Smalls

Over the July 4th weekend I went on my first camping trip!  I’ve been “camping” before with the Girl Scouts (we were in cabins with full kitchens and bathrooms) and I’ve slept in a tent before at the cottage in Bayfield, but I’ve never been camping.  Eric, Jessi, Kelly, Erika and I went down to Waxhaw, NC to Cane Creek Park for some camping fun!  We arrived on Thursday evening and set up our campsite.

Thursday night we got settled and sat around the campfire for a while before hitting the hay.  I made my way to the bath house to brush my teeth and take out my contacts.  Now, I hate bugs and I was expecting to see some along the way, but I was not prepared for what I saw.  There was a huge moth on the wall of the bath house that was nasty, but I slowly walked by it and made my way to the door.  Nothing was there that I couldn’t handle so I opened the door and right in the door way was a huge cockroach.  I let the door close and jumped back about three feet.  I took a couple deep breaths and tried to pump myself up to get by it (cmon Meg, you’re 25 years old, it’s just a bug, you can do it!).  I pushed the door open again and then the cockroach started moving…I could not do it.  Gives me the creeps just thinking about it now.  I ended up brushing my teeth in a cup of water and that was that.

Friday morning we ate a hearty breakfast of corned beef hash, potatoes, bagels and fruit.  We then looked at the park map to decide which trail we wanted to hike.  We decided on the 2 mile hike to the other side of the park where there was a public beach.  We filled our water bottles, packed our swim suits and were on our way.  I was not expecting this to be a strenuous hike and, while it wasn’t strenuous, it sure wasn’t easy either!  Nor was it 2 miles, it was 3!  Add in the 90 degree heat and humidity, I was ready to jump in that water!  We made it to the beach and looked across the lake and saw that there was another beach on the other side of the lake in the camping area.  While swimming in the lake, we were trying to think of ways to avoid the 3 mile hike back.  I said that we should rent a canoe, take people accross with our bags to the camping beach, then I would drop the canoe off and swim across the lake; the others didn’t think much of that idea though, so it was on to the trail.  The hike back seemed to go a little bit faster, thank goodness!  The rest of the afternoon was spent napping and reading.

Friday night, some more friends joined us at the campsite for a late night campfire with hot dogs and smores.  It was a wonderful evening and the food was deeeeelicious!  Saturday morning Jessi, Kelly, Erika and Ben went on another hike while Eric and I chose to stay at the site and read and relax.  Once the others returned we enjoyed a nice lunch and then packed up to head home.