Before we left for our church camp retreat I took one finally bubble bath to last me the weekend because I didn’t plan on any showers while out in nature. Then I cut my finger nails really short and painted my toenails a dark color hoping that it would camouflage the dirt that would incur when I hit the trails.
It was dark when we got to the camp sight so we conveniently moved into one of the unclaimed screened shelters instead of setting up our tent and since it was a concrete floor we graciously accepted the offer to borrow an air mattress.

It was a really nice park with running water (including toilets and a shower).

There was electricity and even a kitchen and dining area were we had some fantastic country cooking.

So no it wasn’t exactly the survivor weekend I was expecting, but I still had three days of no makeup, no internet, and no cell phone so I felt like I did get to experience some degree of distance from my day to day suburban life. Oh, and before you picture our cabin as a Hilton equivalent you should know that within an hour of lying down on the first night the air mattress started leaking. J refilled it while the kids and I were still asleep and the song “you raise me up” by Josh Groban was playing in my dream as I felt the mattress inflate. No matter how many times J tried to patch the holes this continued to happen throughout both nights that we spent there.
I didn’t get many pictures of the beautiful scenery because between the poison ivy and the steep cliffs that surrounded us I couldn’t afford to take my eyes off the kids for a single second. The sights were gorgeous though, and the weather was great.

We got to take in plenty of hiking and times for worship, and even though there was a burn ban we did manage to fit in some smores over a charcoal fire.
This was the first camping trip ever attempted for us as a family and we may not have had a tent, a real fire, or a soft ground to sleep on, it was still a great time and J and I are determined to go back and do it all again.