backpacking tryouts

We decided that we were going to take Ryan's mom and sister backpacking the first week of summer. We are going to go down to the highlands of the Ozarks in Arkansas. I guess there are lots of waterfalls. I am super excited about it. But, we had realized that we had never gone 1. backpacking (me) 2. camped with our dogs outside (usually they stay in the car). 3. Carried everything with us that we were going to use. So, we had to try it out. With a limited amount of weekends left until summer, we had to go this past weekend. It was not the best timing for me. I just got done with the senior luncheon Thursday and I had graduation on Saturday. So, Friday night we packed up after work and headed out. We went to St. Francois State Park and hiked in. It was supposed to thunderstorm the whole time but held up for us to get set up. We found this absolutely perfect spot on the top of a huge hill with lots of cool rocks (no danger of flooding this time). Here we are setting up camp:

We found ticks. I had 3, Ryan had 1, Dennis had none (the only one with bug spray on).

This was our campsite as we took it down in the morning. The blue tarp was the dog's tent.

Overall, it was a good experience. We know we can do it. Here is our good little camper.
Here he is eating his favorite breakfast... oatmeal!
... especially prepared by dad.
We found this little friend.... that I am sure that Maree will be thrilled to see. He was on our tent when we woke up. Probably the biggest spider I have ever seen.

We packed up our stuff in the morning and headed out. Notice my pants are actually my long underwear. I might need to invest in some camping pants. Check out that $2.50 Kelty backpack. That was a good purchase!
Yup- that's my man. Lookin good.
and some action shots for the road.

I think we will be doing this more than once.