Tuesday, October 21, 2008

The Great Outdoors Redux!

So here I am after a long day full of work and class. I'm sitting in my fleece pajama bottoms weighing whether I should get useful hours of beauty rest or regale you with my camping story as promised...

Well feel special.

I took a half day and we made what would usually be a four hour drive to Cloudland Canyon. Because of Atlanta's rush hour and Georgia's impeccable timing for road "construction," the trip actually took about six hours. [Note: I say "construction" because the signs say it's happening, and people slow way down and merge like it's happening, but when you get there... yeah... no construction actually happening.] After finally arriving and after trekking a horrible 50 yards (hey, that's a long way to drag two big coolers), we set up our tent and horded our toilet paper away from our irresponsible friends.

After a long night that only a few of us remember, we set out the next morning on the one hiking trip of the Campfest weekend. Starting at the top, we were amazed with this wonderful view of the canyon.

And just to prove I was really there, and I'm not a blog loser who makes up cool trips to make it sound like I have friends and a real life... here's a picture of me and the cop in front of the same view.

Unlike most mountain hikes, canyon hikes generally offer the option of hiking down the mountain rather than up. So after skipping merrily down a few steps, we were rewarded with a lovely waterfall grotto. (Make sure to click to enlarge this one - those are people on the other side... yeah, it's big.)

Oooooo, aaaaaaaaah... I know. Lovely.

But then came the hike back up. I swear the stairs were spawning evil stair children on the mountain side as we were struggling to make our way back up to the top. I could have sworn there were not this many stairs coming down.

Once back at the campsite, and after gaining a few more late arrivals to the camp festivities, we continued our debauchery well into the night. We even flame tested a lot of things... Guess what non-dairy creamer does when it's thrown on a fire!

Yeah, think about that next time you pour it in your coffee...

Each day we were awakened by the lovely sound of a rooster crowing in the distance. One that personally this light sleeper would like to kill violently while screaming "COCK-A-DOODLE-DON'T! RAAAAAAAAAAAAARRR!!!" There were also plenty of unidentified noises, including one that sounded like either a really loud donkey in pain or a velociraptor that escaped from Jurassic Park. Or maybe a velociraptor eating a donkey...

Between dealing with nasty bathrooms and lost boyscouts, we had a lot of fun.

Note to Self: Well, I believe I've definitely had my share of the great outdoors for the year.

9 comments:

jayna said...

Oh, it looks gorgeous up there! Darn that it's completely on the opposite end of the state, cause now I want to go!

Glad you recovered and had fun!

Anonymous social worker said...

wow. I've never been there I wanna go now!
and I totally feel you about the georgia constructions thing, i see the signs but all I see it people yelling or sitting around eating, please.

how about that sudden cold here in georgia? it's freezing!

I Am Woody said...

I love camping!!

Maki said...

Gorgeous photos/views!! I love camping although I haven't gone for such a long time.

It's hard to find nice camping sites in FL because it's so flat!!!

Beautiful post:D

Rachel said...

Oh I love sitting around a fire and having a great time...soooo what happened with the non dairy creamer...crap I used it this am...the liquid or powder kind???

Deputys Wife and Mommy To 3 said...

Its beautiful.. I want to go camping sooo freakin bad..

MJ said...

Jayna - GA is not as big of a state as you might think. Plus, there are quite a few places all over GA that are nice places to camp.

Franco - Or four guys leaning on shovels watching one guy dig. Yeah, it is freaking cold all of a sudden! What's up with that??

TIW - Me too, but only in small increments.

Maki - I could see how that would be a problem, but at least Florida has nice beaches within reach :)

Rachel - We used the powder, and it's highly flammable apparently. Says so right on the bottle/carton.

DWM3 - We have to plan way in advance and mark it on our calendars or we would never go!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like it was a great time. Now I'm in the mood to go camping.

MJ said...

KM - I couldn't imagine you taking your whole crew camping. Man, that would take some preparing!