Camping and Caching

Camping means different things to different people. Some people would consider a 5th wheel in a campground to be camping but Meric and I just call that home. Camping to us is a tent in the woods, cooking over a fire and enjoying nature. This past weekend we took Mel on her first camping trip.

We decided to check out one of the near by state parks, Magnolia Springs. It is less than an hour away from where we live and seemed to be a good choice for our trial run at camping with the kid.

We chose a site a little off the beaten path that had a table, fire ring and water spigot. Meric set up camp while Mel and I helped. (okay we mostly watched and played)

After camp was all set up we decided to hike a little before making dinner. When getting ready for the camping trip Meric and I looked to see if there were any geocaches in the area. There were LOTS! With our GPSs in hand Meric, Mel, Jasper, Lucy Emmy and I headed down the trail.

It didn't take us long before we came up to the first cache on our list. After a little bit of searching we made the find and were on the trail again. It was a little tricky trying to pay attention to the kid, the dogs, the GPS and the trail but we had fun and found a total of 4 on our short hike.

Back at camp we started dinner consisting of hamburgers, beans and chips. Mel got to have one of her favortie meals, yogurt. After dinner we relaxed by the fire for a while. I put Mel down to sleep in the tent while Meric made campfire cinnamon rolls. It was a really nice night to sit by the fire and enjoy some dessert.

The next morning we enjoyed an omelet breakfast before breaking down camp. After everything was packed away we decided to find one last geocache bringing our total for the trip up to 5.

Magnolia Springs has a boardwalk and trail that winds around a spring. There is also a lot of wildlife around the spring. Seeing signs about alligators I couldn't resist getting a picture. I have never had to worry about an alligator while camping. I thought it was funny to see a sign warning about alligators. Funny that is until we saw not one but two alligators. Kind of cool all the different wildlife you can encounter when you move around the country.

We didn't explore the boardwalk a whole lot because it was quite long, Mel was getting tired, and we were getting hungry. Deciding to come back another time, we headed home calling our first camping trip with Mel a success. Can't wait to do it again!