Campy fun!

Guess who spent Saturday night "roughing it" (and by that, I mean not having internet access) AND sleeping in a tent? Not me, silly!

Neal took our son to what our local state park calls the "Texas Outdoor Families" program, which should be tag-lined "Camping for neophytes." They spent the day mimicking a park ranger in activities ranging the spectrum from tent-pitching to fire-starting to hook-baiting to properly cleaning/butchering a human carcass for consumption should the need arise (just kidding about the last one but Neal's medical training should suffice in that case).

Their first lesson was learned quickly...that would be to secure all food at the campsite before leaving it. Upon returning from the lake, Neal recovered a bag of gnawed-open marshmallows that had been left on the table. Apparently the critter who had worked so diligently to open that plastic bag and pry a marshamallow out of the outstretched corner was supremely disappointed by the taste and texture of the chewy confection, leaving it whole but looking as if a vampire had attacked it. Other than teethmarks on a few of them, the marshmallows were otherwise unscathed. After weighing the possible dangers, Neal determined that the marshmallows at the unopened end of the bag were still edible. Ewww. He did lay out an effective argument, namely that any cooties would be killed in the heat of the fire. I remained unconvinced -- not because he was scientifically incorrect, but because I couldn't get past it mentally.

My little boy spent the day fishing, kayaking, and geocaching with his dad, enhancing that all-important father-son relationship. By the end of the day, Neal was ready to talk to another adult so he called me with a dinner invitation, adding that I should bring Remington. I'm surprised the laptop computer didn't score an invitation but much to my surprise, Neal wasn't going through the DTs when I arrived. He was competent in his newfound skills, relaxed, and totally connected with nature...and an ice-cold beer.

Neal cooked the requisite meat-and-potatoes dinner which was actually quite delicious. While he was manning the grill, our son was escorting Remi throughout the campsite area which resulted in a Pied-Piper scenario.

Just prior to dinner, the "neighbors" brought a couple of ears of roasted corn over to our campsite. The man who walked them over looked surprised to see me, as I believe he assumed that Neal was a single dad since he was sans wedding ring and wearing mismatched clothes. The corn came off as a bit of a pity offering (a juicy, delicious pity offering). Little did he know that Neal was not lacking a partner in his life, just an uncooperative partner when it comes to sleeping among bugs I can't even identify.

Remi and I accompanied Neal and the boy to the "Sounds of nature" presentation after the meal, completing the "dinner and a show" package for the evening. The park rangers played the nighttime sounds that campers were likely to confront in the overnight hours and then explained why it would be downright silly for us to be scared! Duh! Remi was particularly interested in the animal sounds, providing his own responses including ear-perking, woofing, and whining under his breath. At a minimum, everyone present learned what a confused chocolate lab sounds like.

Driving out of the park that night was like taking a ride through a Disney movie. In the span of less than a mile, I passed a deer, a rabbit, and a raccoon. I can only assume that once everyone settled in for the night, they circled around the fairest girl in the park, draped her in a white cape, and placed a tiara made of berries on her head.

The park rangers didn't tell us exactly what that would sound like but I think we would recognize it when we hear it.