I had such a fantastic time! It truly felt relaxing and like we'd had a mini-vacation. However, what a weird and wonderful 24 hours Saturday 4pm to about 4pm Sunday it was!! It involved full-up campgrounds, a campfire in the leaders' backyard, the fire department, and staying up until 5am Sunday morning playing games! LOL

Our homegroup went camping for one night this past weekend.

Well, my general MO is "Roughing it is no room service." So camping is a bit of a stretch for me, so to me one has to go for a certain amount of time to "make it worthwhile." LOL

The plan was to meet at a campground that the leaders had used before and whoever was first to find a site and set-up, waiting for the others to arrive. They had been there fairly recently and hadn't needed any reservations, so figured it wouldn't be full or crowded. Saturday's weather was FANTASTIC here in North Central Texas, however...

Now, my thinking is we need to be there and setting up by at least 3 or 4pm. Then (again, in my mind), we would be there until at least 3 or 4 the next afternoon, to make it time & effort worthy. But the leaders and the other couple were planning to get there by 6 or 7pm. Ok, whatever....

So we went to Mustang Park on Lake Benbrook (southwest of Fort Worth). This campground area (there are several around the whole lake) is on the southside of the lake and is more "primitive" than some of the others. Only 10 sites with tables & grills along with a firepit. No electricity or water, but a bathroom fairly close to all sites. This campground tells you that you can drive off the road anywhere, just respect the land.

We left our home about 4pm, later than expected or wanted, but not bad. We set up foggers in the house to kill insects with the same "stone" since we were taking the dog with us. We stopped at 7-11 for me to get a Slurpee, then to Sam's for condiments & chips and gas, then Arby's for a roast beef sandwich for me. (I hadn't had breakfast or lunch and if everyone wouldn't be getting there until close to 7pm, dinner would be late and I needed something to eat.) So, we arrived at the campground around 5:30pm.

I get the dog out of the car and the menfolk get me my folding camp chair, while they unload the trunk and start to get the tent out and will set it up. Glenn gets the bag for the tent out only to find that he's brought half the supplies--everything for the tent except the TENT itself! LOL At first, I'm telling him that he will be going back home for the tent, but then I remember that we could probably make a go of sleeping in the car. Backseat folds down into the trunk, so the dog, Glenn & I can sleep back there (cramped but it's only one night and it will save Glenn an hour round-trip drive back home), while Mike can sleep in one of the reclined front seats (he's done it before). So we get the chairs out and just relax. It was quite pleasant in the sun but a bit nippy in the shade so I had to put my sweatshirt over my short-sleeve blouse. (I was expecting that to be my sleeping outfit - sweatshirt over blouse & jeans.)

I think we called our leaders (who live about 15 min. from the campsite on the other side of the dam from where we were camped) to let them know we had arrived, had found a nice site under a tree, but that all of the ten actual table & grill & firepit sites were taken PLUS quite a few other places all along the lake. They are concerned because where they had gone before had electricity and water and a big selling point of this whole camp-out was having a fire-pit. We all wanted a fire! So they said give them about a half hour and they'd find us and scope out the situation and we'd figure out what to do from there.

They arrive and say, no this was not the campground they thought it was... Come to find out they had stayed "next door" at Bear Creek Campground where there was electricity, water, fire pits, tables, etc. Actual campsites with numbers and such. They had driven thru it before finding us and found it to be completely full also. We told them about our tent situation and they said we could sleep in their spare room. (Looking good for this "no room service, like my private bathroom, etc. girl!) So the plan changed to go to their VERY large backyard and still camp out. Ok, no problem! We follow them back home. They call the other couple who are due to arrive between 7 and 8pm by this time.

