Camping was great! It did take us 3 hours to get there, maybe a little more. Would have been shorter except we couldn't drive over 60mph. We got there, checked in and was taken to our camp site. It was small, but secluded - just like I asked for. The only problem I had with our campsite and the campground - was the rocks/gravel. It is VERY shaded so - no grass. It was covered with gravel sizes rocks to fist sized ones. We cleared out an area to put down our tent and it wasn't so bad. Lincoln had the biggest problem with the rocks. He didn't want to wear shoes (to his credit they are a bit big on him) so he went barefoot. Bare feet and rocks = ouch! So we carried him a lot.
After we pitched the tent we headed down to the river for a swim. There was a steep incline to walk down to get to the water. Steep as in when we walk, our toes slid to the tips of our shoes and it pulled the muscles in our legs. Steep as in when walking up it took big, hard steps to get up the hill. GOOD workout!
The place to swim by camp is great. Right by a bridge so it's a larger swim area. There is a perfect tree growing on the 'beach' area that had a rope swing by it - huge hit with all the kids! I took a go at the swing and ended up with a nasty, black 'n blue bruise in the back of my arm. I don't even know what I hit but I hit something hard! Celso even jumped off the rope and did so quite well!
Dinner Saturday was brats (from HyVee - yum!) and hotdogs with smores for dessert - classic camping meal!
Sunday we fixed camp-style french toast. Hamburger buns torn into pieces and dipped in egg/milk batter and fried. I sprinkled cinnamon and doused with syrup. Yum!
We packed sandwiches to take on the river with us and headed out about 11am for our float trip. They put it us in right by camp and we floated down to the next bridge for take out. Thanks to Copper and Lincoln looking over the side of the canoe at the same time we got dumped! Henrique & Bryant were paddling with Celso in the middle and somehow they tipped their canoe. What is a canoe trip without getting tipped?
We did stop several times to get out and play but the float trip just wasn't long enough. Before we knew it we were at the take out bridge and we hadn't even ate lunch yet! So we headed back to camp to eat. Then we went back to the river to play - catching lil fish, tadpole and crawfish.
Dinner was "hobo burgers". I put sliced potatoes, baby carrots and sliced onions on a sheet of foil. Topped it with a hamburger patty and sprinkled spices in it, wrapped it up and tossed them on the fire. 30 minutes later dinner was ready! For dessert that night we did apple pies on a stick. I stuck a green apple on a stick and cooked it until the skin was brown. Celso and I peeled the apples then I rolled them in a sugar/cinnamon mixture and then roasted them over the flames again to give the apples a nice glaze.
Both nights we got cold and needed more blankets! Sunday night I pulled up the comforter I was using to sleep on for cushion and had to use that to cover up with!
Monday we ate a lovely breakfast. Cooked sausage, them browned sliced potatoes and added spices, dumped a dozen eggs in the skillet and topped with cheese - YUM-E!
Of course it didn't go quite that smooth. The sausage was almost cooked so I added the potatoes, well the sausage started to burn so we had to scoop it out and put it on plates to save it. Then I added the spices, which included dried onion, it too started to burn so we had to scoop most of that out too! The potatoes were getting burned before they cooked fully so I stabbed them with a fork and when they were done we had to scoop those out too. Ahhh! Finally it is all cooked so I dump it back in and it is time to cook the eggs. Remarkably it all turned out well and was delicious!
After breakfast we packed up the gear and headed down to the river for our last swim. Took some pictures of everyone on the rope swing and finally a family picture. I'm still kicking myself for not taking pictures the rest of the time - like ON the float trip!
On our way home we hit a thunder/lightening/hail/rain storm! All the kids were asleep and it was loud enough to wake all of them. Our gear on top of the car was drenched but nothing was ruined - it all dried out just fine. So all in all, we had a great trip and plan do a float trip again next year but still go camping again later this summer.