Camping at the Huzzah

It's Billy's Vacation week at home and the record-breaking heat has stopped us from doing several things that we had planned....but it WILL NOT keep us from camping!!!  We decided to brave the heat and disregard the storm chances to head for the Huzzah.  We have a favorite spot at Huzzah Valley that we love to go to, but since we were making this trip "on the fly", we were willing to settle for any site near the river with some privacy...but WE GOT OUR SPOT!  (At least for the first night)

all this riverfront was OURS and private...not another human in sight!!

We were especially brave this year, because we brought Sophie along.  This dog loves to be anywhere near us, on us, with us, so we knew she would be happy to just go along.  We arrived and immediately took her out into the river.  We found out that she "can" swim, if she has to!!  She tried to climb a bolder that was partially out of the water, rather than swim back to the shallow part.  She probably thought we were trying to drown her as we pulled on her leash to get her back to the side of the river...she made it and at least got nice and cooled off!  All I can say about bringing Sophie along is that she is a CITY DOG, not a country dog, like we are used to!! 

This is her, devastated that an ant was near her...her paws got sore from the
rock on the creek bank, and bugs buzzed around her occasionally just
to mess with her!

The kids spent the entire time in the river!  They were geared with goggles, nets and a creature keeper cage.  They captured tadpoles, little fish, crawdads, and snails.  Taylor was thrilled to watch them in her little tank, and a bit less thrilled to return them to the river. Both kids spent most of their time, face down, snorkeling up and down the river.  We love this particular spot because the river is super clear, cool and refreshing, and most importantly...starts out really shallow and goes down to about 5' deep...perfect for all of us to enjoy! 

Billy was in the river the whole time too...he brought along his fishing gear and actually caught fish the whole time!  He fished til almost dark and then was out fishing first thing the next morning...it is his favorite thing to do.

We set up camp, we are professionals now!  Billy and I have always loved to camp and float on the rivers, we are so happy that the kids love it as much as we do!

I spent much of my time, walking the river, hanging out at the site with this city dog, and organizing and preparing meals....I do alot of that, I guess because I am not used to having "nothing" to do...kinda creepy to just sit there...

Blake tried to comfort Sophie too

Taylor was so excited to get to sleep in the tent.  When it came time to actually go to sleep, she changed her mind and decided that maybe she couldn't sleep in a tent and that we should "just go home".  By the time we all crawled in (including Sophie) she was passed out snoring!  Me, on the other hand...didn't sleep at all.  I was up when the screech owls started sounding like young girls, screaming for their lives in the far away distance, I was awake when the coons came and raided our site.  They scraped and cried as they dug around in our, still hot, campfire.  Raccoons will burn their paws for a leftover crumb from a hot dog bun or marshmallow!  Poor things, anyways, this is normal for me, the only difference this time, was that as I jumped at the sounds in the night, Sophie was on the other side of the tent, with worry in her eye, jumping with me.  This poor dog was up all night too.  By morning, she had had enough....we opening our eyes and the first thing we saw was her looking at us with a look of disgust and anxiety...staring at us and although they say dogs can't talk human talk...she was asking if WE WERE CRAZY for camping!!  She was asking if WE WERE SERIOUSLY OKAY WITH ALL THESE BUGS!  She was whipping her head around to chase bugs that we didn't even see where there, the whipping was so fast and neurotic that her lips were making this slapping sounds with each swing!  She noticed the bugs that had clung to the top outer part of the tent and flipped her top!!  She was DONE and pretty much just waited by the truck to go HOME!  So...we won't be torturing her by bringing her along, ever again!

Before heading home, we checked out tons of other parks along the Huzzah and the Meremec Rivers and we still loved our site the best!  We will probably go back again after Labor Day and for sure, next summer!