by Tricia
We did end up going camping over the weekend. I found a small cabin available on the Lake and snatched it up for Saturday night. We were thinking buying a tent, but the cabin ended up being cheaper right now once you factored in the tent cost and the site fee. There is also that fear of rain since I’ve slept in a leaky tent before. If we buy a tent, I want it to be a really nice one and that will cost quite a bit.
So we got a cabin. It was probably about 10ft x 10ft and had electricity complete with a small fridge and a hot plate. Because of that, we didn’t need any special food for our trip. Well, we did get some marshmallows for the fire. I thought the trip would run about $60 but it ended up being $83. $30 of that cost was from buying three of those fold up chairs. Now that we have some, we will be using them for going to the beach, fishing, parades and any future camping trips. Before we were just sitting on the sand, rocks or pavement. A bit of a luxury for our tushies, but we will use them and they fit with our whole downsizing/maximizing our space goal.
Now that the monetary consideration is out of the way – let me tell you…I needed that break from the “norm.” Everyone had a very nice time. Here are a few of the highlights:
1.) My son got to see his first flaming marshmallow. I tried to get him to take a bite of the charred remains but he wasn’t going near it.
2.) Our campfire was fueled by four containers of dead wood from our yard from the past few years. We were finally able to get rid of that. Yay!
3.) The only pair of shorts that fit me (the rest are too big now) bit the dust. They had a little hole near the pocket and it literally let rip. At the time, I was the only one at the cabin and I was starting the camp fire. When my husband and son came back from a water trip I asked my husband to get me a towel. “Why?” he asked. “You’ll see when I stand up,” I said. I wish I could have seen the look on his face when he saw it.
4.) We went for a hike and hit the jackpot. There were thimbleberries all over (they are sort of like raspberries but bigger and not as sweet). My son and I went crazy picking and eating. Yummy!
5.) My son’s pedal fell off his bike and we were about 3/4 mile from our cabin. Before I could even think too much on trying to fix it someone came up to us and asked if we needed a wrench. Kindness of strangers always puts a smile on my face.
And here was the one thing that happened that made me feel like we were in the right place at the right time (MB, you are going to like this one 🙂 ):
6.) My son was riding his bike around our cabin and I decided to walk out by him. I happened to notice something flying low on the lake. It didn’t take long for me to notice the white head and tail. I yelled to my son to get off his bike and run with me to get a closer view of the bald eagle that was probably looking for fish. We didn’t catch it actually diving for a fish, but I have never caught one flying low like that before. Usually I see them soaring high above or sitting on a rock or tree. It was a first for me and it was awesome. Too bad our camera battery died on Saturday night!
I am very happy we went camping, even though it was a short trip. All of us had fun and it was a change of pace that we needed. We had a special experience that we will remember for a long time and I’m probably going to hear about my shorts ripping for years to come 😛
