Camping: Part II

Last week-end we took our second camping trip of the year.  This time it was supposed to be family only, and it was, though we did have an 'extra' to come along.  A girl of 17, K is my mother's spouse's daughter, and had never been camping.  She also happens to be a very good friend of both my elder girls.  Of course I had no issue with having her along.  She's family, after all, and it would be fun!  My mother came out, bringing K along with her and visited with D.  A2 opted to stay home with my mother, rather than camp.  She insisted regardless of how often I asked and never swayed in her choice.  So we met them on the route to the campground and traded kids, then trucked on along to the camp.

We set everything up, you would have thought K was experienced the way she pitched right in with whatever needed to be done.  Our usual first-night dinner fare of roasted weiners over the fire was prepared and we bedded down for the night.  About halfway through the night, the rains began.  On the tent roof the sound was amplified and woke me, which was a good thing since I had just enough time to move our things to where they wouldn't get wet.  Unfortunately it rained and/or sprinkled throughout Saturday, it saturated the tent walls and dripped through in some places, but for the most part our things were dry.  There was some skepticism by the kids though as I went to start a fire on Saturday night, but doubt not!  I have long since mastered the fine art of building a fire in the rain and we did enjoy marshmallows on that stormy night.

J took the opportunity to fine-tune a summer project for her advanced English class.  A video she needed to create based on a specific scene from To Kill a Mockingbird, which she had read over the summer.  She wrote out a script and K and A1 had to memorize lines, since they were the primary characters in the scene (Gem & Scout).  I operated the camera and was very briefly in one moment.  J directed and played a character that attacks the 'kids' and falls on a knife when the kids' father, Atticus (me), pulls him off.  It was very dark by the time we commenced videoing and I wound up using an electric spotlight/lantern I happened to have as well as operating the camera.  It turned out very well!  The venue couldn't have been more perfect, pitch black everywhere but where I had the light, the summer insects singing their nightly chorus.  There were a few tiny pinpoints of light from the other (distant) campers, which added to the story line.  J edited the final video and it turned out fantastic!  The actors perhaps could have used a little more prep time, but considering everything it really came out well.

On Sunday our group split.  I took A1 & Bubba to the lake to swim and J & K went hiking.  Then we met my mother again and switched K for A2 and they headed home.  We, on the other hand, stayed for another night's camping.  Thankfully, the sun came out on Sunday and dried most everything out, so packing up Monday morning was quite easy.  A short nap Monday afternoon and I was ready for work that night.

This was our longest single camping trip to date, and it was a great time!  I'm hoping for one more trip this season before we pack everything away for the winter.