We almost didn’t camp at all.

There, I said it, and it’s true, besides. Apparently just “packing up your shit and driving into the mountains until you find a spot” is harder than it sounds! We-eee-ll, if you need to camp near water, as I do.

We had picked a dirt road, set the GPS to it, but when we got there it was closed off to the public, along with 98% of the other roads we tried. Everything else was pay-to-camp. An ENORMOUS bad mood (mine) began to descend…

Bitterly, I took a couple of “token” photos of nature out the car window as we began to make our way home.

Luckily my husband, never one to give up easily (or take on my bad mood, God bless him), continued to search out a spot for us and around 4 pm, WE FOUND ONE.

And yeah okay, maybe it was under some huge, sizzling power lines, and maybe we zapped some electricity between our bodies, but who cares?

“We can just say the trip was electrifying!” pointed out the Boy.

One thing was for sure, after shaking, trembling, panting and slobbering for a couple of hours, Bear Cub was very happy to be out of the car.

And we were, in fact, right on the water.

Bad mood gone!

And I only received 6 mosquito bites!

The river water was bone-jarringly cold, but that didn’t stop Maggie dog from going in, over and over again. The good news is, after 6 years of screaming at her, she no longer shakes off right next to Mommy. See, they can be trained!

Bear Cub wasn’t quite as eager to get in the water. We call her the “smart” one.

On the way to where we ended up stopping an Asian family informed us that the whole area was covered with stinging nettles, and it was…just not directly around our campsite, amazingly. Luckyyyyy.

The weather was perfect.

A tiny “beach” was even included.

Joy!

Many more photos of water, wilderness, dogs, a furry man, and cellulite me to come!