Camping! (Aug. 13-14th, 2010)

Ever since I was a kid, I have gone camping at one point or another in the summer. I was so disappointed last year when Ben and I just never made time to go. This year, we made it a point to go, and we did a two-night trip this time! It was so much fun and so relaxing being in the mountains. We have found a favorite campground on the Alpine Loop and were glad to be able to get a spot there. We almost didn't, though! I took off of work on Friday and Saturday, so Friday morning we spent time packing up and getting ready, hoping to arrive at the campground by noon. Things took longer to prepare than we thought, and time was running out. We stopped in the middle of our preparations to grab our tent and a few other things and decided to head up there to get a spot and then come home again to finish getting ready. We got there and were told all sites were full! I was broken-hearted. We starting leaving, thinking of our other options, and I actually started crying (yeah, it's embarrassing to admit, but that's okay!). We knew of a couple other campgrounds, but didn't like them as well and didn't know if they might be full already too. I didn't want to waste more time driving from place to place to find a spot to camp. We decided to go back to our favorite place and try to make a reservation for the next two nights instead (Sat. and Sun.). When we returned, the camp hosts were not there and so we drove around the campground to find spots that would be open the next night to find one we liked enough to reserve. As we were almost done, we saw one that had a little sign clipped to a post out front that said "OPEN". No way!! We pulled into that spot and waiting for the hosts to return so we could ask them about it. We got it!! Yay! We actually really ended up liking that spot and it has become our favorite out of all 27 options!

Getting the fire ready for dinner and for sitting around:

Dinner on our first night: Hot Dogs! They turned out kinda smokey and covered in soot. I had to rinse mine off before being able to eat it! Ben thought they were good though! :)

We also had chips and a homemade pasta salad.

Breakfast consisted of cereal, juice, bananas, and donuts. YUM!After breakfast, we crawled back into our tent and dozed for a bit. Then we got up and drove to Deer Creek Reservoir for a picnic lunch and playing in the lake. The water was chilly, but it was a hot day and we had fun!We live close enough to all these places that we were able to go home and shower after playing in the lake. Then we went back to our campsite and had dinner, sat by the fire, and played some games.

Dinner number two: BBQ pork sandwiches! We bought a container of BBQ pork and heated it over the fire. It was quite yummy! We also had more pasta salad and some pickles with our dinner that night.

We packed up on Sunday morning, but before going home we stopped at a place called Cascade Springs. I don't know a whole lot about it, but I guess it's a huge natural springs area and it's very pretty. The pictures don't really do it justice.

Haha! Silly Ben. We have actually been here before after another camping trip a few years ago and Ben posed in the same way at this same spot. We thought we'd get an updated picture of his pregnancy pose! :)

We also finished up our trip with a drive through the rest of the Alpine Loop. We stopped and had a picnic on the tailgate of Ben's truck along the road, and then also stopped to look at another campground along the way (Timpooneke) but were not too impressed with it. We love our campground, the cute hosts that stay there, and just being able to enjoy the outdoors. What a fun camping trip! :)