Camping

So, we finally did it! We went camping! We have lived here about 14 months or so (basically over a year) and we had yet to ever go. We've been to Glacier National Park several times but never seemed to find the time to spend a night out in the wilderness. I'll be honest, most of me was really intimidated. As much as I love how beautiful this countryside is, the whole idea of making sure all your food is put in your car because it's "bear country" is a little scary to me. This area is exactly what I felt camping should look and be like but every time I thought of all the animals that might like the smell of leftover food, I'd chicken out. We decided it was time though- I just needed to get over it! So we packed up and headed out to Hungry Horse Reservoir after a nice lunch celebrating Jake Bramante's Birthday. We didn't get up to Hungry Horse until about 4:30 or so... which I guess isn't that bad considering we finished up in Kalispell at 3:30. To go camping in NM, you have to drive at least 3 hours to get to a decent place.

After getting a little lost (there are 3 different signs for Lost Johnny Creek and we took the first, which wasn't for a campsite). We finally picked our spot and settled in, got our tent all set up, and explored the camping area. It was beautiful! We had lush forest all around us and the lake about 20 yds from our campsite! And since we went on a Sunday night when most people had left there was tons of leftover firewood! We made hot dogs and pork and beans for dinner- neither of which I should really be eating but hey, we were camping! After that we just sat staring at the fire for hours! A little talking here and there, but mostly just staring at the fire... and it was really nice! We made some smores right before bed- except with chocolate covered graham crackers and mallows instead of the traditional method. And then we stared at the stars for a while and went to sleep.

Sleeping wasn't as bad as I thought it would be- the air mattress was pretty comfortable and the only problem is that I'm so restless at night that Johnny had to deal with me rolling back and forth all night. I did wake up at 2 and just laid there for an hour trying to tell myself that I didn't REALLY need to go the bathroom and that that noise wasn't a bear or other critter outside our tent. I finally had to cave and wake up johnny to walk me out the the bathroom and fell right back asleep after, of course!

The morning was equally as chill- we made eggs, bacon, and hash browns. And then we just sat and stared at the fire some more, did a little family devotional, and read. Nice and relaxed. Before we knew it, it was time to start packing up! We finished off the rest of the hot dogs, packed up, and we were back on the road again. To finish the trip, we grabbed a Huckleberry shake on the way home! It's hard to go through Hungry Horse and not stop for one! All in all a great little get away! We're already trying to figure out when we will go again and how fun it would be to do a leaders retreat out there! Probably will have to wait until next summer though!