As you know, the Mehaffey family
We couldn't leave until after work. Neither of us got off until 5pm. After fighting traffic to make it home, we had to stop and get gas, pick up ice, another cooler, and dinner. We didn't make it to M'boro to meet the Washers until 7pm! I was kinda upset. But, we were determined to have a great weekend.
We drove for 2 1/2 hrs. The last half hour was torture!! It was completely curvy! I got sooo carsick! After almost vomiting, we finally made it to Fall Creek Falls. You have no idea how happy I was to be there. I thought, "let's get our campsite, set up, and relax". This isn't exactly how the story turns out. You see, we arrived at 9:30pm. There were no campsites left! The park was closing in 30min. It was now Matthew's turn to freak out. After driving around for awhile, we stopped on the side of the road to chat. (No cell phone service) I remembered a sign:
So, we decided to try and find this place. To our surprise, it was maybe 1 min down the road! It was an...interesting campsite. Our services? An Azlan table, a stove made of rocks, and a port-a-potty. That's right - a port-a-potty. (I'm slightly ever so spoiled by my In-laws' trailers!) We set up camp, in the only (thankful) campsite left. Just about 6.5ft from the road. After a not-so-quiet night, thanks to "Johnny Cash" singing all night and the constant vroom of massive trucks parading down the road (again, only 6.5ft away), Kendall and I decided we were going to take a leap of faith that we could find a campsite at the walk-in sites further in the park.
What do you know? God heard our prayers! After hiking for an eternity, we saw a family tearing down camp. I asked the Dad about it and he said they had reserved it for the next day as well, but had to head home early. They would just give us their campsite for the night. We happily paid them for their extra night and celebrated!! We went back, tore down our 1st camp, and then set up for our 2nd.
Not to make things easy, we decided to go on a 3 mile hike after tearing down/setting up camp (at a walk-in site - this is a key point!). It was AMAZING! Exhausting, but amazing! It's incredible to see God's beauty! His artwork, His creativity, His ridiculous skills! It brought me closer to an amazing set of friends, my incredible husband, and my (words cannot express) God!I napped and showered and got rejuvenated! We ate a great meal over the campfire and played games. It was so much fun and so relaxing. Mmm...slightly relaxing. I almost forgot to mention our friend that we found. His name was Mr. Raccoon. Mr. Raccoon didn't want to wait until we went to sleep to visit. Nope! He decided several times to head up to our campsite while we were up playing! Not cool Mr. Raccoon! This made for constant pauses in our games and very scary trips in the dark to potty. That night was the coldest night in history! No joke! Matthew and I just had blankets. Needless to say, we're asking for sleeping bags for Christmas!
After a, well, crazy camping trip, I'm happy to say that our 1st camping trip on our own was definitely one we will never forget. Not just because of the silly things we got ourselves into and that happened to us, but because of the memories we made. And because I have a list of the things we took, and forgot to take, so that we can do better next time!
Dear Fall Creek Falls: Thank you for a wonderful weekend. You made up for not having a campsite for us Friday night, but made up for it later. We appreciate you and your beauty! We'll see you next year!
Dear Mitch and Kendall: We had a great time with you! Can't wait for the 2nd Annual Mehaffey/Washer Campout!
Dear God: Thanks for saving our butts!
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