Beebe Camping Trip

Most of you probably know, but for those who don't - the Beebe's like to camp. The "originals" anyway. The "grafted in's" aren't so keen on it (some, not all). But, we drag them, heals dug in, along anyway. And, to top it all off - we take them camping with all the rest of the Beebe's! Like camping isn't bad enough, with the dirt, and the work, and the heat, and the bugs, and the gross showers... We make them spend four days and three nights with their in-laws!! Hip, hip, hooray!

I'm poking fun at my hubby mostly. But, he's such a sweetheart, he does it without complaining (much), and I love him so much for it!

This year, we went to McCormick's Creek State Park. It's a really lovely state park; if you have the opportunity to visit, I highly reccomend it. Be sure you walk the creek (ABOVE FALLS - details below).

So, the creek is like the "big" thing at the park (unless you're one of those nuts who likes to crawl under thousands of tons of limestone...), so off to the creek we went the first day. I had the first turn with Diana in the carrier on my back. We unloaded at the falls, and began our trek downstream. Oh, yeah, I should probably mention that it had rained for two entire days before this. So, the creek was full, muddy, and very rocky; I have a child on my back; I can't see where I'm stepping...Doesn't that sound like fun?? Acually, it was a great adventure. One I don't care to repeat. The creek below falls was very rocky - big, jagged, slippery, tipsy rocks - that I couldn't see. After about an hour or so, we reached our turning back point, and Otto took his turn with Diana. And, wouldn't you know it - we found a short-cut through a trail back to the van! Took us like, 10 minutes! So not fair!!
So, next time we went "creek walking", we decided to try "above falls". WOW - what a difference! It was two days later, so the water was clear, but even the terrain was different. The rocks were large and smooth and the water was very shallow - rarely went beyond mid-calf. So much fun - I can't wait to go back!

Then there are those who think getting buried alive sounds like fun. My brothers were excited to do some spelunking at a nearby cave. They talked it up so much that we decided to go along - for the very first leg of the trail. It was actually the most comfortable I've ever been in a cave. Even Diana enjoyed it! The entrance was very wide and not too deep, dark, closed-in or scary. Unlike the rest of their path:

Here's Mark squeezing through a mouse hole. No, actually their real opening into the interior was bigger than that. By about a foot in either direction. Insane.

The creek was full of fossils - we had so much fun looking for them. Can you see the leaf print on this rock? All in all, it was a great trip - the weather was great, and there were so many things to do we couldn't do them all!