Of campfires and pride

This weekend I went camping. Wait… Let me rephrase that… Scott took me into the woods… that doesn’t sound good either… Lets just see how this went…

Saturday:

We got up and got packed and ready and headed over to Brad & Jexica’s to group up. Stopped at Kroger to  get some food. MMMM S’mores! Then we headed out… We went to a part of the Ozark National Forest that Scott is very familiar with. His family has hunted there since he was a little kid. We stop and look out at a few different spots. 

Then we head down to where we are going to start hiking to go see a waterfall. Now here is where it gets… interesting… You see, I don’t hike much. I walk on small trails, like Petit Jean mountain… Where the path is dirt and stones set to be like stairs… That is NOT where we are Saturday. We are straight up just walking in the woods. I don’t see a trail… Do you see a trail?

I had to learn proper hiking. Like going down a steep incline with your heel and the side of your foot so you fall backwards and not forwards if you do happen to lose your footing… After years of Flagline drilling in “point your toe” it was difficult for me. Not to mention the fact that I had on some Nike running shoes and not proper hiking boots. Oh and of course the fact that I am severely out of shape.

We did see some awesome stuff…

They climbed a big rock…

Then an even bigger rock…

 

Then came the part of getting down to the waterfall… This was extremely steep, and not only do you have to get down there… you have to get BACK UP the mountain…

I was determined to see the waterfall, it could have been bone dry for all I could care but I was not going to sit behind like some … there really isn’t a proper word here… city girl?

So I did it, I climbed down… And got to see some pretty water and trees…

Then it took me 3 times as long as Brad & Jexica to get back up. If Scott weren’t there saying how proud he was of me for doing it I probably would have broken down. I had a mini melt down at one point when I kept slipping and couldn’t get footing and skidded down some rocks and hurt myself. But I did it. I made it to the top of the steep part… and then of course the 2 mile hike back to the trucks…

Once we made it back we headed down to our campsite. And I have to say, someone says camping and I am all for it. I grew up camping. But not the way Scott grew up camping. I grew up with Tents, then progressing to the pop up camper, then the pull behind, and now my grandparents have a slide out side 5^th wheel camper. So camping for me is just going to the lake and going without some of the nicer modern conveniences…  Camping for Scott is no electricity, no water, no tent. We slept on an air mattress in the back of the Jeep. We started a fire for warmth. And we cooked dinner on a tiny propane stove (now the stove I am familiar with, it’s how Memaw always made her coffee).

It was cold. So cold. Our campsite was beautiful though. It made me wish it was warm enough to go swimming.

We had some good ole s’mores and told stories of my Thursday night of playing wingman (heehee). And quoting movies and comedians and just good ole down time. And putting up a canopy, that Scott didn’t realize he bought a pink one! (But now I have a pink canopy for craft fairs!)

Sunday:

My back, thighs, calves, ankles, and feet are so sore. 

Poor Brad & Jexica their air mattress had a hole in it and they had to just sleep in the back of Brad’s Tahoe. Jexica snuck in some zzzzzs by the fire in the morning. 

But I got breakfast in bed...

Isn't that beautiful sight to wake up to?

Then we packed up and went to head out and my boyfriend decided to be a boy… and did this….

He is paying for it now though. He punctured the oil pan (after just doing an oil change) and Brad had to tow us up the mountain to a point when his dad, John, could get a trailer in to haul it back. Full amount of damage has yet to be seen.

Brad & Jexica brought me back to Cabot and we stopped off at her Grandpa’s to check out the land where they are planning on getting married. 

I got to pet some horses, one of them kept sniffing my head, it was weird. Lol.

 Ignore my chipped nail polish...

Lesson of the weekend: I can do it. After climbing a mountain, a 30 minute visit to the gym should be no problem. Walking up the stairs at my apartment? Pffst… I climbed a mountain… I realized I can do it. Don’t get me wrong, I hurt today, but I am so proud of myself. And that is priceless.

Not to mention that I got to see my boyfriend in his element. And I fell in love with him even more. I got a good one.

~Tamara