I'm a Camper?

The past week, I spent all but one day camping with my extended family, at Lake Ouachita. I've only been camping once before, and it was so long ago, that I was expecting LeLe at the time. SR and I slept in the back of our new El Camino then. It was not the most comfortable of situations, and I really didn't think I'd ever do it again. But, Brother from Chicago and his daughter, all three sisters and their families were going, so I wanted to be there too. We were camped at Mountain Harbor, about 25 minutes from Hot Springs.

I had a really good time all in all. I meant to take my camera, but had to make due with my phone cam. The weather was pretty good, not too hot, except the last day.
This was sunset one day. It was like a picture postcard, as they say. The water was warm and we were on a great spot. Must have been widely coveted, because periodically, folks would drive by to see if it was available. This day was a bit overcast and the sun finally peaked through.

Brother-in-law bought a SeaDoo for the kiddos and they all had a blast. Aunt B_Lines did not ride the SeaDoo. But she did float on a blow up raft frequently. We drove into Hot Springs for a little shopping and ate at Red Lobster. (My all time favorite restaurant.) We visited, and ate, and swam and the guys fished some. I slept in a tent and in the back of my Tucson. Believe it or not, the Tucson was pretty comfortable with an air mattress in the back.

It's amazing how much energy it takes to walk up and down the rocky camp area, and to go up and down the bank to the water. Not to mention the constant arm and foot paddling, not wanting to drift out to the middle of nowhere. So, I got lots of exercise without realizing it. I tried hard to maintain healthy eating habits and for the most part succeeded.

One evening, the weather began to look menacing.

The wind began to blow the tarps around and we scrambled to hold everything down. It got so bad at one point, that it lifted Sister#2 off the ground as she held onto one of the tarps trying to keep it from blowing away. A rope from one tarp caught my arm and I came away with a lovely bruise as a souvenir. We wound up having to rebuild the campsite.

My nephew, who is Autistic, was there for two days and he had a great time. It's been quite a while since I was able to play with a little one in the water, and I enjoyed it.

By Saturday afternoon, I was exhausted, and headed for the house. I'm getting old and weary I guess, because I wound up sleeping most of the day Sunday. I don't know if I will ever do the camping thing again, but I am very glad I went this time. It made me want to be close to the water so badly. I would even be happy with a kiddy pool in my back yard......