Camping

We went camping this weekend near Valentine, Nebraska (around 250 miles away) with a group from our church.

We drove through this for 150 miles, with wipers on high!  Glad we weren't the group whose things were in the back of a pickup!  Hmm, setting the tent up will be an adventure!  We drove out of the rain 30 miles before our destination.  Needless to say, the speed limit no longer applied - if we could just beat the rain to our campsite . . .

Almost made it.  Would have if the lady who checked us in hadn't taken so long!

The kids and I used our towels to mop up the floor of the tent while Joseph dug a trench around the outside.  Our tent was new and, unfortunately, we had not yet applied waterproofing.  It puddled just a bit inside.

But the morning dawned bright, clear and warm!  Hooray!  We got everything dried out, moved the tent under a tree, and set up camp.  Spent the day tubing on the Niobrara River.  Oops, the spray-on sunscreen must have been getting low.  Joseph and I have funny red burnt streaks on our legs!

Ben managed to find bugs to examine.  He even found one he had never seen before - a cicada!

It's getting dark and the storm clouds have gathered again!

We were not nearly so wet the second night.  Just a bit damp around the edges.  I think I'll spray the tent down with weatherproofing before we go out again!

There was a beautiful waterfall that the kids could play in (that is what you first think of when you think of Nebraska, right?).

All in all, we had a great time!