Camping at the Lake

We've lived next to Lake Camanche for the last 7 years, but never camped there once. I've tossed the idea around briefly several times, but it always seemed too expensive to pay $32 to camp 5 minutes away from my house. Plus things get pretty ugly in the summer; it's only draw then is fishing, and I don't fish. But this year I picked up a brochure and discovered that the off season rates are only $16 a night, so I was set to complete our first Bucket List adventure.

We camped there for Friday and Saturday nights, and I quickly discovered that camping close to home is like being at home only more work. Usually you're off in the woods somewhere far away from your normal activities. Not so with our lake trip. I made about 6 trips home the first night to get things we forgot, so supper was somewhat delayed. I'd planned a gourmet supper; flame-broiled garlic bread, Spaghettios (OK, not all of it was gourmet), wild green salad picked off the land, and cubed potatoes with carrots and squash baked in the fire.It was a lovely idea, but the wood Caleb had been chopping all week was green, so it took forever to get a fitful fire going. Nothing got done at the same time, and not all of it got done at all! Not to worry, these are the things memories are made of!

The next morning we were up with the sun to hurry home, shower, and get ready for church. None of this lazing around the campsite taking in Nature's peacefulness for us. No, sir!

After church and potluck, we headed up to Daffodil Hill, Number Two to be checked off on the Bucket List. Our church group used to go there every year, but we haven't made it the last, oh, I don't know, 4 or 5 years! It was nice to see everything again. And this year we made it during the peak of blooming; usually we trickled in right at the last when a lot of the flowers were dead already.

After our trip to Daffodil Hill, we returned to camp for a more successful evening of culinary treats. We had roasted veggie hot dogs (how can anyone mess that up?), asparagus and mushrooms roasted in aluminum foil over the fire, and strawberry short cake with fresh camp shortcakes--black on the outside and slightly gooey on the inside. It was delicious!

The next morning we hung around camp for a while, took some Facebook blackmail photos,

then headed off to the lake to play a little before leaving camp for the twentieth and last time! The lake was a 'little' chilly, but John and Caleb splashed around for a bit. Finley and I waded out to our special island, created by rising lake water, where he flushed out a goose nest. We've been back once to look at it since then, and Mamma and Daddy Goose are still on the nest taking good care of the next crop of young'uns. I hope I get to see the babies when they hatch.