Ephraim and Mom's first solo campout!

  Ephraim wanted to go camping with me.  I figured it would be an easy and fun adventure to drive 5 miles north to the closest State Park and camp a Friday night with him. It was much more stressful than I would have anticipated.

     It started out well, we got there and set up camp. It was cool, but I had packed plenty of warm gear.  I was hurrying to get everything set up before dark.   What I didn't know, was that by keeping our van hatch open to unload stuff, I burned the battery out.  The car wouldn't start when I got in it to drive back to campground host to buy firewood.   It was dark, cold, and we had no transportation.  My cell had been lost at the coast, so I had nothing to call home for help with.   It was actually very scary.   I tried to keep brave with Ephraim there.  Very few people were in the area.   We walked for a long ways back to the campground host, who said he couldn't help me, or let me use his phone.  But, he did sell me some firewood so we could have a fire for s'mores that night, which is the main point of camping, in Ephraim's opinion.

   After s'mores we got snuggled in bed, and we read with our flashlights for a while.   I prayed hard that we would be safe.  The next morning was beautiful.   I again put on a happy face so Ephraim would not be stressed, and tried our van. It was still dead.

Ephraim enjoyed playing at our campsite, while I made hot chocolate for us.

 I had talked with the campground host, who said the rangers drove through the park mid day, and I could ask them for a jump. So.. we waited.  And waited.  And explored the area by our camp.

      When I finally saw a ranger truck, they said they were busy. They had to meet some other rangers at the lake to take out buoys, but could drive to our campsite and jump start the van in the afternoon.  This was not ideal for me, but what other choice did I have.  So, Ephraim and I went on an adventure hike down to the lake, and I introduced him to slingshots.  We blasted off a lot of tree bark together.

   We hiked back to our campsite at noon, to be sure to be there if the rangers ever showed up. All our gear was packed and ready to head home as soon as we had power.    I decided to try the van one more time, thinking how stupid I'd look if the rangers showed up, and the van started up.  I got in.. AND IT WORKED!    I was amazed. I got Ephraim in and we quickly drove home before something else happened.   I was soooo relieved to get home.

        This outing led me to buying a new cell phone.  It had felt so horrible to be stranded with no way to call for help. I just kept praying we wouldn't have an emergency, like Ephraim falling into the fire, or having an allergic reaction, or something that would require medical help. 

     When we got home, we looked up a mushroom we had found on the trail (and smashed) to learn about it.  It had been HUGE!  We found it was called a"puffball" mushroom, and was safe to eat.  So, we drove up, gathered some of the chunks from where Ephraim smashed it, and took them home to saute in butter.   - Verdict?  - Meh.   Tasted mushroomy.   

    

This was definitely a more stressful and memorable camp than I had expected.  I hope we will have many future camping adventures that don't have me praying for deliverance all night.