This summer is almost over and we have been having so much fun! We went camping over the 24th of July holiday with Russ, Carrie and kids. We found a beautiful spot. We had lots of fun riding Russ' 4 wheeler, making s'mores, and fishing (ok- fishing was more stress than fun: tangled lines and everyone but us catching fish!).
We had a few dear come really close to our campsite -can you see it in the background?
Saturday night, the kids were asleep and the adults were sitting around the campfire talking and laughing when we suddenly heard a sound like something stepping on tree branches behind us. We thought maybe it was Russell's German Shepherd, Ponch. So, we called her, and she came from the opposite direction. We listened closely, and heard the sound again. Yep, definitely branches being broken in the dark woods behind us. I was sure it was a bear.
I told Ian and Russell to get their guns and Carrie and I went to go and get flashlights. As I came out of our trailer with the flashlight, Ian called to Carrie and I to look to the left. We heard loud popping sounds and watched -in slow motion it seemed - as an Aspen tree, probably 40 feet tall and about 30 yards away from our campsite, fell to the ground. THUD!!! It echoed through the mountains.
We couldn't believe we had just watched a tree fall. Then, we started thinking about why it fell. Was it more likely that we just happened to see an old tree fall, or was it more likely that a bear or moose had pushed against it and made it fall? I'm a fraidy cat and was even more certain there was a bear out there. I insisted that Russ and Carrie and their kids abandon their tent and come sleep in the trailer with us. We squished in and went to bed.
If only that were where the adventure ended. ***Warning*** gross story ahead!
Shaylor threw up about every half hour that night. At about 3am, he had to go potty and so we climbed over everyone as quietly as we could. As he was peeing, he puked and he had explosive diarrhea. So, the entire bathroom was covered in poo and puke. Poor little guy...and poor me who had to clean it up. That seemed to be about the end of the sickness for him.
Ah! But the story doesn't end there!
I had just gotten back to sleep when I hear: Thud, Thud, Thud, "MOMMY!! HELP!!" BLUGGGGGCHCHCHCH. I jumped out of bed and found Noelle in the middle of the Meeks family, on the floor in a puddle of puke. Poor Ponch even got some on her. (Please don't ask me why Noelle chose to try to come and see me at the other end of the trailer instead of going to the toilet 2 feet away from her...) So, I cleaned that up to and was able to sleep a couple more hours.
I'm not sure what would've been worse for Russ and Carrie: dealing with puke and germs and a too small bed, or getting eaten by a bear. Looking back, I think they would've rather taken their chances with the bear!
We were supposed to stay all of Sunday, but I woke up and told Ian I was done. We had to go home. The fun was officially over for me.
We got a good look at the tree in the morning. It was a healthy tree, but a tree next to it had been cut down and was leaning against it, causing it to fall under it's weight. We hadn't thought about it before, but there were felled trees all around us (you can see them in the pictures). I'm grateful the tree that fell was 30 yards away from us. It could have easily been a tree right next to us.
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