Ahhh I almost forgot to post today
This week has been a long one. On Wednesday and Thursday we went camping for camp. We went to Harriman State Park in upstate New York. It was surprisingly cooler temperature wise than it has been in the city, which was a nice change of pace. I've never been camping before, so I was pretty excited but I also didn't know what to expect.
When we got there, we went on a long hike through the woods. There were wild blueberries and wineberries all around the campsite. Our kids are really fond of picking and eating berries, so they kept stopping every time we passed some bushes. And even though I kept yelling at them to keep walking, I thought the berries were pretty cool too.
When we got back to our little portion of the woods, we set up our tents. I ended up sleeping in a six person tent with only three other people. Because of this, the tent was pretty roomy. I thought that sleeping on the floor with Caitlin would have prepared me for sleeping in a tent but that was not case. The ground was much more bumpy than Smith's floors, but I probably should've seen that one coming. This was my view from our tent when I woke up at 6:30am.
It got really dark out once nighttime came, which was kind of scary. We all had flashlights, but even with them it was hard to see where you were going. At one point during the night, I was pretty sure there was something outside of our tents because I heard some crunching sounds that sounded like footsteps. I was way too tired to check/care and I told myself it was probably nothing. But then the next morning my coworker and I spotted a bear about ten feet from where our tent was. It was a baby bear but it was huge. We were both in shock of being that close to the bear, but then it started to walk towards one of the kids' tents. They were all still in the tent, so we got our head staff who started making loud noises to make the bear go away. It was so crazy.
That afternoon we also got meet some thru-hikers. They're these people that hike long distance trails like the Appalachian Trail. We met this one couple or "throuple" (thru-couple not a three way couple) and they were super inspiring. Overall, I give camping a 10/10 and I would definitely do it again minus the 32 children.
I love all the nature pictures. Trees, personally, are one of the most beautiful things in life. And to have them surround you as you sleep and wake up must have been so magical! Also the bear thing sounds scary, but you should’ve tried fighting it to assert your dominance.
Aaaa a bear that's so scary!!! Omg Don't like the use of "throuple" here... But this sounds overall like a very sweat experience! I'm imagining you herding the children along...trying to stop them from getting distracted by the delicious berries. And I'm glad you enjoyed the camping, hope you get to go again without 32 children!
@Rachel E I hadn't heard of them either but they taste like sour raspberries! camping as a kid must have been so fun
i've never heard of wineberries but they look so cute and delicious! I haven't been camping probs since girl scouts in like 1st grade (wait actually i remember trying to get back into girl scouts in 7th grade so nix that) but it's always fun :-). this program you're helping at seems like a lot of fun (albeit a lot of work). also... probably not a good idea for them to use the term throuple lol