Tent Camping?.....Um...No.

So, I'm currently sitting in our tent listening to a symphony of night sounds - the loudest being the whippoorwill. It's about 5am and I just got back from my first time peeing in the woods after about 11 years. I've had to go for hours but I didn't want to go in the dark so I waited until just light. I get out there and squat and realize there might be a problem. I waited so long that, first, the flow didn't want to start right away (or maybe it was because I was concerned some early morning riser at this campground might see my butt), second and most important, my thigh muscles aren't as strong as I thought they were. I wasn't even half way done and they started to shake. I tried to adjust my stance and that didn't help, I tried to make the flow come out faster, but that only made it splash everywhere. I thought I would have to put my hands on the ground to relieve some pressure from my thighs. Just as I was about to do that though, the drill Sargent in my head said, "No! You stand there and take it! You can do it! You do it until you absolutely can't do it any more!" By the way, I have no idea why there's a drill Sargent in my head since I was never in the armed services. So with my thighs thanking me, I finish and walk back to the tent where I tell Joe what happened and he laughs at me. Huumph!


Our camping experience went pretty good. It was muggy and the high when we got there was 96 degrees, but we were in the shade so it wasn't too bad. We had a heck of a time finding the camp ground. Joe decided the gps was wrong in the directions it was giving so he went his own way (I mean really! It was a woman's voice on the gps so you know it had to be right!) Then when we got there we didn't have the correct dollar amount so I either had to count out $9 in quarters or just put a $20 in the envelope. I didn't want to part with the $20 so I stuffed the envelope full of quarters, taped it shut with duct-tape and had Joe try to stuff the stuffed envelope in the little slot. He wasn't very happy. We were going to camp down by they lake, but when we drove down there it was all packed and people were drinking alcohol and were loud. So we found a little campsite all to ourselves. We still heard the people partying, but we were far enough away that it wasn't that bad. I made bug repellent with olive oil and lavender essential oil and it worked pretty good. Then we went about setting up camp. Since we got there so late we didn't have any time to explore so we gathered some firewood by lantern, tried to lite a fire, didn't work so we went to bed. Jadyn was scared of all the sounds so I told her they were just singing her to sleep.

Joe trying to stuff the envelope in the slot at the national park:

Jadyn helping daddy "bam" the pegs in the ground:

Our bug repellent:

It was nice looking the window of the tent at all the stars. I even heard a raccoon scratching around the tent. Joe was laying there looking out the window and started thinking about aliens coming down and putting us in a freeze-hold so that we can't move. What a weirdo. All I was thinking about was monsters jumping out of the forest and popping up in front of the window while I looked out. I guess it takes one to know one. :o)

This is our first time camping together as a family too. I am very glad I have such a handyman for a husband! He has no problem getting things set up and devising ways to make things better. We wanted to camp each night of our trip, but it never worked out for one reason or another so we ended up staying in motels. And oh my gosh we found some doosies! There was one motel that was advertised as being $29.98 a night so we checked in. I always check the bed in any hotel/motel room we get for bedbugs. We had a run-in with them before and I NEVER want to experience that again! Well, I pulled back the sheet and guess what? There's pubic hairs all over the sheets! So we got another room and I did the same thing. I didn't see any hairs, but when I bent down to lift the mattress up I smelled something gross. I looked at the pillow and it was all stained up and smelly, but not the smell I was looking for. So I pulled back the bottom sheet and the bed had a BIG doo-doo stain! OOOHH NOO! We are NOT staying here! So we got our money back and drove further through the night and finally found another motel - this one a little more expensive. I guess you get what you pay for.

So, Joe is a very happy camper today because he got to go camping last night. I thought I was a camping kind of girl, but I find that my body and mind prefer air conditioning, mattresses, and hot showers. I could make myself like it if I had to though.

Two other things I want to mention:
One - on our way to finding the campsite we drove through - get this - Butt County Georgia! We passed the water tower and I cracked up laughing because it said, "Welcome To Beautiful Butts County" - no kidding!

Two - I mentioned previously that one of the alerts we have on the gps is a charging bugle sound when there's a Walmart nearby and everytime it goes off Joe yells out 'WALMART'. Well, we got off the highway at one of the Walmart's because Joe had to get a campshower there and we were waiting at the stoplight. Jadyn had been sleeping for a while, then she suddenly wakes up, sees the Walmart sign, and says, "doo-do-do-dooo. Walmart!" We are still laughing at that one. :o)

Here's how Joe looks driving over mountains and high bridges. I have to drive because he's scared of heights. Sometimes I drive a little too fast close to the edge and I say, "Joe look!" and he looks over the edge and turns pale. Bad wife! 

Jadyn's little cocoon in our very packed car:

Getting ready to leave a motel in TN:

Jadyn was really fascinated with the fire. It was her first campfire and she wanted marshmallows even though she's never had them. :o)

Helping daddy making breakfast:

Clean-up:

Our campsite smelled so good surrounded by honeysuckle. Here Jadyn is eating honeysuckle nectar. It is very good!

Honeysuckle: