Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Turkey day in the wild

Over the week of Thanksgiving, we decided to go camping. We had family in, and they wanted to go as well. As the week progressed, it ended up being so that the night of Thanksgiving itself would be the best day for a campout. So after family lunch, (where we grubbed) we came home and got my Jeep and the white truck and then headed for the forest. The original plan was to go back to Tree Farm again, but when we arrived there there were already a number of people there. They were presumably hunters, though I could have sworn that I heard banjo music. Anyway, we decided to go back to the Kentuck Ridge Camp. There were five of us. Me, Dad, and Olivia, but also my cousin Michael:

and my cousin Bobby: (he requested to remain anonymous)
 
After arriving at Kentuck, we began to set up camp. The view is as good as last time.


We ended up setting up a pleasant little place. We were able to carry a lot more stuff in the truck, as it is enormous. While we did forget a number of important things during the semi-chaos of Thanksgiving, such as breakfast and plates, we did have some more nice things than normal. Like a table, and chairs, and a bigger water container.
I think everyone had a good time. Several in the group weren't sure about camping, but it seems as though everyone enjoyed it. The others seem to have the same feeling as me, that is that being outdoors sort of resets you. It makes you appreciate what you have, and also makes you aware that maybe you don't need everything you think you do. It is also an awesome part of the world, in the wilderness.



 Just a cool place. We ate in the usual fashion. We made hotdogs on our grill, dad made some other stuff.
Dad made coffee, and I have had a picture of the perkulator on the grill every campout, so here is this one.
The vehicles...
The tent set up well, even on the uneven ground.

Light tree.
I think camping on Thanksgiving embodies the spirit of the holiday. We were together with family, being thankful for what we have. Its difficult to not think about how much we have here when out there. Many times people, myself included, tend to get caught up in the materialism and commercialization of holidays. Making them about buying stuff and getting stuff we don't really need. Black friday, which was happening at the time we were out there, seems like the literal representation of this. Its like businesses were afraid that people would actually be thankful at Thanksgiving, which would cause them to buy less, so they had to do something to solve that problem of happiness and contentment. But I digress.

We all went to bed fairly early, as we were all tired from all the turkey. Bobby was out first, followed much later by the rest of us. We were all woken up during the night by various different things. But ultimately we all slept well.

 It was all quite fun.
It was a great campout, all in all.

Here are some more random pictures from the campout, to close out.