Camping in Ithaca

Jacky graduated from Ithaca College (possibly soon to be University) this last weekend. We decided to skip the hotel costs in favor of an outdoor romp in Buttermilk Falls State Park and Campground. ($40 for a weekend instead of $80 per night...) This strategy worked for us quite well before when we attended Juliana's wedding last summer.

We packed when I got home from work on Friday (5:30 ish), hung out, watched some TV and ate dinner. Annabelle had done her best to fend of the sandman, but succumbed to a rocking chair and some warm milk, dozing off around 9pm. We quickly loaded the car (well, loaded the rest of the stuff... Cheryl had done a brilliant job of preparing the day before), made our last minute ID10T checks and plopped the baby into her car seat. The trip up was filled with enrapturing conversation, joyful rock, and a beautiful dusky set of scenery.

We arrived at the site around 11pm... at which point I pitched camp in the dark (Insert thunderous applause here). The craziest part was errecting our 3 man dome tent... friggin crazy. After 20 minutes of tent poles, flashlights, and stakes, it was time to unroll the sleeping bags and go to bed... which we did without hesitation. As we finished up and started to change for bed, I mentioned that we'de need hats to sleep. Cheryl thought that was a little weird, but we popped them on and hit the hay.

Annabelle woke up around 2am for her early morning feeding. She did her usual soft-cry-half-asleep thing then noticed something was up. Bonk her eyes popped open and she started looking around the tent...

Wow! Tents are so cool... Annabelle certainly seemed to apprecite it. :D

The weather was much cooler than the last time we went camping... instead of 80 degree days with 50 degree nights, we saw a high of 60-something and a frigid low of ~30 degrees at night. We cuddled in a set of sleeping bags we'd zippered together for a nice cozzy sleep time.

The next day, there were campfires to be built, sticks to play with, caterpillars to meet... ROCKS TO EAT... Annabelle had such a great time! ...and so did we!!