Don, Rye and I went tent camping this weekend.  It was a lot of fun and Rye’s first time tent camping of actually sleeping in the tent overnight.   Don couldn’t participate in any of the swimming activities as he had an incision on his back from a dermatology appointment but on Saturday Rye and I had great fun going to a natural water slide and swimming.   As we were slightly unorganized and unprepared in preparation for the trip (thanks to me) and it had been raining off an on all day, we didn’t have the greatest luck getting a successful fire going that night and that was a bit disappointing (note to self:  next time don’t be so stoic and just break down and bring a heaping supply of lighter fluid so the kid doesn’t get so frustrated).  But we managed nonetheless.

Rye did have a hard time getting to sleep in the tent.  He was scared of a good many things and got freaked out a bit but he managed to settle in eventually and with the help of a Seroquel, finally knocked out and got a good night’s sleep.   He woke up perky and proud of himself for making it through the night.  In fact, in the morning he was much more well rested than Don or I as we both had a hard time sleeping soundly on the rocks that the tent site was on.

On Sunday we went to a waterfall with a swimming hole that this man that lived on a commune in the mountains had told me about (I met him in line at the water slide).  The waterfall was really cool.  You hiked in a bit to it and then it had a beautiful little swimming hole at the bottom and we hung out there a bit and swam.  Eventually it started pouring rain and we had to hike back up the mountain in flip flops in the rain, which was definitely memorable.

Anyway, I would say overall the trip was a success.  We are going to go back in a few weeks for another weekend when Don can swim as well and Rye can bring a friend.  On the next trip we are going to fish and tube down the river as well (the campsite is on a river) and I’m really looking forward to that.  I love tubing down rivers!

And next time we will be sure to have the air mattresses and gobs of lighter fluid.  For the happiness of the team I must face reality and realize that I am no Daniel Boone.

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note: and don’t you wonder what that ‘House of Happiness’ is above….