in case...

Freezing around the small barbeque pit campfire Friday evening wasn't too horrible. (We weren't allowed to have any other fires.) It was the sleeping in the tent part that felt especially like cruel and unusual punishment. Saige ended up in Dave's sleeping bag for part of the night, and mine for the other part. Well, the other part of the night that we actually stayed in the tent, I mean. A little after 4 a.m., when all the kids woke up because Lydia needed to go to the bathroom, and I couldn't take the left side of my body (the side of my body closest to my sleeping bag zipper) freezing off anymore, we all evacuated the tent, and headed for the mini van. Thankfully good ole Mini warmed up quickly, and we all ended up snoozing for a while longer. Mini also told us it was 37 degrees outside. The two tanks of gas we wasted while sitting in the warm van were totally worth it.

Around 7, I started on the yummy breakfast I had planned. And, to my surprise, the electric skillet I planned to cook on wasn't working. Dave and I finally realized it was because our power inverter in the van was broken. So, we re-grouped and went with plan B. I cooked one pancake at a time over a very small skillet over a very small barbeque pit. We tried putting aluminum foil over the grill to cook some turkey bacon, but alas, the grease caught on fire, and that bacon was burnt to a crisp. We ended up cooking more bacon over the tiny skillet I brought, and we ended up with a delicious, slowly-cooked breakfast in the end.

But, but, but other than these tedious unfortunates, we had a wonderful time.  Saturday was a beautifully sunny day, and the girls and Dave fished. Saige and I planned to fish at first too, but Saige was more interested in flinging her fishing pole around other people than taking it easy, so I took her back to camp and she quickly went to sleep. After fishing, we hiked in the petrified forest and drove around the national park. It is so green and beautiful this time of year, and we spotted lots of wildlife. I love hearing Saige shout, "Buffawo!", "Pa-e dog!" (Prairie dog). Then, after a camping dinner of hobos, we headed back home. While camping though, we met some super nice people and we actually saw some people that we met at one of the churches we visited here in Dickinson. The church people invited us to come to their campsite Saturday night and enjoy homemade ice cream, but after all the packing, hiking, lack of sleep and re-grouping, I was to exhausted to socialize.

Dave and I can't wait to take the girls camping again, but we may just have to upgrade to an inexpensive pop up camper or something like it. I learned that while I love being in God's beautiful creation, I think I love the nighttime in God's creation more if there's a little more material between me and the great outdoors than a thin layer of mesh. Those pop-up campers things come with heaters, right?

Thank for reading! -Amber

P.S. I took no pictures.