By 7-7:30pm, we have explored their back yard (close to a half an acre) with the dog, and gotten the car unloaded and chairs set up, watching fearless leader M build the fire. We had a hose set up, rock & brick around the area where there was an old stump and plenty of firewood. I wish I had brought my camera out from the house. It was the most perfect and beautiful fire. Absolutely perfect. As the fire is getting a good start (around 8-8:15pm, maybe 8:30pm), I mentioned that I wish we could do this in Fort Worth, or that at least I want to build a fire pit of some sort so we could have a fire in our backyard, but with the city ordinance about open fire we can't. (It has to be in a "container" -- either an actual metal/stone fire pit or chiminea, charcoal grill, etc.)

About 8:30+, we hear the fire engines.... They are getting closer and louder. The dog is not happy (guess the siren hurts her ears). ....and closer and CLOSER. We laughingly say, it would be funny if they were coming here. Then we see the lights through the gate to the left of the house, then we see the lights thru the house itself (front door has a small thin window right next to it right in line with the glass sliding doors to the back yard), and then we see lights to the right of the house thru the privacy fence. ....Then we hear the back-up warning lights as the fire truck backs up to sit in front of our host's house. Oh no.

Two firemen come trooping into the backyard. Evidently the neighbor directly behind (who can not see anything thru the thick and tall bushes at the fence line) had seen the smoke and was concerned that the house was on fire. Hosts M & A learned that Benbrook indeed has a fire ordinance, and the fire has to be contained and off the ground. M got the hose and the firemen thoroughly extinguished the perfect campfire. As that's going on, the other couple arrive (who had in essence followed the fire truck to the house, not knowing where the fire truck was headed). Then the policeman arrived, all ready to issue a citation, but the firemen said it should just be a warning.

The firemen left, we all headed inside the house. It was around 9pm by this time. So, out came the skillet and hot dogs were cooked over the stove and we had a feast in their living room.

The other couple had invited a mutal friend (to the hosts) and he arrived about 10pm or so. We ended up playing electronic Catch Phrase until something like 2am! LOL Then we played a game they called Telephone.. I think I've heard it called Gossip. One med. to long sentence or two short sentences, often rhyming, are whispered from the originator to his neighbor, then whispered from person to person around the group, with the last person saying what they heard, often very mangled from the original.

Well, it was about 4:30 and we started to figure out where everyone was going to sleep. Glenn, our dog, and I had the guest bedroom (Lucia had her dog bed with her). The other couple were on an air mattress in the craft room, their friend took the couch in the office/den/study, and Mike had the couch in the living room.

Glenn & I got up around 9am, heading to the patio outside the sliding glass doors; M about 10am, Mike at 11am, A & the other couple wife got up around noon, other couple husband and their friend got up around 1pm. There was a smogasbord of boxed cereal, cooked oatmeal, my homemade French bread toasted in the toaster, eggs & sausage cooked together with wonderful spices, juice, etc. Mike showed M & A the sand "game" online, we wandered out in the backyard, visiting with one another. It was soooo relaxing!

Around 3:30, we started leisurely packing up, and we were the first to leave, heading homeward around 4pm. We were home & unpacked about 4:30, when Mike went downstairs to see if there was anything on the small broadcast tv I have, while Glenn & I laid down on the couch for a nap. We woke up about 6:30 or 7pm, and evidently Mike had napped close to the same amount of time, saying there hadn't been anything on tv. Glenn decided to make a major trip to Albertson's (had some great coupons if we spent $100), so he got home about 10:30 and he & Mike unloaded the car. I spent close to an hour (maybe less) repackaging lots of meat - steaks on sale and 8# of hamburger. Glenn had picked up a burrito from Taco Bell for each of us, so we had "dinner" Sunday night about 11pm. LOL

So it was a wild and woolly and totally different scenerio than what was expected. (M & A said that their plan had been to arrive at the campground around 6:30pm Saturday and leave Sunday morning about 10am--so from that to having a house-full of surprise company was a total change of plans for them! LOL)

What was amazing to me was the feeling of complete peace and relaxation the whole "24 hours" had on me. It really felt like we had gone away and had a mini-vacation. It's been quite a while since we've been able to do that as a family. (And I got to use a "real bathroom" and slept in a "real" bed! Not bad at all for a camping experience! LOL)