Currant Creek

Before I go on about our camping trip, I thought I'd share a before-and-after example of why I should always be warned before a picture is taken. I think we'd all agree.

Okay, so in my defense, there was smoke blowing in my face and I was trying to keep T.J. from taking off ... hence the scowl.

So after a several-year hiatus and armed with a brand new humongous tent (sleeps 11), we went camping to Currant Creek Reservoir with Dave's family last month. We used to go at least every year with either my family or Dave's, and honestly I was a good sport about it. I have taken very new babies camping and spent quite a few sleepless nights holding a baby in my arms and trying to keep them warm while they slept and I lay wide awake. I have also packed up my entire house and half of a grocery store only to spend hours setting up camp that will be taken down a mere 12 hours later.

I do enjoy the mountains and the campfire and the outdoors and the break from my cell phone, but I do seriously hate camping with a baby. Too much work, too much preparation, not any relaxation for me, etc. Basically, not worth it ... not even close.

So after a few camping-free years, our "babies" are finally old enough to understand things like fire is hot, don't throw rocks at people or things, stay out of the water, don't poke people or things with sticks, stay out of the water, be quiet or you'll wake up a bear and he will come and eat all of us, etc. So off we went to Currant Creek reservoir with the Leatherwoods. I had camped along Currant Creek when I was a kid several times and had some good memories up there, like playing Scrabble with Grandma Tischner under a card table in the rain and getting lost with Melanie and Brady. Good times. I had never been to the reservoir though, and it was beautiful up there.

The kids had a great time with their cousins, and with a few of the cousins being old enough to keep an eye on the little guys, the adults had plenty of time to visit and catch up and relax while the kids played and played and played. It was the most relaxing camping trip I've had in a long time.

We were in charge of dinner one night with Leslie and Mike, so we did BBQ spare ribs, a yummy potato/vegetable concoction, and for dessert this chocolate cake with a brown sugar/cocoa sauce on the bottom and marshmallows and chocolate chips on the top, and then you serve it with whipping cream. Are you kidding me? It was really good. I've done dutch oven before, but never in a very efficient way, and I hate cleaning them. Mike was a great dutch oven coach. He taught me several new tricks, especially for cleaning, and I'm so glad. I'm actually looking forward to cooking dutch oven style again now that I know what I'm doing. Thanks Mike!

We brought our bikes along, and took turns going for rides. Angie, Leslie, Laura (my sisters-in-law), and I went for a bike ride first, and after we were riding for a few minutes, we realized we were going pretty fast and that we were probably dropping some serious elevation. Turns out we flew down almost 400 feet in elevation in just a matter of minutes, and then we spent the next hour riding back up. It was tough but fun, and it felt good to accomplish that climb. Of course, if we would have had cell phones ..... I can't guarantee we wouldn't have called for a ride back up the hill!

So it turns out our huge new tent makes all the difference for camping. There is plenty of room so we're not climbing all over each other and all our stuff all the time. We have three rooms, so Dave, T.J., and I slept on one side, London, Austin, and Jackson slept on the other, and we still had a whole other room for stuff. It was so much less claustrophobic, and I loved it. It was all organized and separated and spread out. Love it! Even better, I got the tent off Ebay brand new for $150!