Camping 2006

Ohhh yes we went camping!!! It was amazing!!!

Meg, Shalay, Heidi, Shannon, Dudley, Jake and I went up early to start the celebration on Thursday night. We camped at Lake Bastrop South Shore…it was BEAUTIFUL.

The picture to the right is about 6pm, after we had handily setup camp in about 45 minutes. At this point I was drinking wine and beer…and probably had already had WAY to much to drink. (Those that received late night phone calls…was it even 9pm yet?…can attest.) Not to brag, but Shannon and I finished off an 18 pack ourselves, we can be dangerous ruggers!

So we got camp all setup in this amazing amazing spot…and then the park host came around and told us it was a 50amp spot reserved for RV campers. He said it was cool if we stayed the night but we would have to choose another spot the next morning. Bummer because the site was RIGHT on the water and was super chill.

Sleeping that night in my tent with Jake was heaven! It was perfect weather with just a sheet for a covering and the sounds of nature surrounding us. We fell asleep adjacent to the water (my tent was literally 3 feet from the shore) and awoke to the many little duckies fishing for their breakfast. It was so very liberating.

So Friday morning we cooked up yummy eggs, bacon and potatoes and started the journey to choose a camp site. On the way to the administrative office we looked at all the sites and had a couple picked out in our minds, the perfect one we wanted was RESERVED…when it was supposed to be first-come-first-serve basis. Whatever though!

So we picked out 3 campsites (we had over 10 ruggers coming later that night!!!) and setup camp again. Shannon and I found the perfect spot for our tents away from the fire and very secluded. I jokingly called it the “love bungalow” but as everyone knows we are two single gals with no one to share the love with….but I insisted on calling it that anyways!

Setting up camp took awhile because we decided to carry our tents form campsite to campsite instead of breaking them down and packing them up. So we literally picked up all the tents and carried them down the road…we are smart!

Later that evening around 4pm we started getting a little antsy because we knew we had 10 more people coming to camp with us. They finally started showing up around 6pm. So we threw the firewood on and starting making dinner. I was in charge of dinner and had decided to do HOBO Dinners as they are my favorite meal EVER!

HOBO Dinners are so freakin‘ easy and YUMMY. Basically you get a bunch of tin foil and make your dinner in that. We had beef/chicken, carrots, butternut squash, zucchini, yellow squash, potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower and onions. You just chop up all the stuff and throw it in the tinfoil pack, wrap it a couple of times and throw on the ready-made coals. They take about 20 minutes a side and are absolutely fabulous if I do say so. I love love love to make them camping.

And then we commenced for more drinking, the Thursday night crew had diligently been drinking water and Gatorade all day so we could be hydrated for another night of drinking. The campfire that night was a little less rowdy as most people had just come from a day of camping and just wanted to chill out. I think we went to bed around midnight. It was a little more chilly Friday night, so Jake and I cuddled all night long. Like having a hot water bottle all night long!

Saturday morning came early as most of the campers were up around 8am…and we had breakfast going so we could get them out of bed faster! This morning we did pancakes, blueberry pancakes and chocolate chip pancakes. Yum Yum! From then everyone did their own separate activities, some read on the shore, some read around the fire, fishing, hiking, walks, sleeping…everyone just kinda chilled out.

Around 1pm we started to all get hungry so I broke out the HOBO dinner leftovers and we made a few packs in the coals. Everyone just kinda chilled out until dark and then we ate again! I love camping cause you are constantly eating!

Oh yeah and Jake showed off his swimming skills all Saturday afternoon. He chased a tennis ball, frisbee, sticks, rocks…anything we could find to throw in the water. Here is my favorite shot of him getting out of the water. And a cute shot of just his head looking for the frisbee. At one point the frisbee was almost submerged and he stuck his head UNDERWATER to find it…what a great dog! I love him so so so much.

So that night we were sitting around the campfire and you could tell we were all hitting a wall from being up so early the morning before. So a few of the girls decided we should drink more and play drinking games. So Traci taught us the vegetable game. Basically you choose a vegetable and then you say someone another person’s vegetable and they choose another and so forth. The catch was you had to keep your teeth covered, so your trying to say Shrimp Shrimp with your teeth covered. It was very fun! Then we changed it to the meat game where you had to choose a meat…and it was even more fun!

The whole experience was so much fun and a blast!! I love my mates and we are totally going camping again! Sorry for the abrupt ending…I’m tired of writing….

Peace ya’all.