My Two Percent

This past weekend I went camping with some friends at Lake Monroe in Bloomington, Indiana.  The trip was planned months ago so we all had plenty of time to get excited about going.  Friday afternoon Tonia picked me up and we packed my stuff into her car.  There is no way this is all going to fit was the first thing I think she said when we started loading her car.  We headed back to her house and somehow managed to strategically put her stuff in the car as well.  Our husbands weren’t going to meet us there until Saturday night, so essentially we were putting 5 peoples’ stuff, 2 adults, 1 kid and 1 dog all in one car.  There really wasn’t much we could have the boys bring down Saturday night (we would already have 24 hours worth of camping in at that point) so we had to cram it all in at once.  Somehow we managed to fit it all in.  We picked up Emma from daycare and off we went to Bloomington. 

We got to our campsite around 8:00.  We put up the tents and got everything set up.  We made a trip to the general store to get ice and firewood and alas…finally we were set up and ready to relax.  Our friends Ben & Joey arrived while we were setting up and got settled in next to us.  Another couple, Fred & Jody and their two sons were expected to arrive around that time but as the hours passed by they didn’t show up.  We called around and learned they wouldn’t be there until almost midnight but were going to go ahead and come and set up anyway.  Sure enough, late into the night as we’re all settled into sitting around the campfire, they show up.  They quickly set up their tent and get all of their stuff out and join us at the fire. 

Saturday we all get up early, and start coffee and breakfast.  We have opted not to stay at primitive sites, thus we have electricity - aka coffee makers, fans and ipods.  Not exactly roughing it.  We spend the day hanging out, playing a wide assortment of outdoor games (wiffle ball, frisbee, ladder golf, hackey sack) mostly due to the two boys’ undying energy but also because us adults enjoy it as well.  It gets REALLY hot late in the afternoon so we decide to try to find a way to swim.  As we pulled in Friday, there were signs everywhere saying the beach was closed due to the extreme flooding the midwest has endured over the past few months.  We scope out the area where the others swam last year, not the ”official” beach but a place that is swimmable near our campsite.   There isn’t really a beach, just rocks and an eroded shoreline, but we think if we’re careful we can walk out and get on our rafts and just sort of float around.  We go ahead and it is wonderful.  The water feels great and it continues to get hotter by the minute.  After a few hours of this we head back to our camp and make dinner. 

A few hours later Kevin and Tyler finally show up.  Finally we are all here.  We settle in around the fire for another nice relaxing night.  We have reserved a 28 foot pontoon for all day on Sunday so we’re all looking forward to that, especially with how hot it was today.

The next morning we all get up early and start coffee and breakfast, eager to get to our 9:00 boat reservation.  The day on the pontoon was great.  Aother friend of ours, Brienne, who couldn’t make the whole trip, drove down for the day on the boat.  There were 12 of us.  We got on the boat around 9:30.  We docked near our campsite and had a quick lunch, then went back out on the water.  We had several rafts so many of us floated on the water most of the day.  This really turned out to be key - it was extremely hot and 8 hours on a boat and in the sun is a long time.  By mid afternoon we were all starting to get pretty burned.  Leave it to a bunch of Ball State graduates to put sunscreen on AFTER we get sunburned.  We also rented a tube so that Fred & Jody’s sons could go tubing.  They were so cute.  They loved it.  I had never seen anyone tube from a pontoon before.  Although Charlie did keep complaining that we weren’t going fast enough it was perfect for little kids. 

All day Sunday we had all talked about how lucky we had gotten weather-wise.  It has been a very wet summer, and so far we hadn’t had a drop since we had been here.  Boy did we jinx ourselves.  I woke up in the middle of the night to make my nightly trip in the dark to the bathroom, and when I was about 10 feet from being back to my tent it started to rain.  Then it started to thunder and lighning.  And this continued through the rest of the night. 

 Needless to say, pretty much everything was soaked when we got up.  And we hadn’t really put much away before we went to bed…we just got so used to it not raining.  Oh well.  We were pretty much at the end of our weekend.  I think we had imagined coffee and breakfast and maybe even lunch before packing up and heading out on Monday.  Instead, it was coffee and ringing out clothes and cramming soaking wet camping supplies into our cars.  Oh well, now we’ll just have more laundry when we get home.

As my sister said after her recent camping trip, probably the rest of our family wouldn’t go camping if you paid them. However, I too enjoy the simplicity and peacefulness of camping.  And after almost four days of being in the wilderness it sure makes the comforts of home seem even much more enjoyable.  Isn’t that really what taking a vacation is all about?   Getting away for a bit and then returning home much happier and relaxed.  Well if it is…mission accomplished.

 

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