Graduation Family Camping Trip

For graduation rather than having a party, Matt wanted the family to go camping and trout fishing. So, directly after his graduation, we headed out to the wilderness. We went camping at a camping/fishing site that Matt had gone to over spring break with some buddies. Before we completely left civilization, we stopped at this Wendy's to go to the bathroom...a real bathroom for the last time for a couple of days. This was the STANKYest Wendy's that I have EVER been in. The putrid smell assaulted me and Mama Sandy as we entered the restaurant...the smell was so strong that it was almost palpable. Needless to say, that was one QUICK bathroom break...I was trying to hold my breath the entire time I was in the restaurant. Mama Sandy and I were gagging and laughing as we came rushing out the door into the fresh mountain air!!! ...and wouldn't you know it, Zack didn't even notice the bad smell....I mean that place smelled like someone had forgotten to take the trash out for a month! It was AWFUL...and he didn't smell anything...crazy. I took a picture of the Wendy's as a reminder to NEVER eat there! Yuck!

After leaving Wendy's, we headed to the camping parking site. As we were unloading our camping supplies at the trail head, someone came running down the gravel road...it was out friend Patrick...how random is that?! Patrick stopped and talked to us briefly and then headed on down the road while we hoisted our packs onto our backs to make the 1 mile hike into our campsite.






The hike wasn't too strenuous, although you did have to maneuver around several downed trees and cross a creek that was about thigh deep to make it to the camp site. I was lucky. My pack wasn't too heavy...I have NO idea how Mama Sandy managed to carry hers. It was much heavier.

Zack and I were excited about another chance to use our tent. We haven't gotten to use it since our trip out west last year. Although, we did have it up airing out in our garage recently (Zack was afraid that it would smell like his parent's tent, which is lovingly referred to as the puppy poop tent. So it has been airing out in our garage for a while now.) I have been trying to convince Zack to have a camp out in it with me in our garage, but for some reason he seems to think that sleeping in the bed is a better idea. :)

Matt, Zack, and Daddy G went fishing throughout our camping trip and they cooked and ate trout about every way that you could. Zack is not as experienced with fishing as his dad and brothers are, but he caught on and he enjoyed getting to spend the time with his father and brother Matt (It was Ben and Rachel's Anniversary, and they took an Anniversary trip and were not with us).

Zack trying to decide the best way to clean and prepare his fish.

Zack and his battle scars...you should see the other guy! :)
...and Zack wonders why it makes me nervous when he handles knives!

We went on a short hike On Friday...well, it was supposed to be a short hike, but it ended up being a little longer than expected...but we had a good time.





After our hike, the guys went fishing for their dinner while Mama Sandy and I took naps. (I hadn't been feeling very good...not sure if it was allergies or a little cold) Zack caught his biggest fish of the trip and he wanted me to get a picture of it.


Zack and Matt cleaned their fish on a log down by the creek. The log was half in half out of the water and it seemed like a great place to clean the fish. While Matt was cleaning his last fish, Zack noticed a snake in the water about 6-12 inches from Matt's leg. Zack, of course yelled and Matt quickly moved. The snake was spooked and swam away. Zack started cleaning his fish with Matt standing watch for the snake. It came up a few times and was easily scared off...then it tried a different approach, and Matt didn't see it until it was pretty close to Zack's leg....Zack decided to finish cleaning his fish standing up.

Once the fish had been cleaned, they took them up to the fire to prepare them for cooking and then decided to go down to take care of the fish heads and entrails. Our snake friend had come back and he was happily enjoying a little snack of fish heads and fish entrails. He ate 5 fish heads...greedy guy! We were not sure what kind of a snake it was and so we didn't want to get too close....we just let him enjoy his meal and go back to his home with a full tummy. It saved Zack and Matt some clean up...He did it for them quite nicely.

Friday night, we prepared for the possibility of rain...it's a good thing that we did, because it rained pretty much all night long. Zack and I stayed dry and we were, once again, really happy with the performance of our tent. Zack's parents had a little bit of water leak into their tent, but it wasn't too bad. Poor Matt, however, was sleeping in a puddle. That makes for a miserable night.



Saturday, we sat around for a while waiting for things to dry out a little before packing things up and heading for home.


By the time we packed up and hiked out, we had worked up a pretty good appetite. Zack had noticed a Jim N Nick's on our way and so we decided to introduce Zack's parent's to the yummy goodness that is Jim N Nicks. This particular Jim N Nick's was about 2 years old and had the BEST service. The manager came by our table several times and even ended up giving us 2 large slices of their VERY delicious homemade pies to sample. I think that I might have enjoyed the food even more than the first time we ate at a Jim N Nick's...

Our trip was a lot of fun and Zack and I enjoyed getting to spend some quality time with family.