Candystick and I arrived Friday evening at Vogel State Park with about an hours daylight left in the day. GA-400 and Alpharetta - you can keep it. There's nothing there worth that drive!.
I quickly got to work on the tent set-up. Once that chore was done, our bedding stuff was moved from the truck to the tent. I then unpacked the new screen canopy that I had purchased. Night was falling quick. It was still raining and I had no clue where even to start. Luckily, some nice folks at the camp next to ours helped out. Thanks guys!
It was about 8:30 and raining. Candystick and I retired to the tent for a game of Yatzee. I was soon talking her into turning out the light and getting some rest. She took the bait and soon the light was off and I was fast asleep.
The next morning came really early. Candystick was ready to go. It was not raining but still dark. I couldn't see my watch. I had taken my glasses off to set up the camp and left them in the truck. We gathered our stuff and headed to the facilities to shower and get ready for the day.
We finished all that and returned to the tent (still dark outside). I retrieved my glasses and was able to read my watch. After getting ready, it was still only 5:45AM. ouch! I curled up in the mass of blankets and fell asleep while she played on the DS.
The sun finally decided to show up. We exited the tent and met a really pretty Saturday morning. It was still wet from 3 days of rain. However, things where calm and fairly warm. (keep this in mind - tomorrow morning will be totally different). I quickly got busy getting things ready for breakfast. The Menu: Scrambled eggs and bacon wrapped in a tortilla. Mine with a little added salsa.
We headed down to the Rangers office after breakfast to update them on the camp site we had chosen the night before and to retrieve our camp pass. The Ranger had told us that it was okay to come back the next day with the datails. Before we got to the office, I spotted Duck and daughter starting the loop around the campgrounds. I turned in behind him and flashed my lights and guided him to our campsite.
We exchanged hello's and got him set up in camp. We sat around a while until the rain started again. I talked everyone into a trip into Blairsville. We piled into the truck and headed out of the wet camp. We stopped off and checked in and updated them of our location.
We headed into "town". I say town - but what I mean is a place locals live and maybe hang out at the McDonalds. Not much there. We were hoping that there would be a Walmart or something that we could walk around and waste some time while God felt it necessary to water the mountains with plenty of rain. Alas, nothing. Nota. Nope. Squat! A CVS, A Piggly Wiggly (maybe) and a few trinket stores. Duck talked me into trying to find a Geocache. I was getting pretty frustrated by this point. So, off we went in search of a tiny film canister using billion dollar satellites and hand held GPS devices in the rain. Oh what joys!
We ended up finding that one cache and heading back to camp. Sorry Duck - I wasn't in the mood.
Back in camp, we ate lunch under the screen canopy. The girls made duck faces (pun intended) at each other while we ate. They all sneered at me as I gobbled down my Vienna sausages.
After lunch, we kicked around the fire for a while. The rain had stopped again. The girls played/burned a few marshmallows.
They soon drew bored of that and we talked them into a hike around the lake there at Vogel State park. I think the walk to the lake was longer than the walk around the lake. Half way around the lake - we took a side excursion down the backside of the damn to see the waterfall. Neat stuff.
I really love the look of the mountains.
The girls quizzed us on the temp of the water. We told them cold. I don't think they believed us. So, we let them see for themselves. Remember - it's probably 50 degrees outside. Glad the mom's weren't around to scold us!
We headed back to camp for dinner. Roasted hot dogs would be our meal of choice. We broke out all the stops for this camp delight. I think the girls enjoyed cooking their own meals.
and eating....
Soon after the things of supper were put up and smores were made, the sky once again opened up with thunder and rain. We all took hot showers during this time and retired to our tents satisfied that the rest of the evening was shot.
Did I mention that the weather was getting colder? I thought I may have spoken of it earlier. Did I mention that Candystick and I swapped locations due to a leaking tent? Nope - oh well we did. I took her wet sleeping bag and she took my dry one. Did I mention that the temperature was in the lower 30's Sunday morning. Oh yeah. And we were waking up in a tent. Whew - what fun! I was physically shaking uncontrollable when I would wake in the middle of the night with another water drop to the forehead. I signed up for this? To top it off... When I asked Candystick if she had gotten cold in the night - she quickly let me know she didn't. She didn't even have socks on!
Sunday morning breakfast was the same as Saturday morning. Only this time I was treated with someone else cooking.
We enjoyed our meals and soon started to break camp. It took way longer to break camp than it did to set it up. I found wet clothes everywhere. We decided that the fun was not yet over. Hiking and Gem mining was on order. We closed camp and headed out. Our first stop was DeSota Falls. We hiked to the lower falls, took some pictures and went about our way.
The next stop was gem mining. Candystick loves this stuff. She begged and begged for this activity. She got her wish....a day later than she really wanted.
This is where to two families had to say their goodbyes. Just up the road a piece we would be taking different paths home. We enjoyed our short time with Ed and Merideth. Thanks guys and gals for a great rainy camping weekend. We didn't let the rain keep us from enjoying the time together.
Sorry it took so long to get this up. I am serving jury duty this week. Oh the joys of adulthood. Also, we are headed out of town this weekend and next. So, more updates may be slow coming. Stay tuned though. Life is just begining!
Rake has left the building.
