My Love For Camping Renewed!

Gina's been trying to get me to go camping with her ever since we've been together. I finally agreed. Now, realize that this is my first camping trip in nearly 30 years! I used to love it when I was a kid, and the summer of 1977 I camped out all over France with my fellow Hardingites. But it had been a very long time since I had slept in a tent.

We picked up David, Gina's hiking/camping buddy who had told us of this excursion with the Austin Sierra Club, at 6:20PM on Friday and headed out for Colorado Bend State Park. Arriving at nearly 11PM, I was exhausted and had no intention of assisting putting up the tent in the dark. I chose to stay in the SUV and sleep that night.

It was incredibly uncomfortable and at 2AM I had to go potty. Unfortunately, I hadn't chosen to go with Gina and David when we arrived and had no idea where the facility was. I tried to ignore the urge, but to no avail. I knew I had to get out of the SUV and pee. So I opened the door and the alarm went off, waking up the entire campground! Finally found the key to shut it off. I didn't have a flashlight, so I wound up just squatting by the vehicle and did my business much like Tater would do! Needless to say I was pretty miserable when Gina came to wake me at 7AM.

I know you're wondering why I titled this posting "My Love for Camping Renewed" -- well, once I got through that first night I did have a great experience. First, Colorado Bend State Park is gorgeous. Just check out the view of what I saw when I walked down to see the campers about to eat breakfast.

Next, the group that we were with were really nice, friendly, professional-type folks.They were all about our age and much more fit than me and Gina. But Gina held her own hiking with them all day on Saturday. I chose to stay behind and guard the tents. I enjoyed reading, doing a crossword, lighting a campfire, and chasing all the chairs when the wind would kick up.

There was a wonderful river that ran right next to our campsite and several people were fishing and swimming. I enjoyed chatting with a few of these friendly folks as well.

This beautiful tree fascinated me as well. I figured it must be at least 100 years old. I laid down under it on the cot that Gina had bought for me and got a couple hours of nap time in before the hikers returned to camp. Then I moved to the tent and slept a couple more hours until dinner time.

Gina woke me up with a smile.

We had taco soup (tasted a lot better than it sounds) and later had a fantastic time around the campfire, singing, telling stories, and eating marshmallows. Around 10PM everyone started going to their tents. I much preferred sleeping in the tent on the air mattress, but about 2AM Gina got really sick and had to go sleep in the SUV, which she parked right near the latrine. Her illness cut short our stay on Sunday. The plan was for another hike to Gorman Falls - another beautiful part of the park - but we just packed up and came back home. I can't wait to go camping again! We've decided that we want to take at least 4 weekends each year for camping and take a dog with us on each trip.