Pine Lake State Park 04.14.17

The most difficult part of winter was not being able to camp. We were so excited that Spring was finally here, and we could get out and have some fun. We met up with Jeff and Kathy at Pine Lake State Park, near Eldora, IA, and it was an awesome campground!

Kathy and Jeff had been there before, so she booked our spots, and she (as always) knew what she was doing. Two sites that overlooked a bike/hike trail and the lake! Water views are always my favorite.

Here's our setup. This time we used our very inexpensive pop-up awning from Wal-Mart and used one of the side walls to block the extremely fierce wind coming off the lake. Unfortunately, it meant we couldn't sit and enjoy the view, but fortunately, it meant we could sit outside. Without a wind breaker of some kind, it would have been impossible. As you can see, we turned the T@B so our door faced the lake, and our kitchen faced the Scamp.

Now you can see Jeff and Kathy's cute setup as well. Notice how all the flamingos are enjoying their view?

At some point, our flock grew. We used to just have Fred and Lucy. They were two pink flamingos that became a craft project for me and ended up yellow. However, after a few trips in nature, their original pink was starting to show through, so we solved that problem by renaming them Chip...and Dale. HA! (See what we did there?) Kathy found actual yellow flamingos at Flowerama, so we purchased two and named them Fred and Lucy. Here, all four are gathered around my other art project, a B@r T@b sign.

This is the BEFORE pic, as I purchased it from Dollar General.

AFTER! Just took a little acrylic paint, vinyl, my Silhouette machine, and some poly to waterproof it.

Now it travels with us and the flamingos!

 It's all part of the glamping fun with this cute camper.

Anyway, back to the camping trip. The weather was...well...awful. On Saturday, we took our day trip to explore the area and found a winery!

Eagle City Winery was a great stop for us. Lots of different varietals to try, and a sweet outdoor spot near the vineyard to enjoy a glass...which we did, of course!

Cheers!

This winery is located on a farm, and we got to meet a real life farm animal!

Andy and Kathy petting an ass. :)

Wait. It gets better...

This is a pic of Kathy petting an ass petting an ass! Bwhahaha!

After the winery, Jeff decided he was done and wanted to go back to camp. Kathy, Andy, and I found a microbrewery. It wasn't much more than a small bar, but the beer was delightful!

As we left, we noticed a pretty severe storm rolling in, and we called on Jeff to check on him as it looked like it was near the campsites.

See what I mean? As it turned out, it was indeed directly over the campground, and Jeff was there riding it out. It rained. A LOT. It even hailed, which had all of us quite concerned, but it didn't do any damage to the awnings or campers. Whew!

As luck would have it, the storm kept moving our way, and we drove through some of the worst wind, rain, and hail I've ever navigated. I drove slowly and had my hazard lights flashing to help me be seen by anyone else crazy enough to be out on the road. We made it through, also with no damage, and went back to camp.

It rained on and off, on and off all evening. Our campsite was down a slight hill from Jeff and Kathy's, and the water began puddling behind the kitchen. I grabbed some scrap wood from our burn pile and we stood on it when we needed to be in the kitchen. Other than that, we stayed under the dome if it was raining, or circled around the fire when it would let up. It was a little comical, but I think we were all grateful when we just gave up and went to bed.

Sunday, Easter morning, was GORGEOUS! It was sunny, warm, little to no wind... exactly the kind of weather you want when camping. Some how, the Easter Bunny found us, so we all enjoyed some tasty chocolate treats as we watched fellow campers search for their Easter goodies as well.

We enjoyed the walking trail, the lake view, and each other's company.

Jeff even gave us a lesson in fashion! It wasn't a good lesson in case you didn't notice. LOL!

Our friends had to leave Sunday, but Andy and I were lucky enough to have one more day. After they left, we continued to dry out our belongings and walk the trails. We even encountered some wildlife.

Caught this deer by surprise

On Monday, we packed up and headed home, but were happy to be back out camping, and couldn't wait for the next trip.

Happy camping!
Peggy