Last Day

Today is our last day at the campground. We definitely picked the best weekend of the summer for camping. Our preference is to camp during the week when there are not as many people, but we have absolutely no complaints about this weekend, except maybe the way that vulture is looking at me!

Lisa and Bob came up Friday evening. Since it was getting a little late, we had to chose between going to Castaways or having hamburgers at the camp site and then sitting around the fire. We chose the latter. It was the right choice!

We also pondered the boat issue. We finally decided that although it would be nice to have at times, the maintenance, expense, etc, etc, is not what we need at this time. It would be just one more major thing to have to deal with. We were perfectly content and found plenty to do without having a boat with us. We just decided it wouldn't be worth the hassle. Also, it would guilt us into taking fewer road trips because we'd feel obligated to use the boat more often than we might want, just to justify the expense. It was actually a relief to get that off our minds. I'm sure we'll think of something else (do I hear motorhome?) to drain our hard earned retirement dollars. Oh well, what did we work so long for if we can't enjoy ourselves now?

Our experience at the Smithville campground was great. In spite of the crowded conditions, we had lots of wide open spaces around our campsite. With the exception of some kids riding scooters at 7 am on Saturday morning, the campground was very peaceful and quiet. We can't wait to stay during the week!

Yesterday, we took a truck ride to the northern reaches of the lake. We found a lot of public access points, but most of them required walking down overgrown trails. I suppose it's worth it for avid fishermen. We did find some views of the lake that are off the beaten path such as this:

We also came across an abandoned Baptist church and cemetery.

On the way back we stopped at the Paradise General store and picked up a pizza. It was ok, but we should have just brought the ingredients and made a campfire pizza. We did warm the leftovers over the campfire which improved it immensely!