Dads And Kids Camping Weekend 2009
I should know by now that if I don’t write up the adventures of our weekend directly when I return that I’ll have forgotten many fun details. It’s been a week since our weekend camping excursion and already memories have begun to fade. Let’s see what I can manage to recover.
We chose Buena Vista Recreation Area this year as our destination. I hadn’t been there since I was 17 years old and as nostalgia will do, I had very fond memories of the place. Looking back now I can remember a few “hiccups” along the way from back then. No matter, it ended up being GRrrrrreat! this year.
First the toys: We had two boats and two personal watercraft. We also brought a keg which may not seem like a toy at first but what it does is turn many other things into toys after sufficient tapping. Some other non-toys that belong in this department were the full propane BBQ, coffee maker, 3 generators, mobile wifi hotspot, laptop, dvd player and microwave. We also brought tents so this should still qualify as “camping”, right?
Kent arrived first, then me, Darin and Matt, all within a few minutes of each other. It so happens that we’re the core-four who manage these trips every year so it’s fitting that we should snag the killer tent locations first. More on this later (Darn you Uncle Pat!). Kent’s older daughter is 15 but is already a master camper. She can handle any aspect of setup, maintenance and tear down. Of course, Kent allows her to prove it each year (you lucky dawg Kent!).
I only had Ben with me on Friday night because Abby had her championship softball game Saturday morning (we lost) and wouldn’t head up until that evening with neighbor TQ. So Ben and I put up the tent with a beautiful view of the lake and afternoon shade. Uncle Pat arrive about an hour later and as I was finishing off some work on the laptop he managed to lay out his tent gear directly in front of my view! Swoop! That boy has balls of steel for pulling a stunt like that. It wasn’t until he had nearly staked his corners that I noticed and by then it was too late for proper harassment. I’ll get you next year Uncle Pat!
Our first boat broke almost immediately. It really is a sweet ride but she’s a bit fragile, especially when Darin is at the helm. Sorry bro… I’m gonna have to blame you for the breakdown. No worries though, we were at Dads and kids camping weekend and it takes a lot more than a broken boat to ruin our time. Besides, we had a spare and two other water toys… doesn’t everybody?
Pat and I tossed the football around while the kids played in the lake. It was a beautiful thing because the water is just a few feet away and it is only knee deep for the first 30 feet out or so. We were able to give the kids a lot of latitude as compared to so many other lakes.
Eventually I got Ben setup with his fishing pole and he and Megan took turns casting off the shore hoping for a nibble. They never did catch anything but they were having a ball.
Oh yeah, I also had Julia (Johnboy’s daughter) with me because Johnny had a test for work to take on Saturday. She and Emma are the same age so they paired up and took off for trouble (the good kind). We ended up with two other girls of the same age so things really worked out well for that group.
We only had one “first-timer” with us (Brian Scully) and he fit in immediately. We need a nice balance of patience with other families, other adults correcting your child and you correcting other children when needed. It also doesn’t hurt if you like hanging around the campfire with a beer or two but that is in no way a requirement. Thanks for cruising out Brian!
I’d say the only sour feeling we experienced was the police and park rangers. Complete assholes across the board. These are the exact personalities that should not be in law enforcement. We only ended up with one ticket for the weekend (for something that was completely incorrect of course and as usual) but plenty of threats for the sole purpose of wielding their power. Not surprised but it’s always disappointing when it occurs. A bunch of us chipped in to pay for the cost of the ticket because the guy who got it also brought the jetskis and he effectively took a bullet for the entire crew to placate the idiots with guns and badges.
Except for the police run-in, Saturday went off without a hitch. All sun, tons of boating and plenty of time in the water. As has become tradition we did a group meal Saturday night with ribs, tri-tip, steak, burgers, dogs and all the fixins. We grazed for most of the night before switching to s’mores and other kidlet treats. What’s great about this sort of thing is, we don’t even coordinate that stuff very tightly. I brought skewers, marshmellows, graham crackers and chocolate as did Uncle Pat. There was just enough but not a lot to bring home or toss. Same with dinner and….
Sunday morning breakfast has also become a traditional group meal. Kent, Matt and Darin brought plenty of eggs, sausage, churiso (sp?), juice, etc. Again, we had it nailed pretty close so we didn’t end up tossing much at all. It’s taken us a few years to get this right but I think we’ve got it nailed pretty well at this point.
Sunday morning Tim Infhur had to leave early and he had our “spare” boat. That finally prompted Matt to have a good luck at our broken first boat. Being a direct descendant to MacGyver, he was able to get it running though there were a few tricks to make it work out on the water. For example, you couldn’t move into neutral while under power so if you were pulling a skier and he fell you had to be a bit more on your game. And the trim needed some manual “help”. We used the crap out of that thing until noon-ish. And then it was time to start packing up.
Both setup and tear-down took longer this year than I remember in recent past and for almost everyone. Not sure the reason but that’s how it went down. I suppose we just took our time because the weather was so great and none of us really wanted to leave. So we lazed along and packed things up while the kids played in the lake. And for sure, if you take the time to pack up properly it makes life SOOoooo much easier when you get home.
It was just under a two-hour drive home and when I got back (with the help of my dear wife Kerri) I was done unpacking in 15 minutes. That’s about the time I should have written this post because there would have been more action sequences to describe but for now, this is the most reasonable summary I could come up with. If you want to make it a shorter story you can use something like this:
Excited to be there. Lots of toys and conveniences. Uncle Pat! Cops. Great weather and water. Fellowship. Fun. Sad to leave. Home.
Lastly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xlqm1Z9FWec (just pics)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6y5Teo5j_M (evil developer Pat)
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http://www.unclematty.com
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