One of our first camping trips was to David Crockett State Park in
Lawrenceberg Tennessee. Its a great campground that has a variety of
things to do. They have an Olympic size swimming pool, a beautiful creek
that has a hiking trail that runs next to it, a small lake for fishing,
hiking trails, a paved biking trail, and lots of wildlife. The park is
very nice with good amenities. We headed out on a friday after work. It
was a nice little drive.
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| Kaden saying "hi" |
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| Buddy is ready to get there |
Once we got there, we found a spot and got
set up. Unlike state parks in Alabama, you cannot make reservations, so
its first come first serve. We found a nice spot in the back of the
campground and it turned out to be an excellent spot. The back of the
hill lead down to the creek and hiking trail. The spots themselves were
quite nice. It had a separate grill and fire pit. We set the camper up
and got down to making our campsite campworthy.
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| Chilling out with Buddy |
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| Making the campfire in the grill |
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| Home for the weekend |
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| Everything is ready! |
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| Making a campfire |
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| Inside our little home |
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| Yes, I tethered my computer to my phone! |
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| The view out of my window! I love camping! |
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| Kaden on the iPad! |
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| This is my office for the weekend. |
So we kicked back that night around a fire
and chilled out. We had some nice neighbors and the campground was nice
and quiet. We got the bikes out and checked out the area a bit.
Eventually we settled in for a nice nights rest. Kelley said some people
came in and set up a tent camp a few sites down. Apparently the
flashlights they were using were reflecting off the camper and she got
freaked out. I, however, slept through the whole thing. For whatever
reason, I tend to sleep like a rock when I camp.
I got
up early the next morning and set off on my bike to tour the park. It
was around 6 am and I went for a quick 4 mile ride. I was surprised by
the amount of wildlife I saw. I saw over 20 deer, a ton of turkeys, and
geese and other birds. The lake and park is absolutely gorgeous early in
the morning.
After
my bike ride I went back and Kaden was up. So we jumped in the car and
went back where I had just ridden. We saw more deer and turkeys. We
headed back to the camper and hit the showers. The showers weren't bad
either. Once we got done showering, I kicked back in my chair and did
some work. Talk about an office! Eventually everyone get up and going
and we decided to do some hiking before Chad made it up there.
We
had to walk down the hill about a quarter of mile to reach the trail.
Thanks to modern technology (my phone) I could track where we were and
where the trail was. We took a little walk and Kaden and Melissa played
in the creek some.
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| The hikers! |
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| Lots of nice little waterfalls |
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| Kelley is always on Facebook |
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| Its a beautiful place |
Eventually Chad showed up. It wasn't long after that my parents stopped by for lunch.
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| Someone is in my chair! |
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| The campsite |
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| Kelley being Kelley... Whatever that entails |
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| Kaden on the iPad again |
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| The family is here for lunch, Mom brough McDonalds which I didn't eat. |
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| The Life! |
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| Kaden showing Ga Ga how he can ride his new bike |
After lunch we headed down to the "public"
area of the creek where there is a larger waterfall and deep area for
swimming. There were a few people down there. The kids jumped right in
even though the water was quite cold.
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| Even Buddy joined in |
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| Its a beautiful area |
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| Chillin in the falls |
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| Daddy playing with photo filters |
After
the swim, my parents headed home and we went back to the campsite. We
then went on a hike along the creek. I went and ran 2.5 miles on the
trail while Kelley and the kids played in the stream. It was good that
the water was cold because after that run my hurt ankle really needed
something cold. It was great just kicking back in the creek all by
ourselves and having a good time. The scenery on the run/hike was
beautiful. The trail the runs along the creek connects a picnic area to
the public creek/waterfall area.
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| Arent they cute |
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| What up |
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| Buddy is always in the thick of it |
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| Little Brown Dog |
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| Hairy backed gorilla |
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| Put a shirt on |
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| At last, a shirt is on |
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| Ouchie |
After a bit of relaxing, it was time for dinner and
goofing off for a bit. Nothing like relaxing around camp after a hard
day of playing. I fired up the grill and the kids started a campfire for
smores later on. Once we had dinner, it was time for family movie
night, campground style. We broke out the laptop, put it on a cooler,
leveled it off with a log, gathered around the campfire and watched You
Bought a Zoo. It was a great way to end the day.
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| Our movie theater |
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| making the fire |
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| Kaden is a good fire starter |
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| Watching the movie, well the humans are |
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| Love? |
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| Don't ask |
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| Definately don't ask |
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| Mmmmm... Dinner |
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| Movies at the Howard camp |
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| Yummy. |
After the movie, we were all spent so we went to bed.
We got up the next morning and went for a drive to see if we could see
more wildlife. We saw some, but we were out much later than the morning
before. After that we headed back, packed up, and headed home. It was a
great trip. We had a fun time, didn't even have time to fish! I loved
getting the kids out of the house and doing active things. We are
definitely planning on going back!
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| Kaden and I out for a ride |
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| The covered bridge |
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| The lake |
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| Heading home |
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