Once again, we had a lovely time at the Loungeabout. Emma, Morgan and I (Pete) woke up Friday and had a leisurely morning getting the car packed, eating breakfast and whatnot. We finally hit the road at about 11am. The drive north was uneventful, which was a nice change from last year's puke-a-thon. Though it's much less frequent, the girls are still suffering from sporadic carsickness. We stopped at Subway for lunch in Royalton and made it to camp at about ten minutes after three. We showed up at almost the exact same time as my folks, who were walking in to the ranger station as we pulled up outside. After registering and seeing a tree chewed by a beaver (A real beaver, papa!) we found site 42 and made camp.
There was a 30% chance of rain and thunderstorms all weekend long, and things started out with a less than positive result. As I was setting up the tent the winds started to pick up and it looked like rain. I hustled to get everything up and threw a few things into the tent. Then the girls and I made our way to the main campsite. Just as we reached Dale's tarp the rain began. But fortunately, it only rained for about 30 minutes and that ended up being all the rain we saw all weekend. I'll take that any day!
I realized today that in all the excitement of trying to beat the rain, I never even took my camera out until Saturday. My first pictures are from a walk Theo and I took around 7am Saturday morning. We walked out and over the dam that makes Cross Lake more than just a wide spot in the river. I read the plaque about how and why it was built, but I barely remember any of the details. The one I do remember is that the dam was made largely irrelevant by the completion of the Mississippi lock and dam system downstream.
Later after everybody had cooked and eaten the Big Breakfast the girls, Joe and Dylan wanted to swim. So the kids all suited up and us older and wiser types stayed on shore and took pictures. The swimming was fun, but didn't last long. The cold water and the invisible menace of swimmer's itch kept their enthusiasm at bay. Back to camp, change clothes, and a return to the fire.
Lunch was it's usual wonderful feast, with way too much food to realistically eat. Everything I tried was quite yummy. How did this family end up with such a good collection of cooks? Grandma and Grandpa surprised me and some others by making their way out on Saturday for lunch with Sara. I had thought, with the recent health issues, that driving several hours to a campsite would be too much for them but I was glad they made it. As Grandma said, "I'm fine, but I'm not getting too far without the walker." Whatever it takes, Grandma. At least you're fine.
After lunch Emma and I had a quiet moment back at our campsite. It seems that two chipmunks had discovered Theo's food dish. We sat quietly and watched as they appropriated every bit of dog food they could carry. One little guy managed to stuff seven whole pieces of dog food in his cheeks before scurrying off. After about 15 minutes we put the cover on the food dish and left them puzzled, but certainly not starving. Not long after, Nancy arrived in her shiny new PT Cruiser. It was a rental, but after driving it we might be inclined to buy one should the right deal come along. My Mitsubishi is running well, but it's 15 years old and the van's no spring chicken at 8 years of age. Speaking of not being a spring chicken my camera battery died Saturday afternoon even though I had fully charged it Thursday night. Right during the walk to the ice cream parlor!
Saturday night was another night of talking and laughing in the circle around the fire. Mom's right, it is the best part of camping. The kids had a second consecutive night of glow sticks, we made pizza pies and cherry pies on the fire. I think everybody was a little tired, because the group called it a night earlier than Friday night.
Sunday morning nobody had the energy to mount an attack on breakfast. So since we could, Lois, Dale, Mom, Dad and Nancy and the kids and I broke camp and went across the street to have a breakfast that just couldn't be beat, one that was cooked by somebody else. We hit the road soon after and beat the Sunday afternoon summer traffic. We arrived home tired, dirty and hungry but altogether happy. I can't wait until next year!
