It has been a little while since I have post largely because I went camping last week with my daughter and haven’t had much time to do any posting. We went to Governor Dodge which is about 45 minutes away from where we live. I had never been to Dodge before in my life, and I was amazed at this little park that really is quite close to the city. It is in a valley system with bluffs everywhere, a river goes through and there are a couple small dams that turn them into small lakes, a waterfall, a prairie land, a forest, and a bunch of campgrounds.
We stayed in this cool site where you actually park, walk about 50-60 feet to get to the campsite. It was a bit far for the car and it was a pain to get anything we needed like food. But overall, the sense of being out further away from other campsites was wonderful. We heard people talking and dogs from time to time but we really felt all alone for the most part. The site itself was also on top of a ledge on one side, and on another was a hill that went down. It felt like we were on top of a small mountain, which I think we kind of were.
Unfortunately, after a summer of dryness and scorching heat, the weather became wet and cold really quickly. The first afternoon we got there was beautiful but unfortunately we spent most the time setting up, though my daughter did get to swim in the lake a little. That night we got some pretty harsh thunderstorms, but the passed over quickly just in time for daytime. Unfortunately, the tent we were using had some leaks in it and we were constantly fighting getting dripped on and getting sleeping bags away from the walls.
The next day, it was cloudy and noticeably cooler. We did go swimming despite the coolness and actually had a pretty good time. We also went to the local Wal-mart to pick up odds and ends that we forgot and then returned to our campsite. The entire day we really didn’t have a good chance to get a campfire going. I’m not entirely sure why, the wood was purposely brought back to the car so it wasn’t wet, but it just wouldn’t start for some reason, so we went to bed a little early.
That night, it started raining more, it started a s a sprinkle and we thought nothing of it. But it kept on raining over the next complete day. We tried our best to keep ourselves entertained. We went to wal-mart again to pick up cards and marshmallows (our previous ones got melted in the car the previous day). Went into town for a nice brunch, and drove around the back areas of the park. We then came back to the campsite and played some cards in the tent but we eventually became really bored and sick of dealing with a leaking tent and decided to pack up some things and return home a day early.
This actually turned out to be a fairly good idea. Besides not having to deal with wetness and boredom. We did get some good sleep, and we got some stuff home which we were worried about getting home in a single car (we set up the tent site a day early and thus avoided having to bring it all in a single trip).
It also meant we had less to pack up the next day when we returned. It turned out to be a great and beautiful day. We got a campfire started quickly while we took down the rest of our tents and dried off various wet objects. Got some marshmallows roasted and s’mores made. Packed up the car and then went to the trail for the waterfall. it was a very cool waterfall, and it really was a highlight of the trip. (It is small but still pretty neat in its own way). After this, we got in our swimsuits and went swimming in the lake. Surprisingly, despite being nicer weather, we didn’t enjoy swimming this day. The lake was cold and dirty from the previous two days of rain and we didn’t want to be in the water. But we did rent a paddle boat, which while awfully noisy, was a fairly pleasant trip around the lake that I think my daughter enjoyed greatly.
The time since then has been spent doing smaller things with my daughter and trying to recoup from what was a long week with her. I still don’t think I’m totally recovered, but we are starting to get back up there. School is right around the corner again and I am not looking forward to it.