Glam campers

We spontaneously decided to go camping this weekend with some friends.  It was a great weekend for it, the gorgeous was gorgeous and though fall foliage isn't yet in abundance, it was starting to sneak its way into the green in the forest.  

Jbird and I lack good hiking equipment and because we'd been told it was only a 45 minute walk into the spot, we went for comfort in our packing.  We took our big double blow-up bed and a three man tent not designed to be carried far.  We had ice for our drinks, a whole rotisserie chicken to share, pillows (they were small and obviously very light), and a lantern.  Owning only one pack, one person ended up carrying both the bed and the tent.  Because I'd been so convinced we had to be comfortable, I staunchly put my hand up for that job.  Oh. Boy.  I regretted everything only ten minutes from the car. Not to say that Jbird had it easy. Unfortunately, it was actually a 90 minute walk - I'm glad I hadn't known this. The thing is, I never sleep well the first night of camping so I really didn't want to spend many uncomfortable hours lying awake on the ground while I waited for everyone else to wake up.  As it was, I spent the hours very comfortably staring up into the trees through the mesh roof of our tent, snuggling with Jbird, quite happily listening to the early morning bird calls and the rustle of the leaves. 

We arrived a little after dark but our camping companions had already set up the fire.  Our chicken sandwiches with avocado and tomato were  delicious camping fare.   Jbird and I had brought the fixings for smores.  And we sat around the campfire making smores and telling stories.  Smores are not my favourite so I melted marshmallows and ate them with chocolate instead. 

The next day, we took an off-track walk down to a meadow by the lake, meeting some other happy campers on the way. It's interesting being in the American woods, you could be mistaken into thinking you're walking through trees that are all the same.  Tall and green.  But when you stop to take it in, you begin to notice different leaf shapes, leaves turning colour in different ways at different times, different characteristics of the trees. Jbird got distracted by all the pretty mushrooms and took hundreds and hundreds of photos, he's put the best pics on his facebook page.  I was distracted by conversation and definitely used my word quota up with our buddy.  

Jbird offered to take the heavy pack on the way out.  I was really glad, I think I would have died if I'd had to carry it again.  He also saw a snake in his continued photography expedition.  Apparently he called to us to come and look but I guess we were still too busy chatting to notice.  It was all around a very successful camping expedition, full of nice people and pretty outdoorsey things to look at.  It has helped prepare me for another week with my head in the books.