Is it really camping if you take your laptop, iPod, PDA and Blackberry? At least I left the portable DVD player at home. I didn’t do much with the iPod except listen to it while driving around, and I left the PDA on the charger the entire trip. But I chatted with my best buddy, Chris, online and sent multiple emails and talked on the phone to my mom a few times. In fact, when the car charger for my Blackberry broke I took a 12 mile trip into town to find a Radio Shack and buy a replacement. While I was there I bought a new digital camera to replace the one that I brought with me. It has been acting up for a while, but I thought it was a battery problem. It is a power issue, but the problem is with the camera, not the batteries. I got a really good deal on a 6 megapixel Samsung so I will have pictures to post almost as soon as I get home instead of having to wait for them to get developed. I have a bad habit of letting film sit around for years undeveloped, so I don’t like to count on film cameras if I can help it.
The weather stayed beautiful all day today. It clouded up a little this morning but that just kept it from getting too warm. Just to be on the safe side, since I couldn’t go swimming during the warm part of the day, Harley and I took the aforementioned trip to town. The guy at Radio Shack was great about letting Harley wander around the shop with me. I found the plug right away and then I tried to find a little something for my mom. The problem is that she already has every conceivable gadget. The poor guy would suggest something, like an iPod or digital camera, and I would tell him that she already has multiples of them. We just couldn’t come up with anything she didn’t have. It wasn’t a total loss, as I found the camera I mentioned above and got a plug for my Blackberry. Oh, and I also got a new toy for Harley. A dragonfly that actually flies! He’s going to love it. Actually, he does love it, because the Radio Shack guy gave him a demo and Harley went nuts.
We stopped at a little craft/gift store on the way back to camp and I got a couple of little handmade gifts for my mom. Most of the stuff was pretty awful, but I got her a tote bag and eyeglass case made out of matching kitty cat fabric and a set of wind chimes. She’ll probably hate them, but that’s what she gets for having too much stuff already.
On the way back I saw an enormous sign advertising a Berry Farm. I turned around and went down this side road for about three miles to find this farm. It was worth the trip. This place was so neat. They had a little shop with every possible kind of preserves and honey. I bought all of the sugar free kind except for the fig preserves, yuck. I also got sugar free blueberry syrup and sugar free maple praline syrup. I’ll let you know if they’re any good. I found some goat’s milk lotion for my mom, too. I don’t know what goats had to do with berries, but they had a bunch of them for the kids to pet. I didn’t get to go back there because Harley was being a butthead, but I did see the one on the feeding platform 20 or so feet in the air. Pictures will be forthcoming soon. I will look up the name of the place and let you know. It’s on the jars of preserves, I’m sure, I’m just too lazy to look it up right now.
I had lunch at the farm. They had a little snack shack with hamburgers, hot dogs and barbecue sandwiches. They also had strawberry shortcake, of course. I had the strawberry shortcake with ice cream. The cake was still warm and fresh and the strawberries were delicious. I bought a quart to bring back to camp but now I’m wishing I had gotten an entire flat of them. I can’t remember the last time I had strawberries that actually tasted good. These were amazing, ripe and freshly picked and sweet. I wonder if I’ll have time to stop on the way home. I would have to leave a little early, but it’s something I can take home that I KNOW my mom will actually love.
We got back to camp about 2 and have been lazing around ever since. I read for a few hours before starting the fire at five. Harley has decided he loves camping if for no other reason than the food. He has this trick he does to get food. He finds something he knows you want and he brings it to you and then he waits for his treat. While I was roasting the first hot dog, I saw him looking around and I knew he had something on his mind. Suddenly he saw the stick I had been poking the fire with for the last two days and he picked it up and brought it to me. It amazes me, not that he found the one stick out of many that I had been using – it would have my scent all over it, but that he made the connection that this was something I cared about. This dog is too smart to be as obnoxious as he is. Because, no matter how fun and funny he is, he was really obnoxious to strangers on this trip. One really adorable little girl of about four years old tried to pet him and he tried to nip at her fingers. He also nipped at one of the campground worker’s feet when the guy was talking to me. I will find an obedience class for him asap. I can’t have him behaving this way. He is just too smart to act this stupid.
After dinner I took Harley out to the big open field in front of the campground and we played with bubbles until he was worn out. Now I’m sitting here, typing and listening to the kids across the way play with their boats. From what I can tell they have a paddle boat and a canoe and they’re having a great time. I took a couple of pictures of them, too. I don’t know how noisy it got around here during the day, but this kind of noise I don’t mind. The sun has gone down now and it’ll be dark soon. It’s almost 8 and I’m already getting tired. Harley is tuckered out. He’s flat on his side on the blanket on the ground next to me, not even noticing the kids across the pond.
Mom said that she mentioned to my dad today that things are much quieter and easier without Harley around but my dad said, “But I miss him!” Notice, neither of them said they missed me! More in the morning.
That sounds like such an awesome day. Sometimes my in-laws will hear about some little farm or something like that berry farm you found, and we’ll go make a day of it and it is usually quite awesome.
It’s great to get to read these posts! 🙂 Looking forward to some pictures!