David Crockett State Park

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.

Kaden saying "hi"

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.

Chilling out with Buddy

Making the campfire in the grill

Home for the weekend

Everything is ready!

Making a campfire

Inside our little home

Yes, I tethered my computer to my phone!

The view out of my window! I love camping!

Kaden on the iPad!

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.

The hikers!

Lots of nice little waterfalls

Kelley is always on Facebook

Its a beautiful place

Eventually Chad showed up. It wasn't long after that my parents stopped by for lunch.

Someone is in my chair!

The campsite

Kelley being Kelley... Whatever that entails

Kaden on the iPad again

The family is here for lunch, Mom brough McDonalds which I didn't eat.

The Life!

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.

Even Buddy joined in

Its a beautiful area

Chillin in the falls

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.

Arent they cute

What up

Buddy is always in the thick of it

Little Brown Dog

Hairy backed gorilla

Put a shirt on

At last, a shirt is on

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.

Our movie theater

making the fire

Kaden is a good fire starter

Watching the movie, well the humans are

Love?

Don't ask

Definately don't ask

Mmmmm... Dinner

Movies at the Howard camp

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!

Kaden and I out for a ride

The covered bridge

The lake

Heading home