CAMPING!!

 We are campers. But camping in the midwest is different. There are no mountains, but luckily there is plenty of camping-approved foliage places. However, without going up in elevation to pitch a tent, the temperature is the same in the campground as it is at home. Which means unless you have a fancy trailer with air conditioning, no one camps between Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends. So of course we took advantage of the long weekend in May and LOVED it.

We found this place in Illinois and it was even better than we thought it would be. If you look hard in the picture you can see the lake through the trees beyond our tent. Pretty cool!

I've always wondered why everything tastes better camping. The extra dirt? The extra labor? Not sure.

Hiking. My definition of a hike is to find a trail in the mountains. Remember, no mountains here. So Dan and I kind of laughed when we saw a sign for a hike. It was definitely pretty, and to be honest, I kind of liked that I didn't have to climb up a mountain. And since we got lost it was REALLY long, so it seemed a little more like a "hike." (Note to self, all roads do NOT lead back to the campground).

Um, squirrel hunting? Gross.

Suddenly we came upon this place. It looked like something from Lost.

 This is what it said on the door. Of course we went in. But it actually did smell like death, so we promptly turned around and left.

 Yay for love! And for camping by yourselves so you don't care what you look like (don't judge).

 Literally, the second we made it back from our "hike," the rains started. We hunkered down in the tent to ride-out the storm (thank goodness for Dominion). It let up for about 30 minutes - just enough time to get a fire and dinner going. I was bound and determined to have delicious dutch oven chicken (I did) and peach cobbler (I did). But it took some TLC to keep the coals dry and hot.

The end.