Camping - Part 1

 Good morning!

Today is the last day to enter the Five Fall Favorites giveaway! If you haven't entered, go do it now! Just go HERE to be whisked away to the Literary Lodge.

So, how has my week been? Different. I worked on the house on Saturday and Monday, and then I really didn't have anything else I could do, so I worked on other things like blog posts. (I really needed to work on those!) And the Five Fall Favorites has been taking some of my time. ;) I managed to get a little bit written and finish a short Christmas story, but otherwise I haven't written at all.

Today my grandpa is coming down to see the progress on the house and then to go visit my brother and see the progress on the addition they are doing. And this evening my sister and I are helping with the rehearsal dinner for some people from church. And tomorrow we are helping with the food for the wedding reception.

Today's story is another one I wrote in July, but I thought it was time for a break from the other story. So enjoy this one.

 Camping

Part 1

 

    “This is going to be the best camping trip ever!” Bethany grinned at her friend as Sherrice slid into the car and shut the door.
    “I know. I can’t believe we’re actually going camping. Just the two of us!”
    Bethany started the car and pulled away from Sherrice’s house “Well, you know our parents wouldn’t have approved it if my brother and his family weren’t also camping in the same campground at the same time.”
    “Oh, I know that,” Sherrice laughed shaking her dark braid off her shoulder. “I’m not sure I would have wanted to go if someone else wasn’t going to be around. Just in case.”
    The drive to the State Park was filled with talking and laughing as the friends planned what they wanted to do during their three day camping trip.
    The sun still hadn’t reached mid-day when they arrived and found their campsite.
    “This is going to be perfect, Bethany,” Sherrice sighed. “Just look at the lake! Let’s have the door of our tent face the lake.”
    “Good idea. Then we can get a nice breeze.”
    Unpacking the car wasn’t hard, but setting up their tent for the first time proved more of a challenge.
    “I can’t get these stakes in,” Sherrice groaned. “This hammer isn’t working. Do we have another one?”
    Bethany raised her eyebrows. “No. That’s the only one I brought. What do you mean it’s not working?”
    “I mean it won’t push the stakes into the ground. Want to try?”
    “I can’t hit a thing with a hammer,” Bethany admitted. “Where is Elijah when I need him?”
    “Right behind you.” The masculine voice startled both girls and they jumped. “Sorry.” Elijah said, though his grin told the girls he wasn’t as sorry as he might want them to think. “Need a hand?”
    “Yes,” Bethany said. “We can’t get the stakes into the ground.”
    “I thought you might be a bit inept when it came to setting up your tent.” Elijah took the hammer and soon had the tent properly staked. “Can you handle everything else?”
    Bethany exchanged glances with Sherrice. “I think so.”
    “Well,” Elijah said, pulling something from his pocket and handing it to his sister, “if you should need us, use this but keep it on channel 4. The park rangers said that channel was open.”
    Bethany took the walkie-talkie. “Thanks. I don’t think we’ll need you though. You can take your boys and go fish or whatever you are going to do.” She waved him away with one hand.
    After Elijah had disappeared, the friends burst into laughter.
    “He said we were inept,” Sherrice giggled. “Who uses that word anymore?”
    Pushing back her brown hair, Bethany carried her sleeping bag to the tent. “Only Elijah would used that sort of word in every day speech. Come on, let’s get set up.”
    Shortly after noon, the girls sat down at their little folding table to enjoy their lunch and rest after the work of setting up their campsite to their liking.
    “I do hope we get to see some wildlife while we are here,” Sherrice said, twisting her braid around her finger.
    “Me too.”

*

    The next morning when Bethany woke up, she saw that Sherrice was already up and the smell of coffee drifted in through the windows of the tent. With a puzzled frown, Bethany slipped into some clothes and unzipped the tent.
    “Sherrice, why did you make coffee? Neither one of us likes it.”
    “It’s mostly hot chocolate,” Sherrice said. “I only added a tablespoon of coffee because it just seems like you are supposed to drink coffee when you go camping.”
    Settling down in her chair by the fire, Bethany raised her eyebrows. “Do you even know how to make coffee?”
    “Well, no, not exactly.” Sherrice admitted. “Don’t you just add some of those coffee grounds to the pot and let it steep like tea?” When Bethany didn’t reply, Sherrice looked at the pot which sat on the grate over the fire. “Maybe I should just dump it out and heat up water for hot chocolate.”
    “I would.”
    There was a strong coffee flavor in their hot chocolate, but the girls ignored it for it was all part of their camping experience.
    They spent the day hiking trails and splashing in the shallow part of the lake as they laughed and chatted, enjoyed the beauties of nature, and breathed the fresh air around them.
    When night came, they once again stored their food in their car, made a trip to the camp bathrooms and then settled into their tent where they read their Bibles and prayed together. After climbing into their sleeping bags, they soon fell into slumber satisfied that they were not as inept at camping as Elijah had thought they were.

Have you ever been camping?

Did you enter the FFF giveaway?

Have you done anything different this wee?