First Camping 2017

This weekend was really fun. Friday night, we went camping. I was feeling kind of down and non-energetic that whole day, but I made myself get packed. Havelock and Allopex drove out with us to have game night with Grig around the campfire. It was really fun. We got the tent set up and then Grig started the fire while I went back into town to get a few more things that we needed.

After I got back, we ate hot dogs over the fire while our cherry cobbler cooked. Then, while Grig played D&D with his brothers, Kevin and I explored around the lake. We went on two different walks. The first time, we took Siff, who was an excellent camping dog. I was so proud of her. We only tied her up at night while we slept. The rest of the time, she stayed right with us (unless Arkhon wandered off, and then she followed him).

She would walk ahead of us on the trail, and then stop and wait for us to catch up. She was pretty great.

Then, on the next trip, we gave Arkhon a chance to walk with us. He wandered a bit more, but he never ran off. I just had to call him back a lot more. The coolest thing happened when we were walking back to the campsite. Arkhon, who was walking ahead of us, suddenly stopped and stared down the dirt bank into a field to our left. He completely froze, his eyes intent, and his ears pricked up.

I said, “What do you see, bud? Do you see something?”

He didn’t move. I told him to “Hold” and put my hand on his back, as I did, his front right leg slowly pulled up into a perfect point. I wish I'd had my camera at that point. It was awesome!

Arkhon has never pointed before. I praised him, patted his back some more and then told him to leave it. He did, and we continued on our journey.

We got home, and ate some cobbler. It turned out pretty awesome. It was a nice way to use some frozen cherries from our tree last year.

A little while after, I put Kevin to bed. He didn’t want to go to sleep while his dad and uncles were talking outside of the tent, so I laid down with him. I wanted to fall asleep with him, but I was too cold. He had nice warm pajamas and a blanket, but I had forgotten to bring my sweater. So, after Kevin fell asleep, I went back out and sat by the fire until the brothers left, and then Grig and I talked for a while and went to bed.

I didn’t sleep very well. Grig and Kevin seemed plenty warm, but I was freezing. A while later, Kevin woke up and rolled over to his dad. They both cuddled up together, so I took the sleeping bag that Kevin had been laying on and closed it, with me inside. I finally warmed up enough to go to sleep, but then some teenagers at a nearby campsite began to be really loud and set the dogs off.

Despite the occasional barking, I have found that I love camping with dogs. When I was younger, I liked camping, but if I woke up during the middle of the night I would have a hard time going back to sleep because I'd start listening too closely to the night life. I'd freak myself out and worry about being eaten by bears.

With dogs though, as long as they're not riled, you know that you are safe.

The next day I woke up around 7:30, only to find that Grig already had the fire going and breakfast mostly made. He’s pretty awesome. We ate and I sat by the fire to finish warming up. Grig decided to pick up all the garbage that had been left by previous campers. Did I mention that he’s awesome?

Then, we put on shorts and went wading in the water around the lake. It snowed and rained so much this year, that the reservoir was overflowing. We had to wade about a quarter mile to get near enough to the edge of the lake to where we camped last time. It was awesome and Kevin loved it.

The dogs had a great time too. The water was surprisingly warm. I wanted to swim, but I wasn’t dressed for it. Arkhon was a fantastic swimmer though, and Siff got more comfortable with it as we went, though she didn’t like it when she couldn’t touch the bottom.

Eventually, Kevin got cold and hungry, so we went back and had sandwiches. After that, everyone was about ready to go home, but Grig wanted to see if he could catch a frog first, so we drove over to one of the more boggy areas around the lake and he went out exploring for a while.

Kevin was tired and didn’t want to leave the car, so I stayed with him and the dogs while Grig explored. Grig didn’t end up catching a frog, but he had a good time.

We came home and took turns taking naps because we wore ourselves out.