The day before we were supposed to go the world started working against us. Forecast for all weekend - rain. Clara had a fever (we took her to urgent care and she was diagnosed with strep. The doctor was overly happy by this fact as it was something treatable and not a virus, he had no issue with us going camping as long as her meds could stay in a cooler). Jason's Durango was getting work done on it at the shop and he had a rental for the week. The large Dodge was not going to be completed in time to take camping so we had to downsize what we took to fit in a Nissan Ultima instead.
Despite all this - we (mainly Jason) stood firm on we should go. The girls were still super excited and really wanted to go also. So we went to Hawn State Park. Hawn State Park is about an hour south of where we live and was absoluetly gorgeous. We were able to get a walk-in site which had more trees and was further away from the big campers. As the name states it was walk-in and thus we did have to haul our stuff a bit to get to the campsite (maybe it was a good thing we downgraded from the Durango!). Behind the campsite though was Pickle Creek and a sandy area for the girls to play in the shallow water - very private and very fun!
Now the desire to go camping and actually enjoying camping are two different things. Grace took to being in nature instantly. She had her shoes off pretty much the whole time in the campground and constantly was searching out bugs, rocks and anything interesting. Clara on the other hand screamed when she would see an ant (or any bug really), did not like the feel of sand getting in her sandals so wore tennis shoes often at the campsite and of course did not want to wear anything but a skirt the whole weekend. (I did convince her to wear jeans for hiking as you will see.)
We set up camp in between a rain storm and even ate supper (hot dogs) that night without getting wet. The first rain came around 8pm so a logical bedtime for all. Unfortunately the rain was on and off for the next day. It never was dangerous storms, I think I heard thunder twice the whole weekend, just very very wet. Our orignal plan was to spend lots of time on hiking trails, this plan was revised.
Hawn State Park is near Ste. Genivieve the oldest town west of the Mississippi. And very proud of its old buildings - not necessarily the most interesting for small kids; but a time waster and dry for the adults. To orientate us we went to the Welcome Center and they were kind enough to lend us an umbrella as we walked around town.
We went to a small museum and then a beautiful Catholic church. The girls pretended they were getting married in the church.
After the town, we drove around the country as it was an area with many vineyards and wineries. There was also a brewery which is where we ended up stopping - Crown Valley Brewery and Distillery. This was a great stop for food, drinks and views as original plan for a picnic lunch was foiled (by rain!).
Finally it stopped raining enough to go on a hike. Pickle Creek area is just beautiful. Grace did great on the hike appreciating the wildlife and discussing what each vitamin will do for your body. Clara on the other hand did not enjoy the time as much and wanted picked up the majority of the walk. Maybe next year she will do better.
After debating on going or staying another night in the rain we decided to stay. The few neighbors we had chose to leave so we had complete privacy in the tent areas. Complete privacy that included raccoons! I then remembered my least favorite part of camping is to keep the stuff away from raccoons and I made a midnight trash run to persuade them to leave.
Morning came and we packed up and left the rain. Although the weather wasn't ideal the trip was still great!
