Soon after we ate, Espen headed to the tent to go to sleep. He wanted me to cuddle with him for a bit and once he was asleep I unzipped the tent and saw Jeremy walking off into the dark towards one of the two entries into our camp site. I yelled to him and heard his muffled voice in the distance. I stood there, staring off into the dark for a few minutes when he finally came out from the shadows.
We camp just minutes away from a Boy Scout camp so we typically see cars driving to and from the camp and it's no big deal. We can't seem to figure out the schedule there, cars drive by day and night. Jeremy saw a car drive down the road from the Boy Scout camp and watched it back into the campsite right next to ours. They backed in, turned off the engine and just sat there. All we could see was their headlights and tail lights. The lights would be on...and then they'd go off. They'd turn their engine on...and then turn it off. It was so dark that we couldn't see anything but these stupid lights but from where they were they could most likely see our site and our set up since we were lit up from our lantern. There are moments when you're camping that you realize just how exposed you are and you have no idea what is out beyond the light of a lantern and this is how we felt the entire time the car was there. Exposed. So needless to say, Jeremy sat on a chair for an hour and a half with his rifle between his legs ready to protect us. He said he wasn't going to sleep till that car left. About an hour after sitting there I became really tired so I went to the tent, zipped it shut but couldn't sleep. Every few minutes I'd hear something and ask Jeremy "Is the car still there?". Finally around 11:30 we heard the engine start, the car pulled out of the site and headed back to the Boy Scout camp. Then it dawned on me. Those were counselors and they were smoking weed. This is how I imagined the conversation. "Hi Boss, Suzy got her period and needs tampons, can we run to town?" "Sure, as long as you go together" "Will do boss, we'll be back in an hour and a half"...and then down the street they went so they could park, smoke a joint and then head back up. Although it is a Boy Scout camp so I'm not sure if there are any girls up there, but that's the story I told myself so I could sleep that night.
Aside from that late night annoyance, the whole day was rad. We trekked in the creek, had scrumptious dinner, roasted 'shmarshmallows' on the Coleman stove (no fires allowed in the summer) and ended up having a great night sleep with the bugs and all.
{dinner didn't look good, so i figured i'd dress up this picture with a lovely border, hahaha}
{i just don't photograph well in the woods}
{just because we're roughing it doesn't mean our teeth have to}
{gross, daddy long leg family moved in between our tent and the rain fly}
{saturday morning, rained on us all night}
{i love bacon & eggs in the morning, the perfect camping breakfast}
{i look thrilled, right?}
{cool kid, on our way to hike the nearby trail}
{this is about a mile and a half up the mountain, just before espen and i called it quits}
The trail we were on is about a 3 mile hike up, it's a fairly easy hike for adults, but not so much for a 4 year old. It was really hot and Espen & I just couldn't hang. So onto Jeremy's shoulders went Espen and down the hill we all went to cool off in the creek.
Espen was running around with dirt all over his face for about an hour before I looked at him and said 'you have no idea what you look like right now, let me take a picture so you can see'. He almost fell over laughing when he saw this picture.
I had to run to town to grab hot dogs and water and while I was there I stopped by the local Habitat for Humanity store to purchase 2 milk crates for a whopping 80 cents, which was all I had in my wallet. They were supposed to be tables/foot rests but I ended up bungee cording one to a tree to make Espen a basket ball 'hoop'. I totally kicked his butt in HORSE.
{photo by: espen sasquatch: jeremy}
{roasting hot dogs on a stick}
While Espen and I took a nap Jeremy went out and found two perfect sticks for cooking hot dogs. He whittled the ends to perfect points and was pretty stoked about them. So, Jeremy and I were sitting around, munching on chips when we decided to get things set up for dinner. Out came the ice chest and the Coleman stove, everything was ready. But where did the sticks go? Seriously, he just had them and then they were gone. We looked everywhere around where we were sitting, under the crates, around the ice chest but really, the entire ground is covered in sticks, pine needles and leaves. So we gave up. That's when I saw something, on the milk crate, under a bag of chips. The freakin' sticks. Right where he had left them. What the hell is wrong with us, we were cracking up. Stupid sticks! It's a good thing we found them, they ended up not being stupid at all, they were the perfect sticks for warming hot dogs on a fire.
{hooray for the sticks and for the hot dogs with cheese in them, the best!}
{espen's been working on his smile, this is an interesting version}
{i love you hot dog}
{again, why do i look so angry}
I asked Espen to hold still so I could get a picture of him, this is what I got.
After two days of camping we were ready to head home. We did things a bit different this time. We packed up the tent and all of our gear before we made breakfast. This worked out perfect! We realized what a bummer it is to wake up, stuff your face with bacon and eggs and THEN pack up. This was we were able to eat and relax for a while...then hop in the car and go. We'll be doing it that way from no on, for sure.
On the way out of the campsite we decided to drive around and explore the area. We drove for about 30 minutes on winding dirt roads till we camp across Washington Park. There are amazing homes out there, tucked away in the forest, off of the creeks. I couldn't imagine living that deep in the woods, it's gotta get a little creepy out there sometimes. But maybe that's why these people have a house like this...
How creepy can life be when you live in a little colorful replica of a house in the Swiss Alps.
Thanks to Jeremy for being such a good camper, you always take such good care of us and make the trips that much more fun for me.
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