The Great Outdoors

If you have ever spent any amount of time with me, you know that I love being outside.  That being said, I typically have to find less exciting ways to enjoy nature (write in my blog from my back porch, walk in the local park with my husband, find free outdoor adventures around the city).

If it were up to me, I'd live on the side of a mountain with a hammock, a hiking trail, a lake, and a beautiful garden all surrounding me.  I'd spend my weekends reading on the hammock, taking afternoon hikes or bike rides on the trail, fishing/boating on the lake, and tending to my garden.  I'd sleep in a tent more often than my bed and I would own more tennis shoes than heels.

Some of my most treasured memories include white water river rafting the Colorado River, reaching Mt. Antero's summit at sunrise, fishing on Lake Stryker with my Paw Paw, repelling down the side of a cliff in the Rockies, zip lining through the Dominican Republic's jungle, kayaking on Lake Travis, and camping in Bastrop State Park.

Throwback picture: For added humor, I thought I'd include the picture (taken 2 years ago) from the last time I went fishing with my Paw Paw. That fish may be small, but I caught like 11 of those guys. And it was a tiny pond.

However, between my location in the country and demanding job, exotic outdoor adventures are few and far between for me.  That being said, you can imagine how excited I was when we were invited by my coworker and his family to go camping at Lake of the Ozarks this past weekend.  You better believe I whipped out our tent and tub of camping supplies quicker than you can say, "Linn Creek Campground" (you guessed it, that's where we stayed).

We spent all day Saturday out on the lake water skiing, swimming, and inter-tubing.  Side note: I have recently come to the conclusion that I might be too old to tube.  The jury's out, we'll see how long it takes my joints to recover.  I reapplied SPF 85 almost as often as I got in the water, but I still managed to come out sunburnt in odd places.

Pre-sunburn, of course.

One of my favorite views

Saturday evening, we ate s'mores and played Mexican Train (one of my favorite domino games from back when us AFCers went to Boles on weeklong trips).  Then Sunday it was back on the water until we were all exhausted.

Our awesome tent (which we LOVE) + the "welcome mat" that Mr. Higgins provided for us

Mmmm, s'mores.

The best way to roast a marshmallow. As you "reel in" the knob, it rotates the marshmallow. Even roasting, here we come!

I'm looking forward to our next lake trip with our church small group coming up here in a little over a week, and you better bet that I'm ready to be sore and sunburnt all over again :)

Enjoying the scenic drive home