For the first year and a half of our marriage, we lived at a frantic pace. In part, the demands of building a mission support team and preparing to move halfway around the world dictated the rush and busyness. The rest of it we brought on ourselves with our lists of Things We Must Do Before We Leave America Forever. (If you know our story, you can hear God laughing about that plan.)
Camping at Lost Maples State Park in the hill country of central Texas found a place on Allen’s list. “The fall color is amazing,” he said. “It’s so quiet and peaceful there,” he said. “This will be a beautiful, romantic vacation weekend together,” I heard. Accordingly, we booked our campsite for the end of October and begged or borrowed the most basic camping equipment for the trip.
Well, the trees did put on a prettier show than what we had back in Denton.
As to the rest, this trip proved one of those newlywed educational experiences. The Thais call this “learning by doing,” their classic example being touching a pan on the stove to see if it’s hot.
By way of public service announcement, let’s review some of the lessons of the weekend.
Meanwhile, it never, ever, ever entered my mind
People like us, on the other hand, plan optimistically for a low temperature around 60F. Instead, the overnight lows were near 40F.
When Sunday (and the moderate weather we had expected) finally arrived, we took one more hike through the beautiful trees, ate the last peanut butter sandwiches, baby carrots, and protein bars, packed up the gear and empty water jugs, and trudged wearily out of the park to our car.
Allen may have been disappointed it was over; I was relieved to cross it off the list and wondering if Marks-A-Lot would be too subtle.
To be continued in tomorrow’s post… Oh, yes, there’s more!
LOL Tina! I can totally relate - this city girl also has a hard time roughing it!
ReplyDelete@Kelly Glad I'm not the only one!
ReplyDeleteOh so funny! I love it! Brian wants to go camping so badly... and I am dragging my feet through the MUD!
ReplyDeleteJust start with the tricycle, then the two-wheeler with training wheels. Leave the Harley in the garage a while.
ReplyDeleteThere are lots of parks with cabins with kitchenettes or screened cabins with bathhouses nearby. Less scary.
Baby steps out of the comfort zone increase the chance of a positive experience.
Ha, ha, and HA! A prayer warrior, huh? You bet outdoors is loud at night. We live right next to a pond, and when the boys sleep outside in a tent, the bullfrogs go nuts, impeding their sleeping schedule and nearly drown out the Adventures in Odyssey CDs they have going.
ReplyDeleteNo bears, though, and there is running water close by and toilets that flush. In Facebook parlance, "Like! Like!"
@Rhonda Schrock I don't think there were real bears at Lost Maples either, only imaginary ones. Glad you liked the post.
ReplyDelete