Fun times {Camping in the rain}

"I am camping in the rain." No. It's not the new chorus to Singing in The Rain but rather, the thought that ran through my mind over and over during the weekend. What? Camping in the rain doesn't sound fun to you? It shows some growth on my part. This city girl thought it sounded like fun! I was imagining the adventure we would have. I wanted to jump start our plans for all our spring/summer trips we have been mapping out for months now. The truth be told, I just wanted to actually use the pile of camping/back packing gear that, since Christmas Day, has been a focal point in our living room. I have watched Josh pack, unpack, and repack the gear from our hiking sacks so many times.

Josh and I had been discussing our overnight camping trip all week. When the weather turned from nice to not-so-nice, we decided to keep our eyes on the weather channel. Come Friday morning, the weather still didn't look too promising but we decided to go for it anyway. Saturday morning, I looked up the temperatures on my laptop and the low numbers didn't look too good. I projected my concerns to Josh, who was in the bathroom shaving. I found out later, he didn't hear me. We were just minutes away from the campsite when he looked up at the sky, wondering out loud, when the sun was going to appear. He was shocked to hear the sun wasn't going to make an appearance all weekend. Whoops!

We picked a close to home camp site just a couple of blocks away from Dave & Jen's place. It was the perfect location for my first camping trip in over a decade. The campsite had plumbing. Need I say more? I have one big fear of camping in the real outdoors. No bathroom. I can picture the moment when I have to go real bad and my husband hands me a couple of small squares of TP and a shovel while I debate which shrub to hide behind. Having a bathroom was great and it even had hot water! Well, and the thought that my sister's house was just down the street brought me some comfort too.

We had a blast. I had fun setting up the tent, assisting Josh with what ever he needed. I even helped build the fire. Since we had some sweet mattress pads for under our sleeping bags we couldn't even feel the rocky ground beneath. The temperature dropped below freezing around 4 am (the same time Cocoa decides she had to go potty and then once Josh was up with her decided it was to cold to go) and Josh was cold most of the night. All in all we had a good time!

Some of you who have done a lot of camping in your life may be smiling at my ramblings. Some of you would have paid some good money to see me rough'n it. Well, hold onto your money. Rough'n it will come during our next backpacking trip in a few weeks. Here are a few pictures documenting the fun times...

We were the only campers in the entire site. It was very peaceful and close enough for Dave and Ethan to come by to say hi and have some hot cocoa with us. Poor Sarah was home locked up in her room working on her final projects of this semester. Poor thing missed all of the fun!

We tried some freeze dried chicken and mashed potatoes. With some seasonings, it wasn't all that bad!

Lyons has some of the best fishing spots on the Pacific Northwest. So we have been told, by the fishermen we have met, who have travel from the East Coast here every year.