Life with Zak and Rachel.: Impromptu Camping

Zak had last Wednesday and Thursday off from work. Around mid-morning on Wednesday, he suggested we go camping that night. I agree, since, what else do I have going on?, and we spent some time looking for a place to go and making a list of what we needed to buy and bring. We checked out the local Tri-State store and then went over to Walmart to compare prices. As usual, Walmart won out because we aren't exactly wealthy currently. But we found great deals on a tent, camp chairs and a cooler that we both agreed on, so it was a successful trip. We quickly picked up some drinks and food from Winco, packed everything up and headed out on an adventure.

We drove about 30 - 40 minutes NE of Moscow, into St. Joe's National Park. The first campsite we tried was almost all full, lots of kids, campers and RVs; not what we had in mind. But we found a map and decided to try a site a bit further into the park. We totally lucked out and had the entire place to ourselves, plus it was just what we wanted! A quiet, heavily wooded campground with a fire pit, benches, a bathroom and a table. Once we got to our lot, we realized that although we had brought the air mattress, the pump for it had gotten left behind. I was a little annoyed, but we had enough blankets that it wouldn't be a completely horrible experience.

We got the tent set up and Zak got a fire going. I enjoyed being there with him, since he likes to camp and is good at it. I am good at making lists and bringing things, and taking care of the food, haha. We had gotten there around 5 in the evening, so we just relaxed and talked for awhile. We did explore a little bit, but I forgot my camera. And we didn't take pictures later or in the morning like I was planning (you'll soon read why), but we are planning on going back to the same place the next time we go out.

It was a really nice, relaxing night. We had hot dogs, grapes, chips and chili and beans. As we were unloading food, I realized that I forgot the new utensils we had gotten. I had washed them earlier and they were left in the dish drainer. Zak decided to experiment and started whittling some thin pieces of wood. He whittled them down into a semi-spoon shape and we wrapped the ends with foil and they worked, more or less! I was proud of him, because I had no idea what to do.

By the time we were getting tired, clouds had started to roll in, which was a bit disheartening, since the weather had been beautiful all day. I asked Zak to put the rain tarp/cover over the tent, because I'd rather it be on there before bed, then get wet and angry and make him do it in the middle of the night. It was a good thing he put that thing on, because it did rain a little during the night. Not a ton of rain, but everything sounds amplified from inside a tent. Zak slept pretty well, he said. I, on the other hand, struggled a bit. My allergies have been keeping me up and waking me up a lot lately, so I've been downing every kind of medicine I can find in the hopes of zonking out and staying that way until morning. I did not have one of those rare, uninterrupted nights. I woke up a few times, tossed and turned, shivered and tried desperately hard to fall back asleep. Let's just say we will not forget the air mattress pump ever again.

We woke up to the smell of rain and decided to just get a move on, since the rain was on and off. Too bad we didn't realize that it was 5 in the morning. But it was ok, we quickly packed up and drove home, and then passed out a few hours later.

But we had a really fun time, and for those of you who know me, camping isn't really my thing. But I had fun. I liked being out there with Zak. I figure if he's going to be a park ranger, I better start warming up to the idea of camping, etc. We plan on going camping in a few weeks, and as often as we can this summer, since we had so much fun. Next time we might even going hiking! Here are pictures. I meant to take some more in the morning and/or of us in our cute tent, but when morning came, I was doing my best not to be a total grump. So next time, there will be more pictures.