Camping! Yay! Finally!

If you haven't checked our blog entry, I posted two blog entries at once, so be sure to scroll down the the previous entry when you finish this one...

Well, it's finally happened! We finally managed to have an uninterrupted trip to the mountains! As you may recall, our first attempted mountain vacation in July was truncated mid-week by Sadie's first bout with enterovirus. Then, over Labor Day, our long-planned long weekend camping trip to Grayson Highlands was aborted after we had traveled 2 and a half hours, when Sadie developed an ear infection. So we decided that three times might be a charm, and planned a trip to Fairy Stone State Park in Virginia, which is only about 2 and a half hours from home. This park is noted for the large number of cross-shaped staurolite mineral rocks, which are apparently quite rare outside this park. Also, the park borders lovely Philpott Lake.

We were not completely bereft of bad luck. Note that we are in the middle of a severe drought in this area, and I don't think it's rained in months. On Friday, the remnants of Hurricane Humbert passed through the area, and we drove to Virginia in torrential rains and frequent tornado warnings. We set up camp in pouring rain and had to hide in our tents and under the picnic table canopy that night, and our tent was a bit leaky. But the weather on Saturday and Sunday was absolutely perfect.

We were a bit nervous about how Sadie would handle the outdoors and the drastic change in routine, but she was an absolute champ. She was in her element, and had a wonderful time playing with sand, rocks and pine cones. We were a bit worn out from chasing her around and around the camping loop, but the tent was large enough that we were able to occasionally just hang out in there and let her play with her toys.

I find that some people must camp for very different reasons than we do. We enjoy the absolute peace and quiet of nature, and the exertion of long hikes. Many campers must come for social reasons, and some seem to be tethered within 50 feet of their camp sites. The campground was a bit noisy and we were occasionally disturbed by loud music and loud talking. In fact, we had an "amorous" couple across the loop from us who proceeded to "serenade" the entire campground at 9 pm. There was a family with several children only 15 feet from their pop-up of seduction and I wondered what the parents told them was going on next door. Luckily, Sadie was sleeping like a rock and missed the free adult entertainment act.

Anyway, here are some pics...

Our tents... I'm not sure why I am posting pictures of our tents, but here they are...

Redmond takes a break from Sadie chasing...

Sadie peers out the window of the tent...

We had a roomy tent and a pretty comfortable setup. She slept between us on a Thermarest pad and actually seemed to sleep better here than at home, with the exception of her once a night wakeup to try to get us to play with her. Mommy and Daddy don't generally play at 2 am.


Walking around the campground... We spent much of our weekend chasing after Sadie. There are no walls in campgrounds.


Every pair of pants we brought ended up with all kinds of dirt stains. She was either kneeling on the ground or rolling around in mud...

Brian chatting with Lila. Lila also did very well on her first camping trip and has Sadie beat, as she camped for the first time at a mere 11 months.


Ok- we do realize that there are folks out there who still have their Bush/Cheney bumper stickers on their cars, years later, but what does a good latte have to do with one's political proclivities? Don't we all want a good latte?


Missy, Brian and Lila at picnic time...


Here is one small cove of Philpott Lake. There were different kinds of boats for rent, but we didn't dare attempt to take Sadie out in a canoe. I suppose we could have strapped her to her seat with a bungie cord...


Sadie in a tube slide...
We took a couple of hikes... On Saturday, we hunted for fairy stones and found a few of them... On Sunday, Missy and I took the kids out while the guys packed the cars... Both Lila and Sadie took a nap...

Isn't Lila adorable?




Sadie, passed out in her stroller...


We found that occasionally, allowing Sadie to play in the car bought us a few minutes to catch our breath. She climbed around, chirped "Beep Beep" every few minutes, and eventually would find the car horn, after which we removed her from the car.

Note that she's wearing a fleece jacket. On Sunday morning, it was 47 degrees when we woke up. Brrrrr...



Lila, all bundled up...


I had to sneak this picture in... This is the Pop-Up Chamber of Lovin'.... If this Pop-Up is rockin', don't bother a' knockin'...

Sadie, playing with her chair...

And here is Sadie clutching a bottle. Yes, a bottle. She's pretty much day-weaned off bottles, but we decided to allow her a couple of bottles on the trip, as we knew this would be a huge change of routine and thought the familiarity of a bottle might soothe her.


Mommy, sans makeup, shower or hair combing, with Sadie...



Brian, Lila and Sadie hovering around the campfire...

Whee! Sand to roll around in!