Camping!

Will and I went camping this past weekend at St. Francois State Park near Bonne Terre. We are participating in the Missouri Camper Award program where if you stay in 5 different state parks during the year you earn a patch. This campground was our 3rd so far this spring. We're over halfway to our patches! (I don't know what we are actually going to do with them when we get them.)

This was Maddie's 2nd camping trip with us. We were very interested to see if she would swim in the river. She ended up wading in up to her chest and refused to go any further in. Will and I waded in with her but didn't get in all the way either because the water was still really cold. Before we went to the river, we took Maddie on a steep, rugged 2.79 mile hike. I knew that it would be a long way for her to walk but we went slow and took a lot of breaks. She was really pooped toward the end of the trail and we had to give her lots of encouragement to finish it.

Will and I made the observation that we somehow have a nack for selecting campsites next to the loudest people in the campground. This past weekend was no exception. There was a big group across from us that brought their guitars and whiney kids with them. Our trip was complete with a drunk grandma walking around greeting everyone at the campground and her daughter's drunk boyfriend who tried to pet Maddie but got the crap scared out of him when she barked at him and wouldn't let him touch her. (I don't think she would ever hurt anyone but she does give a pretty powerful message with her big bark.) The guy almost fell over backwards when she started barking. I think Maddie is prejudice... she seems to dislike stereotypical hoosiers (or rednecks- for our southern readers.) I don't know where she picked that up but we are trying to work on it with her.

Maddie, as usual, got a lot of attention from the people we came across. It seems like people are always asking us what breed she is. This weekend she got St. Bernard, Great Pyranees and ... get ready for this.... a black deer. Yes, a black deer. Someone saw her from the distance and had that thought. I don't know about you, but I've never seen a black deer before.

Anyways, we had a lot of fun on our camping trip. It is always so good to be able to leave our busy lives and get away to someplace (somewhat) quiet and sllloooooowwwwwww down. If anyone wants to go with us next time, please let us know. We would love to have friends or family to be loud with around the campfire. I think it just may be time for us to be the loud folks of the campground.