A Weekend at LBL Piney Campground

After what has seemed like forever we were finally able to set a weekend aside to go camping. We had originally planned for Easter Weekend but with the unforeseen events of the Westy crapping out on us we had a little set back. The hubbs went away for training for a while and well now he's back. 

Friday afternoon we loaded up and headed out to Land Between the Lakes (LBL) as soon as I got home from work. 

I'm absolutely loving that it stays lighter out longer now. Spring / Summer weather please stay awhile won't you. We made it to our spot for the weekend at Piney Campground, set up and had time to relax and kick our feet up before the sun went down. It was a bit chilly that evening, which I wasn't expecting. Nothing that a little campfire and some S'mores couldn't cure. 

Waking up to the sounds of the birds chirping, the wind blowing and a chill in the air was absolutely the best. The pups were enjoying a relaxing morning laid out by the Westy while I was cooking up some breakfast. 

Pancakes and Turkey Sausage was the perfect way to start our morning. I could really get used to this, sitting out on the picnic table enjoying our breakfast. Doesn't get much better than this. 

Our campsite was right near the boat dock with a little path leading across. After breakfast the pups and I took a little walk out to the pier while the hubbs met us there on his bike. It was so peaceful and relaxing. I could have sat there for ever just over looking the lake. 

After breakfast we decided to take the pups for a walk around the campsite before heading out on a bike ride. We ended up going for a good 16 mile ride down to almost the other side of LBL and back to our campsite. Man where there some nasty hills we had to up and down along our ride. I managed though, not one time did I have to stop and rest. I pushed through, telling myself each time "just make it to the top". 

After our ride, a nice little nap and some tasty lunch we sliced open some watermelon to cool down with. One of my favorite summer time fruits, it was just what I needed. 

For dinner we did something a little different. Hobo Stew. I'd never had Hobo stew before and wasn't quite sure how it would turn out but I'm a believer. It was a perfect campfire dish. We chopped some 

veggies, marinated bison rolled it all up in foil and tossed it on the fire. About 30 minutes later we where feasting on this fine meal with a side of cornbread muffins. 

Another first for me, campfire popcorn. The hubbs went up to grab some more firewood from the general store and came back with popcorn. I've seen it before in stores I've just never made it myself. It didn't seem to be popping at first. I assumed it would start right away but took a bit. But once it got going and was finished we had a lovely little buttery snack. 

Can we just go ahead and talk about how spoiled these two are. Bailey clearly was just fine laying on the gravel earlier that morning but for some reason she seemed so much more relaxed laying on the blanket once I pulled it out. Spoiled much. Then you have Dingo who can't be more than a couple inches away from us it seems like. After we had finished off our s'mores and were sitting by the fire he helped himself in to the hubbs lap. They both think they are lap dogs and take full advantage of it. 

The next morning we had breakfast before taking the pups on a walk and packing up to head back home. Fired Eggs with Turkey Sausage between a toasted English Muffin with a slice of melted Pepper Jack Cheese. I think it might have been my favorite meal of the weekend. Aside from the S'mores of course. And I mean you can't beat a view like that now. 

We decided just to leave the bed down for the drive home since we where going to be washing the sheets and the inside needed a good cleaning. So of course these two mutts took full advantage. I'd be pretty tired to if I decided to go darting through the back screen of the Westy in the middle of the night and run around the camp site. Yup that would have been Dingo. He must of saw or heard something and jump right out. The mesh screen we have for the back that allows you to leave the hatch open does not attach to the bottom. Only the top and sides so he just went right under it. He's such a turd!!!  

We had such a great time and are already looking forward to our next trip out in a few weeks.

Not Exactly How We Planned It.

