November Camping

The weather report looked good for the weekend, so we hopped in the car after J.D.'s soccer game and headed for Skyline Drive.  Actually, hopped makes it sound like it was easy to take two kids and two dogs camping.  In reality, the car was stuffed with scooters, helmets, Lego pieces -- I even saw a stuffed brain cell toy from the Curiosity Zone in one of the duffels.  Wouldn't want to leave behind your brain cell. . . .  We had reserved a camp site ahead of time -- you can do it online at http://www.reserveamerica.com/ -- and were psyched to be able to get a site on the E loop at Big Meadows (about 2 hours from Leesburg).  The E Loop skirts the side of the mountain and has jaw-dropping views, especially this time of year when the leaves are off the trees.  Russ bought us a new tent last week that is big enough for all of us (2 kids, 2 dogs, 2 grownups). The last time we camped I woke up with both the kids and dogs on top of me -- it was definitely time for a bigger tent.  But we still had a tiny tent compared to our friend Ms. Donna's tent -- she had the giant MacDaddy tent big enough to sleep 20!  (Ms. Donna came with us and brought her two boys, C.S. and T.S., who are 9.) 

Once we got everything set up, we set out to hunt for wood.  Though you can buy wood at the camp store (which we did as well), we always enjoy the hunt.  The kids gather up kindling and along the way notice all kinds of fascinating things.  This weekend, we found a spring (a chance to talk about ground water and the water table), lots of deer, and quite a few ladybugs (a chance to talk about beetles and their elytra -- the hard outer shell of the beetle that protects its wings and distinguishes it as a beetle).  The kids became fascinated by Russ's axe, and when we returned to the campsite, decided to engineer their own using pointed, flat rocks and sticks.  We happened to have extra string in the car, so the grownups helped the kids construct their tools.  Several fell apart, but we ended up with a couple of axes so strong the kids could actually chop through branches 2-3" thick (great trial & error lessons in design).  The kids also figured out they could make a bow and arrow using the rope and strong, bendable branches.  We had an injury in the process, however -- C.S. slipped with the small saw blade and cut his knuckle.  He immediately turned to me to show me, very calmly, what looked like his knuckle bone sticking out of his skin.  I took a deep breath and relayed the information to his mother as the blood began to rush into the cut and gush out onto his hand.  It was like slow motion, and actually completely fascinating to watch his body respond, and it helped that, for whatever reason, he remained completely calm.  Somehow Donna and I stayed calm too, wrapped his hand in paper towels and found a ranger, who sent us to the emergency room in Luray.  We learned lots of great science words over the next couple of hours -- coagulate, laceration, subcutaneous, Tetanus.  It turns out, he had not cut to the bone -- the subcutaneous layer of tissue under your outer layer of skin is snow white, so it looks like bone, but mercifully, is not.  C.S. was psyched when the doctor glued him shut and applied butterfly bandaids -- he had no idea you could glue skin closed!   The catastrophe turned into a joy as we drove back to the campsite along Skyline drive -- the sun was setting and the deer were everywhere -- so completely beautiful! 

At the campfire that night we tried to take our family Christmas card picture.  (Theme:  Warm Wishes)  Russ worked and worked with the settings on the camera to get that perfect fireside picture.  We never quite got the shot, but the kids had a great time playing with the settings and getting all kinds of sparky, glowing shots.  The wind was howling, so we all turned in early and were very grateful for our new tent.  The outer covering kept all the wind out, and we were snug as bugs.

The next day we went hiking in the big meadow, checked out some pack horses, and found all kinds of fascinating seed pods.  J.D. discovered he could send a cloud of seeds flying by using a stick like a bat -- and declared himself "The Dandelion Slayer."  We explained these weren't dandelions -- but the name was cool, so it stuck.  The kids slept all the way home.  Great weekend!