Roughing It

Last weekend was wonderful. We went camping at Oconee State Park and hiking at the parks nearby. The only drawback was that I was missing my right hand. The thought of sleeping on the ground, drinking “cowboy coffee”, and getting eaten by mosquitoes, reminded Frank of all the things he had to do, in the comfort of the Smith’s home with the pool, TV, and air conditioning. I didn’t tell him that most of them brought air mattresses, the campground had a bathroom with showers, and one tent had a fan. Plus, the weather was perfect, low humidity with a nice breeze. The bathrooms weren’t pretty, but after China, they were no obstacle.
Food tastes so much better cooked on an open fire. Pancakes, bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, fried fish, pulled from the lake half an hour before, homemade French fries, corn on the cob, fresh picked green beans, fried pork chops, peach cobbler, you get the idea. And that was only the first two days!!
The fishing was great, especially at the lake. We pulled them one after the other, once Dad found the hole they were hiding in. Terry got so excited he cast his whole rod in the lake. We fished it out but it didn’t help him catch more fish. (Hee hee).
For some reason, I woke up at six am every morning, voluntarily! The early morning hours were chilly, so I made a fire, bundled up in a chair, and caught up on some personal reading. I hadn’t been that relaxed since I got back. It is nice to sit and meditate with only the birds as company. Everyone should try it. I got to spend quality time with Noah and Alexis, which I will treasure. We shared a tent, which had to be pitched on a slight incline. That meant I had to wake up several times a night and pull Lexi back up the hill to her pillow and roll Noah back around and recover him. But, waking up with their arms around me made it worth the effort. I had such a great time, can you tell?
mandy