We had been planning our long Easter Weekend camping trip for a good few weeks now. Knowing the hubbs was leaving for a while right after, we knew this would be a great little get away for us. Back up about 3 weeks. We took the Westy out for a drive and on our way home it started making this awfully loud beeping noise. We both looked at each other with this "what in the world, is going on" look. We pulled over in a parking lot and let it cool down for a minutes and the beeping stopped. But we knew something wasn't right. We continued home, not far down the road it stated up again. "This is not happening" I though to myself. Knowing the Westy is well over 20 years old and it was going to come with its problems at some point or another but the timing could not have been worse. The hubbs added some water to the anti-freeze compartment. Crossing our fingers we headed home. Stopping to grab lunch on the way. Just out side our sub-division the beeping started again. Just let us make it into the garage we said. Sure enough it was leaking pretty bad from under the engine compartment. Blah!!!! Total bummer. After a little research we where able to determine the problem. We ordered the part to fix it with and crossed our fingers that all would be done in time for our get away. Skip ahead a week, the evening we received parts in the mail the hubbs got right to it. Maybe 30-45 minutes into it and he called it quits. Turns out simply just getting the old parts off was harder than he though it was going to be. As he said it "I'm not going to loose sleep over this." You could tell he was getting frustrated with it. We called U-haul to see what time they closed, rushed down and picked up a flat bed trailer to load her up on and take her into the shop the next morning. Thankfully prior to ordering the parts the hubbs had found a local shop here that could do the repairs but he was pretty sure we could save money doing it himself. Sadly it didn't work out that way. 

We loaded her up with the help of our neighbors. Let me say that was a scary scary ordeal. I started out in the driver seat and then the hubbs quickly kicked me out. E hopped in and took control as the hubbs pushed her out of the garage. Then it as up to the two of us and C to push her up on the flat bed. They must have determined that another man would do better at pushing so E and I switched. I was in charge of the break, making sure she didn't slide back or go over the front right into the bed of our truck. Talk about a huge responsibility. No pressure, none at all lol. 

The hubbs dropped off the Westy the next morning but we didn't get a call back on a it for two days since they were busy. We still had high hopes that she'd be done and ready for our trip over the weekend, We scheduled our check in for Friday evening just to give a little extra time. Friday afternoon rolled around and we'd just returned from our bike ride. We received the call, it wasn't happening. They had found another leak and needed to order parts to fix it. I was heart broken. We did a little shopping that morning for our trip, but stuff that we needed, for the van its self. Thankfully we held off on food shopping till we knew fore-sure. 

We made the most of our weekend now that we didn't have any plans. The hubbs sprung a trip to Bowling Green, KY on me that afternoon. It's about a hour an a half to two hours away. Why not. We made a afternoon of it, came back to town and had dinner out. Saturday we spent the day down in Nashville and then Sunday we went out to LBL - Land Between the Lakes and did a bit of exploring. I was totally bummed our trip was cancelled but we still had a great time on our long weekend together.

Wednesday afternoon we finally received a call that the Westy was finished and ready to be picked up. The hubbs wasn't able to pick it up till the next day but coming home that evening and opening the garage door and finally seeing it back was such a exciting time. It was the first of sadly I'm sure not the last time she'll be in the shop. Thankfully going into this when we first bought Westy we set up a Westy Fund, incase something like this were to come up. I'm forever grateful we did to, because that would have def. hurt our account had we not. 

Plans are set for a weekend camping trip when the hubbs returns. It'll be the perfect way to celebrate both of our birthdays. :) 

8 Year Anniversary Pictures

It just dawned on me the other day that I never shared our Anniversary pictures we had done this past November and well I absolutely loved how they came out so of course I have to share!!!!

Oh Christmas Tree

Oh Christmas Tree.... Oh Christmas Tree... How Lovely are your branches. 

We knew we wanted to take the Westy to pick out our tree this year but it was just finding the right time. Last weekend we had planned on going but it was so rainy and ugly out we decided not to. This morning I made us a tasty breakfast that included biscuits, sausage and gravy. We decided we would wait around to till the mail came to see if our Odometer came in that we had sent off to be repaired before heading out. No point in putting the dash back together if it was going to come today. Sadly no such luck. So the hubbs screwed everything back into place and we headed out. It was the perfect day. The temperature was just right, it was nice not to have to bundle all up like we live in the Arctic. 

So we headed out early this afternoon to a local Christmas Tree Farm, Lazy Spread Farms to pick out our perfect tree for this years Holiday Festivities. This is the 2nd year now that we've picked out a real tree and I absolutely love it. 

We took our time, looked around the farm at all the tree's before settling on the perfect one. It's just right!! I can't wait to get it inside and all decked out!! It's the last thing we have to do, to have our house perfectly decorated for the man in the big red suit to come visit us. 

