We “Camped”!

Can I say how much I love KOA camping, er, “camping”?  First, I have to admit that the kids have asked on several Saturday afternoons if we could all go camping.  We redirected (“Sure, let’s set up your tent in the backyard!”), distracted (“Who wants watermelon?!”), delayed (“Not this weekend”), until we ran out of tactics and previous obligations.  So on Thursday night, I started looking for reservations for Friday and Saturday, and took one of the last spots at the Concrete KOA, a place my brother went to earlier this year.

Because I was at school all day on Friday and then hosted the 4th grade party in our backyard afterschool, we didn’t back out of the driveway until 7pm.  Wanting an appropriate Last Supper before the camping officially began, we lucked out at a lovely café in Mount Vernon.

That interlude delayed us enough to pull in at 10pm, dark enough to set up our very-complicated 10-man tent with lanterns and headlights.  It’s the way we roll.

But, here’s the beauty of KOA.  Saturday morning, I paid for Dwayne and I to have the pancake and sausage breakfast and the kids ate free.  (Inference: Mama didn’t cook.)

Kids had a morning of play—we were next to both a creek and a mountain trail.  I fed them all cheese –N- crackers, veggies –N- fruit, before we went to get our 1pm Italian sodas.  (Inference: Mama didn’t cook.)

The kids loved the miniature golf.

We even got a hayride. 

I have to mention two more things about KOA:

1) Dinner—carrot sticks, roasting sticks for hotdogs and s'mores. (Inference: Mama didn’t cook.)

2) KOA always has water, coffee, and hot water at the read so that I don’t even have to boil water to give my kids oatmeal for Sunday breakfast. (Inference: Mama didn’t cook.)

We couldn’t head home until we had explored the town of Concrete—Dwayne and I have a thing for small towns, mostly befuddlement how they survive.  But we found the 5B Bakery…and friends, I’m going back. 

I think Dwayne and I are trying to eat our way across Washington, because we also found an amazing chocolatier on return trip through Mount Vernon.

Very satisfying….wait!  Am I talking about the camping or the chocolate? At least the kids think of it as one of the best weekends of their lives!