weekend getaway...

Nothing like a random, spur-of-the-moment camping trip!

That was how I spent this past weekend. Mom and I headed off to Beaver Dam State Park on Saturday morning. She bought a ton of camping stuff last summer but was never able to actually use any of it, so she was pretty darn excited. And I guess I was, too. I love traveling and exploring new places.

Deb and I, we're old-school. We tent-camp. After checking in with our less-than-friendly campground host, we had our pick of over 20 campsites. They were pretty spectacular! Nice, big shady areas and not many neighbors. It was the perfect campsite. And it was supposed to be perfect weather. Except it wasn't. But I guess we're lucky, because even though it was cloudy and windy, it never did rain.

It took us awhile to set up. Why? Because someone (*cough* Mom *cough*) decided that the directions for setting up the tent needed to be read. Maybe it's just me, but this was not the first time either of us had put up a tent, and as far as I'm concerned, if you've put up one tent, you've put 'em all up. So I just started dumping parts out and putting them together, and it took me awhile to convince my mother that the tent, could, in fact, be constructed without the guidance of the manufacturer. And then, of course, Mom had to set up her air mattress. I couldn't help but laugh. Tent-camping with an air mattress? (This is how I know she's gettin' old....haha) I almost wish now that we would have recorded our campsite shenanigans. I'm sure it would have been quite humorous.

The main activity at the lake, was, of course, fishing. And I used to love fishing as child. However, I don't remember it being quite so boring....painfully boring. Not to mention I didn't remember being such a sissy when it came to spearing the worms. (If only Mom wouldn't have insisted on getting those ginormous Canadian nightcrawlers when we stopped at Wal-Mart!) Maybe the fish knew it was free fishing weekend? Or maybe the fish in our farm ponds are just more gullible. Either way, these pictures (courtesy of Deb) just about sum up the whole experience.

beautiful cast....

patiently waiting...

10 minutes later...

maybe a change of position will help?

Nope. Guess not. 

Oh, but I wasn't completely unsuccessful. I did manage to catch a.....

....Branchfish. Yep, that's right. What, you haven't heard of branchfish before?

Due to some abnormally strong winds, my line ended up in a tree (possibly more than once, no more than ten times, though....haha). But I was determined that I would not be walking away empty-handed. So this little branch was my prize. Beaver Dam can keep its fish!

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side note:

My fishing experience, of course, made me think of the Gospel story where Jesus tells Simon-Peter and Andrew  to come with him and that they would be "fishers of men" (Luke 5:1-11). While I won't detail my entire train of thought (still exhausted from that camping trip!), I spent the short hour that I wasn't, uh, napping, contemplating this analogy. And while I can only imagine the confusion the disciples must have felt at first, I understand that it was the perfect comparison for Jesus to use.

Fishing requires knowledge of the desired 'catch', patience, dedication, and care. In the same way, when spreading the word, we must know our audience, know God's word, and be patient when sharing the Good News with others. Knowledge, patience, dedication, and care were skills that these fishermen possessed, and I would imagine that's one of the reasons Jesus chose them to be his followers. Really, it is an excellent analogy, and for me, it definitely shed a different light on spreading God's word.
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Sunday morning, even though Mom had packed everything imaginable for breakfast, I convinced her to go into town and see if we could find a coffee and donut shop. No such luck. So instead we stopped at at Casey's to get our donuts and coffee. lol And then we went back to our campsite and cooked breakfast. After we tried fishing some more (still a fail) we packed up all of our stuff to head home.

We fended the weekend by stopping at the Hettick Backwoods Berry Farm and picking some strawberries, then coming home and making homemade strawberry shortcake....YUM! :) All in all, if was a wonderful weekend-even the fishing part. I'm looking forward to some more fun camping adventures this summer!


from Jess, with love<3
always