Happy Vansgiving

We decided to do things a little nontraditional this year and for go the big hoopla of a meal and all that comes with it. Wednesday afternoon I was able to get out of work a bit early and make it home just in time to help the hubbs finish packing up the Westy. Shortly after we where on our way to celebrate our first holiday of what I am sure will be many to come in the Westy. Vansgivning!!!! 

We arrived at Montgomery Bell State Park just after sun set, set up camp (which in the Westy is seriously so easy.) While the hubbs worked on starting a fire I started getting dinner ready. Bean & Cheese Quesadilla with a side of chips and salsa. We are still trying to figure out what meals work for us on the road / camping and what doesn't so we decided to keep it as simple and easy this time around. We spend the better part of our evening around the fire just enjoying the evening. The weather was perfect not to chilly at all. We roasted marshmallow, made s'mores, and chatted with the In-Loves a bit. 

The next morning we, well I tried to sleep in some but the pups and my ever so lovely automatic alarm clock in my head just didn't let me. One beautiful thing about arriving to your camp site after dark is when you wake up you get to see the beautiful surroundings around you. The stream running right behind us, and the lush trees made for a cozy sight. Which simply put that pep in my step for a early start to our day. Sausage, Eggs and a bagel for breakfast while sipping on some Hot Chocolate. After breakfast we headed out to do a little exploring around the camp site with the pups. I managed to get in over 8000 steps before 10:30 that morning. It always fun to take the pups out walking along the trails, they get so excited. 

The plan was to have Thanksgiving lunch at the Park Resort. It was only 3 miles away so we knew we would just ride our bikes up there. Literally up, it was mostly up hill half way there. Around 11:00am we decided to make our way over to the Resort, knowing we'd probably have to wait a little bit we wanted to get a early start. Much to our surprise the Resort Restaurant was already packed full of waiting guest's to eat. We where told it would be about a 45 minute wait, which really didn't seem to be that bad considering the amount of people there. It gave us time to catch our breath and cool down from our ride. Lunch / Dinner was served Buffet style, with all the traditional Thanksgiving foods and then some. I'd never been to anything like this before and I asked the hubbs if he had either and he said nope. I didn't really know what to expected. I was so used to doing everything myself and or being with family. This was all so new to me, but let me tell you the food did not disappoint. It was simply fabulous, hot, fresh and kept us full. It wasn't a bad deal at all for $15.95 you could enjoy a feast till your heart desired and that we did, dessert included. Although I couldn't help but think about the fact that we had to ride our bikes back. 

We headed out to the parking lot and the hubbs mentioned he figured out a short cut. Ok, I'm all about that, although he failed to mentioned that we would first have to carry our bikes down a couple flight's of stairs ride across a bridge and then straight up close to 100+ stairs to get back up on the road. I wearing boots, blue jeans, a sweat and not to mention I'd just stuffed my face with loads of food. So to say I struggle just a tiny bit would be a true statement. 

The pups did so well staying in the Westy while we where gone. We didn't think we would be gone that long but I'm so glad they didn't mess anything up or get into anything.

 What else do you do after a full Thanksgiving feast, crash out. And that's just what we did. The four of us passed out on the bed. We left the door open to enjoyed the nice breeze coming through and the pups did so good, they didn't even get up to go out once. 

Later that afternoon we went on another little trail hike across the stream back behind our camp site. I loved how it was super dog friendly and yet gave us a pretty good work out at the same time. Gotta work off all that goodness we ate right. 

That evening our site-neighbors arrive, we chatted with them a bit, cooked up some skillet pizza's for dinner, made some s'mores and relaxed around the campfire.

We knew we wanted to head home shortly after breakfast the next morning and of course I did everything I could to sleep in but it just didn't happen. So up early again, I cooked us up some eggs, bacon and potatoes that we enjoyed and then we went on a little walk to get some of the pups energy out before heading out. 

It was the perfect Vansgiving, just the two of us. The weather was amazing the entire time!!! No hustle and bustle of trying to get a big meal prepped and cooked or being on a time schedule having to be at one place or another. I am very traditional and generally want to do things the old fashion way but this was perfect for us. As I grow and experience life I've learned and come to realize that its not all about doing things like everyone else or going all out but rather simply just about being with the ones that matter and that was just what we did this weekend. It was simply but it was perfect!!! 

I Hope You and Your Family had a Wonderful Thanksgiving and are Enjoying the Holiday Season. 

#GabrielVansgiving2015