Camping on Monte Sano, Part Deux

We went camping again, on Monte Sano. And yes, it was a load of fun. The plan this time was to have our friends, Coach Doug and his son Matthew join us for some mountain biking on saturday. That happened, more or less the way we planned. I also wanted to do some trail running since I was finally allowed to run on my ankle again on something other than an elliptical machine. So we set off, all excited about what adventures the weekend held for us. Things didn't go quite as expected, they never seem to.

On the road again

Kaden is never shy for the camera

Ofcourse Buddy, the Camping Dog, is along for the trip

Um, what

The store was closed, so Kelley had to go find the campground host.

Getting into position

Almost there

Buddy is supervising

All my junk, for 2 days of camping

She is up and operational

Getting the fire started

So we got there and the store was closed. Luckily we knew what to do. Kelley went to the campground host site, except the host wasn't showing up til the next day. Luckily, there was a man sitting at the table and he was handing out sites. About 17,000 (ok, maybe 5) other campers showed up in the parking lot where I was and had no idea what do to. Lucky for them I was there to help them on their adventure.

So we got into our site and started setting up camp. We were close to the bath house, which is always a plus, and had woods to our backs, another plus. I got the camper setup and we started making this small little patch of dirt and woods our home. I actually made a fire from scratch, to the surprise of my wife, since I didn't have a fire log to "cheat" like normal. Kaden was helpful as always with his stick and leaf gathering.

Daddy started a fire without a fire log!

Melissa being all "cold"

Camper de Howard, aka Matilda, is setup

Kaden drinks weird

Who knows

Kelley and the camping dog

Matilda

The weekend homestead

Buddy is exploring the woods

He likes checking out all the smells

Daddy is chilling out by the fire

Kaden

Melissa snuggling up with Buddy

So, Kelley went to get some Burger King while we made things cozy for the night. The first night was uneventful after that, we just hung out by the fire and eventually went to sleep.

The next morning I got up and went for a run with Buddy on the trails. I've been nursing a hurt ankle and this weekend I was finally cleared to run on it. I've been doing the elliptical at the gym, and hate it. I was VERY ready for some outside running, and hitting the trails was just what I had in mind. Buddy and I took off and took it fairly easy for my first run. We ran about 2.5 miles and had a great time. Buddy took a poop 3 times!

After that, I went back and got Kaden. Kaden, Buddy, and myself took off for a bit of a walk and to take some pictures. We took part of the North Plateau Loop and saw the Observatory, Lookout Point, and a few other places. Kelley and Melissa slept in, as usual.

Morning Sun

The Observatory

Kaden at Lookout Point

Dont ask about my shirt

My Boys

The Morning Crew

Buddy the Camping Dog

Huh

Kaden walking Buddy

Nice morning View

After the morning walk, Kaden and I hit the showers. The showers were not the best. They worked, for the most part, but basically smelled like my asshole.

He-Man conquers the stink pit

Ummm... Great...

After getting showered up and all clean and polished, we headed back to camp where the girls were getting up. But, there was a problem. Melissa felt like the bathrooms smelled. Her throat was starting to hurt and she wasn't feeling up to much. Kaden, Kelley, and I hung around the campsite. Since Kelley was cold, and I am an endearing husband who cares about my wife, I used my mad fire making skills to start another fire. From scratch. Again. I f*ing rule.

Kelley is happy with the fire situation

Buddy is..... Buddy

Happy with fire lady

Kaden is annoying buddy

Kelley chilling by the fire

Warmth Machine of the Gods

 As the morning progressed, Melissa kept feeling worse, and I went for a bike ride. I basically rode the trail that I had run in the morning on my bike. It was a lot of fun. About 3/4 the way through it, I got a text from Kelley that she was going to take Melissa to the Doctor and that I needed to come back. If you have ever mountain biked, you know that trying to get back "home" in the middle of a ride isn't always the easiest thing to do. So I figured the fastest way back was to finish the trail I was on and not continue on the next trail I had planned to take. So I took the North Plateau Loop back to the biking parking lot and headed back to camp.

