I came. I camped. I conquered!

Aren't you all just so proud of me?! Nate and I had a wonderful time on our little one-night camping trip.
We left Saturday morning and headed up Mirror Lake Highway. We chose a campsite in the Shady Dell campground. It was nice and secluded, with lots of trees. The only drawback was the somewhat lengthy walk to the outhouse, but at least we didn't have the smell.
We got our tent set up and we set up a tarp over our picnic table because we were pretty sure we were going to get rained on. We could hear really loud thunder from the moment we got there.
After we got set up, we decided to play a rousing game of checkers. I'm sorry to have to admit that we had to read the rules. Neither of us had played checkers since we were kids.
During our game, a couple and their little girl came over to talk to us. They wanted to know if we knew if hunting season was on in the area. We had no idea. Apparently, they were up the road a little ways with their little girl and had pulled off to look at a family of moose grazing in the meadow. There was a male, a female, and a baby. They said there were at least three other families with young children standing on the side of the road watching the moose and taking pictures when a hunter shot the male right through the head. Their little girl,no more than 5 years old, described it to us in dramatic detail, complete with the moose's red blood going everywhere and him falling down dead. "DEAD!" she yelled.
They were concerned because the animals had been less that 100 yards from the road and the hunters had shot toward the highway. So, we told them their best bet would be to drive to the ranger station and report it. Not sure if they did. We didn't get to talk to them again. Anyway, it was an interesting conversation.
After playing checkers, we started into some reading. Nate really likes Louis Lamour books and sometimes we read one together. He brought a couple and we took turns reading out loud. We actually finished the book by the time we turned in for the night.
We didn't see much wildlife, but we did make one furry friend. This little chipmunk was fearless and came right up to us to eat some cashews that we had brought.
He even tried to come back for more once the fire was going, but decided it was too hot.
It started raining around late afternoon. It would stop for short periods, but it really poured during the night. Luckily, we came prepared and stayed dry.
I only had one bout of paranoia during the night. My imagination went a little crazy with the pouring rain making all sorts of noises outside our tent. But, it didn't last too long(the paranoia that is) and I managed to get some rest.
We got up early the next morning and headed home for stake conference.
So, there you have it. I camped, and I survived. Next time we'll have to try for two nights in a row!

I leave with a picture of the two "happy campers"