Campfire Newt

From Tink:
What "save the day" memory sticks out most in your mind? Pull up a log, sit by the fire, tell me if the fish are biting, and join me in some blogger camping.

Well kids, it was a dark and stormy night………..(just kidding)

Many years ago my high school class had a night time field trip to a farmers field in rural New Jersey. The destination was not the field, it was the night sky. And Haley’s comet. It was at it’s most visible that evening and our teacher was determined that we would get to see it. So we all bundled up in mittens, hats, and coats and headed out to the darkest, more rural corner of the county we could find. And sure enough, in all it’s glory we got to see Haley’s comet.

While shivering in the field I noticed a lone figure walking across the field towards us. It was my dad. And he had brought with him big thermos’s full of hot chocolate, and boxes of doughnuts for the entire class. He thought we might be cold and want a snack. Seeing Haley’s comet was really cool and truly a once in a lifetime event, but having the coolest dad in the world that would drive out to the middle of no-where to bring an entire class of kids some hot chocolate on a cold night. That is a memory I will cherish my whole life.

Save the Day memory #2
When I first moved to Minnesota my husband took me to Boundary Waters to go camping. It’s a little different than regular camping in that you move from lake to lake with a canoe. And in between the lakes you do something called portage. Basically you pick all your stuff up, throw the canoe on someone’s back and hike it through the woods till you get to the next lake. Eventually you stop for the night along the banks of a lake. There are designated camping spots throughout the Boundary Waters Canoe Wilderness.

We set up camp at a beautiful spot for a couple of nights. In the early evening we started to hear some crunching through the forest and trees started to fall. Then we heard some grunting noises. And more trees were toppling over. Ok, it’s probably a bear. So we gathered the food pack and got it ready to string it up into a tree. The hubster got a big stick, and our friend J got a spatula. And they figured if they met up with the bear they would make a lot of noise and scare him away.
But as the grunting got closer and more trees were toppling we realized whatever it was was WAY bigger than a bear. Low and Behold, my defenders, with their stick and their spatula, came face to face with a giant bull moose rutting away through the forest. He was rubbing his antlers on the trees which was causing them to fall over. He continued to wander up to and through our camp. He paid us no mind. Of course he really didn’t need to considering we came up to his knees. I had no idea that moose were that big. This guy was HUGE.

Save the Day memory #3
On my next trip up to the Boundary Waters we went to celebrate our first anniversary. It was June and we thought we would have beautiful spring weather. Alas, it was cold and rainy. But we are good sports and we gave it a go anyway. So we pulled up to the first portage to unload our stuff – and scraped the bottom of the car against something. Ok, no problem. No damage done. Then we got all the stuff in the canoe, we parked the car for the duration and we headed out for our grand adventure. It rained on the first lake. No problem, we’re still having a fun romantic trip. We cross the first portage. It was kind a long but we got all the stuff to the next lake and off we went, well, that is once we managed to wade through the deep and thick mud.
And then it rained on us again.

So we made camp at the other side of the lake. And it rained on us some more. And it got colder. Dropping down to the low 30’s. And then the mosquitoes found us. Every single mosquito alive in the state of Minnesota hung out at our camp site. We hid in our tent. They buzzed around us. It was like a Hitchcock movie. Buzz Buzz – come out – buzz buzz – we want to eat your blood – buzz buzz – come out – come out – buzz buzz.

The next morning we packed it in. We went back across the lake, waded through the mud, back over the portage, back across the second lake, and back to the car. We got in the car, we headed a bit down the highway till we were back along Lake Superior. We stopped at a tiny little motel. The kind woman had a room – it was dry and they had hot water. Bless her, she saved the day and our sanity.

The next morning we headed down the lake shore a little farther and found a beautiful resort that we got a little suite at. We had a balcony that overlooked Lake Superior, we had a fireplace, a little kitchenette. It was the perfect place to end our Anniversary trip.

I wouldn’t have traded a second of that trip for anything. Even the mud, and even the 2.3 million mosquito bites I got. The “vacancy” sign at that little motel really saved the day. And the sweet woman that ran the place made it even better somehow. I think she was extra kind to us because we had a polish name and we were drowned like little rats.

Snore-------

Tink, wake up!----------

Snore-------------

Tink, you should go to your tent now-------

Snore--------------

(cover’s Tink with blanket)------------

sweet dreams----------------