[Staying warm by the fire]
Wednesday was pretty much the same, we got up, had a yummy breakfast, got cleaned up and ready for a hike.
[Poor girl spent a good amount of time being cold. But she endured it well]
The trail we had gone on the day before had the option of going in the other direction. So we followed that. But after only a couple of minutes it looked as though the trail ended so we were pretty bummed.
[Good shot Scott!]
So we went back to the entrance of the camp and tried to find where another trail was by looking at the trail map. We thought we knew where to go and headed off. After an hour of walking in circles and finding no trail head, Scott headed back to camp with the kids and I headed back to the trail map. I was determined to figure out where the other trail head was so we could have our hike. After some time studying the map I realized that the head was somewhere between our campsite and the group campsite not far from us. I went back to camp and informed Scott of my findings. He was in the bathroom and said that we’d look for it when he was done. I went back into camp and sat down on the bench thinking about the trail head and kinda mumbling to myself. Jaime looks up from her book and asks what’s wrong. As I look up to answer her I look past her and see the trail head right across the road from our campsite. I just busted up! Told Jaime what happened and she laughed too. At this point I see Scott coming back to camp. I told him I had found the trail head. He looked excited and asked me where it was. I pointed and he cracked up too! There it had been. How did we miss it all this time?? Since the day was getting warn away, we chose to wait and do the trail the next day.
[Keri spent lots of time in her high chair but didn’t mind too much!!]
We had lunch and then went to the water again. This time Keri fell asleep in the van so Scott stayed with her and the other kids and I enjoyed an hour in the water. Then we went back to camp. We played Kubb, checkers, card games, Frisbee and just relaxed. It was so fun.
While on the lawn playing Kubb we saw a very big garder snake. It was a good 2 feet long. We got a picture and a ranger was going to remove it for us, but it went down a hole instead. Fortunately, that was the last we saw of him. The kids had a great time just hanging out and doing fun family things together. We had dinner and smores and then bed time. Jaime stayed up a little later with us and that was fun too. Alix wanted to go to bed she was so tired.
[Playing in the dirt is always the funnest part of camp]
Thursday was our last full day at camp. We started with breakfast, clean up and getting ready for our hike. We hit the trail head and were very happy. But right away we were hit with straight up hills. Figuring it would end soon we kept going. After 30 minutes of going straight up we thought perhaps we should turn and go back, but the kids were happy to endure. After another 15 minutes of straight up we found a level area in some shade and had our granola and water.
[our flat spot]
We were trying to decide if we should stop or keep going. I said I would just go a few more minutes up the trail and see what happens. Jaime went with me and about 2 minutes later we found the trail end.
It had a picnic table in some shade and there was a marker to indicate the start of another trail. I ran back to the little area we had stopped at and everyone was excited to make it to a trail end. We were bummed that we didn’t realize the picnic table but decided we should go there again and do the connecting trail next time too.
[made it to the trail end]
Well our 45 minute uphill battle only took 20 minutes downhill! It was much easier. On our way down, Alix, being the leader, ran back to us and said there was a tractor coming up the path (we were on a pretty wide trail).
[see how the tractor goes to the end of the trail??]
We figured it would pass by us and we’d be fine. So we waited a minute at the side of trail before we saw it come around the corner. This thing was HUGE! It took up the whole trail. The kids started freaking out. Scott and I just look at each other and laugh. Not quite sure how we are going to get around each other, we just waited for him to decide what to do. He picked up his scraper, turned it sideways and that gave him enough room to go right past us with about a foot between us and him. I’m so glad we did not have to fall down the side of the ravine!! As we got closer to the bottom we saw a ranger. We gave him a hard time about sending up the tractor. He was really sorry and said that people don’t usually hike the trails so he didn’t think to check first. We all had a good laugh about it. While we were heading down Scott found it important to tell the kids that the tractor still had to come back down and that we better hurry so it doesn’t run us over. Well, at the bottom of the trail, here comes the tractor. Poor Afton! She goes running toward camp and starts banging on the van and screaming ‘let me in, let me in’. Niah just goes screaming into camp. Scott and I had a hard time containing our laughter. After that Niah and Afton would just cry at the word tractor.
We did our hour of swim at the lake. Scott decided to get in the last day. He doesn’t really like to be cold so this was a big step for him. He had a good time.
[Even Keri went in the water this time]
We went back to camp and had fun playing games and enjoying our last few hours at camp. At 5:30pm our friends the Richie’s joined us. They had dinner with us. We played Kubb with them and had smores and went on a little walk and just had fun. They left about 8:30. We were so glad to spend some time with them.
Funny story. After the Richie’s left Scott and I were just sitting around the fire. We continued the tradition of staying up till the last log burned. No taking fire wood home. Earlier in the day we got new neighbors. A younger couple with no kids and a dog. As we were sitting around our fire they approached us and the guy says ‘Wanna smoke a joint with us?’ WHAT?? Here I am 31 years old and that was the first time EVER I was offered to smoke anything let alone a joint. We politely declined, chatted for a few minutes and they left. Scott and I laughed about that for a few minutes and then had to wonder what it was about us that they would even THINK to offer us one. I figure they’d only offer if they thought there was the slightest possibility we’d say yes, right? I dunno. It still kinda weirds me out! But I still think it’s funny none the less. Maybe they thought after taking care of six kids all day we needed to relax!!
THAT is so funny! I am so curious as to what “we politely declined” looked like in real life. I bet it was hard to contain your surprise. Potheads are always looking for company.