We're Baaaaack!

Hello, my friends! Have you missed me? I have missed you.

Truly! All of last week, every time I would do something incredibly stupid (see: dropping camper table on toe and subsequent whining and blackened toe) I would think, "Oh, I need to blog that." But then I would remember that I was on vacation, without internet access, and I would wonder how in the world people deal with the day-to-day irritations of the world when they don't have a blog to make these irritations worthwhile.

As it turns out, there are compensations for the lack of internet. There is, for example, the view from the bench where every day I waited for Husband to finish his shower. Mountains in the background, fluffy clouds, a cool breeze, no humidity. That's not even mentioning the slight piney scent of the air. Oh, and the chipmunks that brazenly ran under the bench.

(Rabbit trail story: Many, many years ago when the Boys were small we went camping in Indiana. I know! Indiana! It's the destination camping spot of the western world. Anyway, as we pulled into the campground a couple of deer crossed the road ahead of us. "Look, Boys! It's Bambi and his family!" we cried. Then we noticed that everyone else was kind of ignoring the wildlife. We couldn't believe that other campers were going about their business of camping when there were DEER right there beside us. Within an hour or so we realized that Brown State Park was lousy with deer. I mean, deer were coming up to the picnic table to grab salad off our plates. I thought of that this week when I was walking to the restroom and a fox ran across the road in front of me. A FOX! Carrying a chipmunk in its mouth. It was exciting until we later saw this same fox at least a dozen times, and decided it was the official Mueller State Park greeter. I'm surprised it didn't bring us a Welcome Wagon basket.)

Anyway, this was one of my favorite vacations ever. This was partly because camping has the wonderful advantage of allowing you to eat pretty much whatever you want to eat at any time. That's because every single time you want to go to the bathroom, you make this trek:

In case this graphic isn't clear, it means that you start from the camper, climb a slight hill, climb a really, really steep hill, level out for half a dozen gasping steps, then climb a final steep hill. Believe me, it makes you reconsider that second cup of coffee.

But the next time you go through town, you pass a McDonald's, and the thought of all those climbs goes through your mind, and yay!

Delicious dip cones are only $1.39! Which is fortunate, because when you get home, you discover that even though nights are cold in Colorado and you haven't sweat for five days, at 7 p.m. in Kansas this is the temperature:

By the time the trailer is empty you will offloaded enough fluid to completely compensate for the sweat-less week, but at least you don't have to walk a quarter mile to the shower.

I think I'm ready for another vacation.