Some weird ass old abandoned house that I would love to stay in

Pretty scenes

A bridge

Trails

So I finally made it back to camp and Kelley and Melissa went on their own adventure to get medical advice. That was its own story that involved sitting in a doctors evaluation room for over 2.5 hours just to hear that Melissa had a sinus infection. Now, you have to understand Melissa, she will take any small ailment and exaggerate it into something akin to Stage 4 cancer. And she did do that, especially any time you asked her to do something she might consider "work".  While they were off on their adventure, Kaden and I hung around camp, playing with Buddy, messing with our bikes, and just sitting around the fire. I love times like this when I can just hang out with Kaden and get to know what's going on in his mind. What's currently going on is a plan to build a chain of Light Saber stores that also sells Tacos and guns.

So, Kaden and I hung out until it was time to go meet Doug and his son Matthew. We had been planning a mountain biking trip for a while, ever since Soccer season. Doug is Kaden's coach, and Doug's son Matthew is in Kadens class at school. Kaden loves both Doug and Matthew and was super excited about going biking with both of them. We met them in the parking lot and then hit the South Plateau Loop trail. It's a nice and easy trail that is about 3.5-4.0 miles in length and is good for beginners. We took a detour and visited the Fire Tower that is on top of the the mountain and is very interesting to see. We had a blast biking and I know that the boys had a great time. Doug and I were feeling it at the end, but the boys were ready to  do more!

Buddy resting in the shade

Buddy misses his mama

Getting lunch ready

The site

Trail Masher IV

Opening Mountain Dew ain't easy

My lunch, yes they are low fat hot dogs!

Oh Yeah

Getting ready to ride

on the trail

at one of the overlooks

Its a long way down

Whats up?

Doug, Matthew, and Kaden

Greg, Matthew, and Kaden

The Fire Tower

Looking at the fire tower grounds

The sign

After the fire tower we finished our ride and Kaden and I headed back to camp to see if Kelley and Melissa had returned. They weren't back and we hung out around camp. I ran and took a quick shower and then we built up the fire and relaxed for a bit. Eventually Kelley and Melissa showed up. They were also delayed because Chad had a flat tire and had to help him out. In the end, the four of us, minus Chad, ended up hanging out around the camp fire while I prepared dinner. This turned out to be monumental because I made the greatest hamburger man has ever known. The applewood smoke chips were incredible!

More fire

Prepping the grill for the magic

Kelley is deep in a facebook conversation of some sort

Dinner on the grill, and it is DAMN good

These burgers are the best I've EVER had

Women folk resting

Fire producing heat

Kaden doing the kind of things 7 year olds do

Melissa and Buddy.

Poor sick Melissa

So we ate. And I decided it was cheat night because the burgers were just that damn good. Look, I've made and grilled burgers in lots of ways before, but these were seriously that good. I've never had a burger that good before. Ofcourse I had run 4 miles and mountain biked a billion miles and my appetite was through the roof, but they were VERY good burgers. Sadly, I was the only one who at them. Kelley ate a hotdog and called it quits. For someone with an ass the size of a truck, she doesn't eat very much. Anyway, I ate them, and Buddy ate them, and if he could talk he would tell you that they were the bomb.

After dinner we decided that we should've hit Redbox. So I utilized the power of the information age and reserved a moderately crappy movie, Mysterious Island, and Kelley and I hit the road to get it. Once we got back, we setup the Clampett Movie Theater and fired up the movie.

Kaden is the bomb

Panorama Y'all

Don't ask

Watching a movie, redneck style

More movie watching goodness

This is surround sound baby

Well, after the movie we were pooped. The girls had an adventure at the doc in the box, F-U Hampton Cover Family F*ck Over. Kaden and I were tired from the bike ride. So we all turned in. I started sleeping okay, but it got cold and Kaden started coughing. I woke up around midnight and was up until about 4 am. Kaden and I turned off the air and snuggled up under two sleeping bags and eventually fell back asleep. I woke up around 6:30 am and went for another 2.5 mile run with Buddy the Camping Dog. No pictures for this run and only 2 stops to poo.

After all that excitement we packed everything up and headed home. Our next trip is the beach and we are ready for a non-camping adventure. Stay tuned!

YAY we are here

ROAR

Get me Dew

Best 7 year old ever

Captain Camping Dog, Buddy, the Brown Dog

Things

Redneck Cinema

Panorama Bitch

Sometimes, there just aren't explanations for what I wear other than to say the pants are padded

Oh yeah

Casa de Howard

Cozy Land