We love to camp...

So, we decided to go camping this past weekend...despite the fact that it was raining all week. We were supposed to have a gorgeous, clear weekend with a 30% chance of rain on Thursday which is the day my mom and I went to the mountains. Naturally, that 30% became 100% chance...that's our friend Murphy for ya!

We got to Idyllwild around 3:00 PM and immediately started setting up camp. We were soaked by the time our 2 tents and air mattresses were set up. We brought our chairs into my moms tent with the puppers and tried to wait it out. I was freezing. There would be no camp fire that night. After a couple of hours, we decided to get in my moms car and watch a movie on her laptop. We ran the engine intermittently for warmth. But first, when I came out of the tent I noticed my tents door unzipped. I quickly realized that the zipper broke and to add insult to injury the tent was leaking. It was an older tent!

My bedding was wet in a few spots. We had to move my bed over to my moms tent for the night and I had to try to call Chuck to bring us our other tent with him the next night(cell service was practically non-existent up there). Before bed the mutt got skerd and walked ALL over my bedding with her muddy paws. I slept horribly. I was freezing cold and slept in mud!

We really struggled to make a fire the next day as our wood was damp and the fire ring was soaked(my mom and I are both past girl scouts...it wasn't from lack of experience). But, the day itself wasn't too bad. It was Kassie's very first camping trip and she did really really well. Hubs was running late, it was getting dark and it started to drizzle again so my mom brought out her second tent(really small) and we set it up for Chuck. I decided to just stay in my moms tent. The upside, our leaky tent made a great area to keep our gear out of the rain!

Did I mention that I killed my moms battery in her car by trying to charge my cell phone? When hubs got there with our car I jumped in and warmed up with the heater blowing full blast. I slept even more cold the second night. And, when I say I slept I really mean I laid there all night long, awake and freezing!

Saturday morning hubs and I went to another campground nearby for a shower. Then we walked around the super cute town. I may or may not have spent over $50 on a blanket from a gift shop. It's a fantastic blanket though, with a double layer thickness. I also may or may not have found a camping store and bought a huge stack of hand warmers(the kind that activates with air and stays hot forever!!!). When I went to bed that night I had a hand warmer in each sock, each glove, down the front of my pants and the back of my pants, a thermacare patch on my shoulders, and one loose warmer for my pillow(I would stick it under my cheek when laying on my side). I slept a bit better but was still kinda cold.

I bet hearing all this makes you want to run out right away and go camping doesn't it? Other than sleeping cold we had a really good time.

Here is our camp site. It was quite nice.

My moms tent.

The horrible leaky tent...BOO!!!!!

Chucks tent, which I made him share with Kassie. My moms tent was really crowded with our 2 air mattresses. He had more room for her. (Yes, he got an air mattress too!)

On our last night my mom did all the cooking with her dutch ovens. Yummy, soooo good!

Check out that chicken!

These muffins were just put in to bake. They turned out so good.

Kassie's first camp trip.

She was cold too. Hubs stopped on the way up and bought her a mans sweatshirt. We had to cut off the arms and tie it to her. She handled it quite well.

Daddy, what have you done to me? Why didn't you get me PINK? Nobody better call me a boy!

"The things I put up with"!

Hubs manning the fire. We had a fantastic fire on the last day(not that it shows in this picture but we really did)!

The best part of camping is the camp fire. Too bad we only got to have one on the last day.

I, of course, took my camera with me. But, I never pulled it out till late afternoon on the last day. I was enjoying my time off from photographing until I remembered that I needed a picture for my scavenger hunt. It was my best shot taken on October 23rd. You will have to check out my photography blog on November 1st to see what my best shot was.