Camping Is Fun!

Over the weekend, Nick and I joined the E-Vegasians on a camping trip at Turkey Run State Park in central Indiana. I was really looking forward to it--I like to hang with my peeps--but I must admit that I underestimated the amount of fun I'd end up having. I think the last time I went camping was in high school senior year on a backpacking trip on a portion of the Appalachian Trail in West Virginia. I never did tent camping (other than in the backyard) as a kid, so I don't consider myself a camping expert. I was even somewhat doubtful as to whether or not I actually like to camp. But, the jury is now in, and I'm glad to say that we had a great time and definitely hope to do a lot more camping in the future.

So, here are some pics of the trip. I didn't take a lot cuz my camera mysteriously got a case of the low batteries half way through the trip but then managed to work again toward the end, despite the fact that I didn't charge it at all. temperamental camera...


First, here's me sitting in the tent in our backyard. I wanted to make sure that the tent was in one piece, stink-free, and not missing any parts. Also, we sorted through some of Nick's old camping gear. Did you know that baby wipes, even if stored in a ziplock bag, will dry out and turn yellow after, say. at least four years of being in the garage? Needless to say, we had to trash some items, but for the most part, Nick was pretty well set up for a weekend of outdoor living...







OK, so its not the grand canyon, but Turkey Run does have some enjoyable hiking trails with some huge old trees... this used to be a huge old tree, until it was uprooted. Apparently it reminded Nick of an airplane, or ballet, I'm not sure which...






The weather was almost perfect, despite a couple chilly nights (in the low 40'). It was great weather for snuggling by the campfire.... with PopTarts...




Due to the cold weather on Saturday, we decided to forgo our canoe trip and hike instead. This is a picture of the poor souls who did decide to canoe that day, taken from the hiking trail above. I hope they weren't too cold.


Yes, we did have a great time, but there were also frustrations along the way. (This is the complaint portion of the slide show). So, Nick and I discovered that we are apparently too old to sleep on the hard ground with nothing under us but a sleeping bag. After a moderately miserable night of tossing and turning, massaging sore backs, and dreaming of the Temperpedic mattress we have at home, we decided to shell out $25 at the camp store (it might as well be called the "WE jack the prices up and sell shitty stuff because we know you're desperate" store) for an air mattress. Things were going ok; the camp store let us use their air pump for free to blow up the thing, instead of us having to do it manually. I thought that was so nice of them. But, when we put the blown up mattress in the truck and managed to immediately puncture a hole in it, we were no longer happy. I held my finger on the hole, while Nick went back into the camp store to buy a patch kit. This is a picture of the mattress with an attempted patch.





This is a picture of the patch kit which did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to patch the hole.





This is a picture of the mattress once we decided to go with what was our initial idea and put duct tape over the hole. Nick drove it back down to the air pump (notice this time, away from any sharp edges that might exist inside the actual truck bed, to try to fill it up again. It totally didn't work. Now we are left with the conclusion, and a conclusion that I feel it necesary to share with everyone, that Coleman air mattresses SUCK!


In the good news department, it did get easier to sleep each subsequent night. And, I must say that our new sleeping bags were GREAT as they managed to keep us warm and cozy during those chilly nights.

So, yeah, camping is fun, y'all. I have a feeling that the E-Vegas reunion will become a semi-regular event, which sounds great to me. If you enjoy camping and would like to coordinate a camping trip sometime, just let us know.