Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Anniversary!!!
4th of July camping
We spent the 4th of July weekend camping at Starved Rock State Park. We had to test out all of our new camping gear that we've been asking for over the last few years, and Addie got to experience her first ever camping trip. Friday night was pretty funny as we were setting up the tent. She came over and kept saying "jump, jump" and jumping in case I didn't understand. I had to explain to her that we were setting up a tent - not a bounce house. Once we got the beds in there and there was no "air" to jump she started to understand.
Saturday, we woke up to a very warm day - sweating at 7am while fixing breakfast, and when we hit the trails, it was still hot! Luckily, we were enclosed in the trees and shade for most of the morning hike. I always forget how many stairs Starved Rock has. Holy moly - I'm getting old and out of shape! We covered alot of ground though before we headed back to camp for lunch. After lunch, we hit the "waterfall" trails. Mother nature has changed the hiking area considerably from when we were there 2 years ago, but we soldiered on and made our way to each of the falls. Obstacles did not stand in our way, but at some point, we gave up trying to keep our feet dry and just started walking through the creeks. There just weren't enough rocks and tree branches in the right areas (and our balancing abilities have diminished over time). The afternoon wrapped up w/ a drive to Ottawa in search of ice and ice cream. We found both after much searching!
On Sunday, we decided to head out to a park we've never hiked in - Matthiessen State Park. It's just a mile from Starved Rock. We hit the Dells area in the morning, and were amazed at what we found. Beautiful waterfall! We were able to walk up to it and get great pictures. Then we went to the area above the falls (after going up ALOT of stairs). We were able to hike the creek to the top of the creek close to were it starts at a lake dam. Lots of water logged shoes afterwards, but alot of fun!!! The afternoon wrapped up w/ our last hike of the weekend in the River area of Matthiessen. I think we missed the short route to the river but eventually got there. We were in search of "the bridge" which according to the Starved Rock volunteer would be the best place to access the river. We found "the bridge" in several large piles of debris. Apparently, Mother Nature wasn't kind!! We wrapped up the afternoon w/ a drive in to Utica - again in search of ice and ice cream. (a pattern had been formed!)
Monday found us packing up camp and heading home to do the normal - post camping recovery. We actually got unpacked rather quickly and got the yard mowed, grocery shopping done, and laundry started all before we headed out for a picnic at Fairview Park w/ Nana, Papa, and Aunt Tasha. We were supposed to watch fireworks also - Epic Fail! They experienced major technical difficulties!!! Eventually, the fireworks went off (45 minutes left and after a few "mis-fires".
Overall, I'd rate it as a great weekend!!!
Saturday, we woke up to a very warm day - sweating at 7am while fixing breakfast, and when we hit the trails, it was still hot! Luckily, we were enclosed in the trees and shade for most of the morning hike. I always forget how many stairs Starved Rock has. Holy moly - I'm getting old and out of shape! We covered alot of ground though before we headed back to camp for lunch. After lunch, we hit the "waterfall" trails. Mother nature has changed the hiking area considerably from when we were there 2 years ago, but we soldiered on and made our way to each of the falls. Obstacles did not stand in our way, but at some point, we gave up trying to keep our feet dry and just started walking through the creeks. There just weren't enough rocks and tree branches in the right areas (and our balancing abilities have diminished over time). The afternoon wrapped up w/ a drive to Ottawa in search of ice and ice cream. We found both after much searching!
On Sunday, we decided to head out to a park we've never hiked in - Matthiessen State Park. It's just a mile from Starved Rock. We hit the Dells area in the morning, and were amazed at what we found. Beautiful waterfall! We were able to walk up to it and get great pictures. Then we went to the area above the falls (after going up ALOT of stairs). We were able to hike the creek to the top of the creek close to were it starts at a lake dam. Lots of water logged shoes afterwards, but alot of fun!!! The afternoon wrapped up w/ our last hike of the weekend in the River area of Matthiessen. I think we missed the short route to the river but eventually got there. We were in search of "the bridge" which according to the Starved Rock volunteer would be the best place to access the river. We found "the bridge" in several large piles of debris. Apparently, Mother Nature wasn't kind!! We wrapped up the afternoon w/ a drive in to Utica - again in search of ice and ice cream. (a pattern had been formed!)
Monday found us packing up camp and heading home to do the normal - post camping recovery. We actually got unpacked rather quickly and got the yard mowed, grocery shopping done, and laundry started all before we headed out for a picnic at Fairview Park w/ Nana, Papa, and Aunt Tasha. We were supposed to watch fireworks also - Epic Fail! They experienced major technical difficulties!!! Eventually, the fireworks went off (45 minutes left and after a few "mis-fires".
Overall, I'd rate it as a great weekend!!!
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