Camping Trip 2011

Last week, we took a quick camping trip to Hanging Rock State Park in NC, about 2.5 hours from where we live. The first day we went floating down the Dan River on inner tubes. It was a lazy river and we just drifted with the current. We took an extra tube for our cooler and had a picnic along the way. Timothy even took a nap floating down the last stretch. It was a lot of fun! One of the highlights was watching the minnows attack the bread crumbs we dropped in the water at lunch. Joshua decided to try to catch one by holding the bread in his hand. He didn't catch one but he sure had a lot heading for that bread and he definitely felt several of them. Sorry, no pics from that part of our trip.

After our float we headed over to the State Park and got to see a video presentation about the Saura Indians who used to live in that area, and try some typical Native American games before going on to the camp ground to find our site and set up camp.

Next we headed down to the lake to do a little fishing. Joshua and Timothy love using their "very own" fishing poles! (Thanks, Uncle Ben!)

Ironically, it was Kathleen (using Timo's little pole) who caught the only fish that night. You better believe we took it back to camp and cooked it up right along with our hotdogs for supper. :) It was the first fish I'd ever cleaned by myself. I wasn't quite sure what I was doing but all those times watching daddy as a kid came back to me as I was trying to figure it out. There was a great sense of satisfaction when I was done! We did our best to remove all traces of the fish before heading to bed so the bear that had been sighted earlier in the park wouldn't find its way to our camp site! :)

The boys relaxin' in the hammock...

Next morning we cooked up a good camp breakfast of bacon and eggs before breaking down the camp.
Last leg of our camping adventure was hiking. Just as got to the trail head, it started to rain. At least we had everything packed up before the rain hit. It made for a much cooler hike but the view from the top of Hanging Rock was very gray.
We decided to do one more short hike before heading home so we got to see Tory's Den, a cave that was used as a hide out during the Revolutionary War when some feuding between neighbors with differing loyalties led to some disputes and sent those loyal to the crown in hiding.
Tory's Falls were nearby...

We had a great time and would like to go back one day.