Sunday, November 14, 2010

wilderness girl.

As most of you know by now, Kyle and I took off on a camping adventure last weekend. 

{pause so you can all chuckle at the idea of me camping}

Kyle camped a lot with his family growing up but this was the most real camping that I have ever done. I camped once in college with a big group of friends but we weren't really roughing it. I also don't think that my camping trip with my Brownie troop counts since it was a) in our assistant leaders backyard and b) my best friend and I ended up sleeping inside with our moms!

Kyle's brothers and a friend gave us a bunch of camping gear as a wedding gift. I guess they figured the only way I would be convinced to go camping with Kyle was if I didn't have to buy most of the stuff... smart boys! 

We camped at Red Top State Park and loved it! It was only about 45 minutes north of us so it was nice knowing that we weren't too far from home in case we had any problems. We had initially planned on going a few hours north to the North Georgia Mountains and I am so thankful that we didn't because they ended up having snow last weekend!

We headed to the park on Friday afternoon and got ready to set up our tent. Kyle started putting out the tarp and Tucker was busy exploring while I got things out of the car. It was raining just a little, but nothing bad at all. UNTIL it started to HAIL! It was insane! We knew that it may rain a bit Friday evening but my weatherman made not mention of a hailstorm. We waited it out in the car and then got back to work.

We had a great location looking out over the water.


After we got our campsite set up we took a little stroll down by the water. 
Tucker did some hurdles over the logs

This is what we woke up to Saturday and Sunday mornings. 

I just thought this was a pretty picture of our pup :)

If you're curious about Tucker's attire.... no, we do not typically dress our 50 pound friend. However, I was really worried that he was going to be cold. I found this great reversible 'jacket' that had a thick fleece lining. It may have made zero impact on how Tucker felt, but I worried about his comfort a lot less  when he had it on!

 Kyle made breakfast Saturday morning. We dined on scrambled eggs and bacon. Note: It is tricky to flip bacon with a plastic fork...

And while Kyle cooked, Tucker took a break from eating leaves to eat the camping platform. Rough life for that guy!

We bundled up after breakfast and went for a hike. I love this picture but hate that there is a giant shadow on my face. Any photoshop pros want to fix that for me?? 

Conversation following the above picture:
SK: Kyle! I look like a real wilderness girl!
KK: Steph, I don't think real wilderness girls wear pink sparkly scarves, J. Crew puffer vests and Versace sunglasses.

 We took naps after the hike. Pardon the fact that I look like the stay puft marshmallow man. It was freeeeeezing!




We had a great time and I think I would even go camping again. The roughest part for me was going to bed at night. It was SO COLD and my Texas bones just aren't made for that. Saturday night was even colder than Friday night so this is what I wore to bed:

two pairs of socks
one camisole
FOUR long-sleeved tshirts
a fleece vest
a fleece sweatshirt
Kyle's UT hoodie

I also had the warmth of a puppy dog who decided to spend the night asleep on my feet.

Not to mention that I pulled my sleeping bag and blanket up high enough to cover my entire face. I think that I may have slept a total of an hour Saturday night. It was rough!

So with the exception of Saturday's icy bed time, I loved spending the weekend with Kyle. It was so nice to get away from school and computers and spend time together without any distractions.

I have a feeling this was not my last camping trip and I am a-okay with that! My only request is that we invest in an air mattress for the next trip. If I have to freeze at night, I should at least have something soft to sleep on.

3 comments:

  1. That seems like a ton of fun- I bet Tucker enjoyed it the most!

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  2. i knew you would love camping!! it totally grows on you - and you feel so ... efficient! gotta be tough being SO cold though!! you poor thing! cant wait to see you sometime over the holidays!

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  3. You are the cutest camper I have ever seen!

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