camping, finally

Tyler has been wanting to take the kids camping since May.

He either couldn't manage the time away from work,

we already had plans,

or the weather was disagreeable.

As summer turned into fall,

we began checking the forecast in earnest - 10 days out.

And every time it looked pleasant, we'd think 'this may be the last good weekend'.

This past weekend, things finally lined up for him to take them!

He planned for 2 nights, figuring that'd be plenty.

We went Tuesday evening to check out a campground not far from home.

It was such a nice little place, and so peaceful,

I told him he'd get out there and want to stay thru Saturday.

He didn't think that was likely.

Plan was to head out around noon Wednesday,

set up camp and hang out a bit, then go to the fall festival at church.

Right on schedule, they piled in the Excursion.

And it wouldn't start.

A few hours and a fixed (or so they thought) vehicle later,

they were on their way.

As soon as they got all set up, Tyler decided staying through Saturday might just be a good idea, after all.

There had been no ranger or host when they arrived,

but Tyler found one as they were leaving for the fall festival.

(after having the Excursion's battery hooked up to a charger they thankfully brought along)

He was told the campground was closed!

And they'd have to leave in the morning.

They'd have to go to a new campground

and set up all over again.

Turns out, they aren't a ton of campground around here that are open past October.

They ended out hanging out at Clear Creek for a decent part of the day,

before coming home to grab the trailer and moving on to the next campground.

The place in Ozark wasn't quite as nice, and the bathroom was 1/4 mile away from their site,

but beside that,

they had a great time.

And ate lots of junk.

And candy, from the festival...

Meanwhile, I was home. By myself. Having my own little mini vacation.

And they did stay through Saturday.