In June Tommy and I had a fun trip with friends! By now, you may have seen it on my Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Snapchat (I'm big into social media you guys) We all loaded into cars and took the loooong drive to southern IL to go camping! We went with the campy ringleaders (Emily and Joe) and some of their friends that we have met a few times through the years.
Of course, as we were loading the truck and the mini camper, it was pouring rain! After getting everything together, Tommy and I rode to the campsite in Joe's huge truck (huge) with their friend Kyle and their doggie May. When we got there, it was super dark, and we had to unload things by the light of the truck. Luckily, Emily's parents were there before us and set up tents for everyone to share. We were able to hang out around the fire, and then went to bed :)
For breakfasts on the trip, we had fire roasted pancakes, bagels and cream cheese, and like, scads of clementines. We also had snacks to munch on all day, and so.many.coolers.
On the trip, there was tons of room for activities. We went on multiple hikes, my favorite one being the day we got lost of course. We drove a ways to this beautiful place full of what Illinois basically calls mountains. They were tall cliff like rocks that were flat on top (for the most part) so you could climb them and take amazing insta-worthy profile pics, which is basically what we did. We are Millennials after all- if you don't have a picture of it on Facebook, it didn't happen so....
Some of them were easy to get to with a trail leading up to it. Others were not as easy and required some spidey like skillz. Most of those types of rocks I opted out of climbing, but I got some good pictures!
There's a person in there...
After the legit rock climbing adventure, we decided to eat our packed lunch, which was super fun and felt like middle school, and go for a walk on one of the designated trails in the park. I made Tommy and I wear sunscreen (obvi) and tried out my new Coola sunscreen! I have to say, it is totally my new favorite brand. It's super light, has great coverage, and since I bought the unscented spray, I didn't get a headache from the smell. That's pretty good for me guys!
I climbed it to the top!
We actually started to pick up the pace a little bit at this point because we didn't have a ton of light left in the day, and it felt darker under the cover of the trees. Also, we hadn't seen people in a while, and the trail started to become harder to follow. At one point, we crossed the river on slippery rocks, stepped over some huge fallen tree trunks, annoyed some bees that stung poor May puppy, and walked past a large snake that was partly covered in leaves but too close for comfort on the trail. It was then that I basically freaked the fuck out and we all decided to turn back on the trail.
Pictured: me sporting the "not showered" look, which I rocked most of the trip, lol.
After the legit rock climbing adventure, we decided to eat our packed lunch, which was super fun and felt like middle school, and go for a walk on one of the designated trails in the park. I made Tommy and I wear sunscreen (obvi) and tried out my new Coola sunscreen! I have to say, it is totally my new favorite brand. It's super light, has great coverage, and since I bought the unscented spray, I didn't get a headache from the smell. That's pretty good for me guys!
Okay, back to the walk. We found this trail not too far from our car, and thought we would take the 3 mile route. It looked like nice and flattened, and we even saw some people on their way out as we started. Then it began to get muddy... had more and more trees...and got confusing because there were other trails that jutted out from the main one we were on and not always maps to tell you about the other route.
As we got deeper and deeper into the forest, we saw a ton of cool stuff! There were huge flat rocks, and slopes with a beautiful winding river below. We took some time to explore, and kept walking further down the path.
The next five pictures are actually a different day of hiking, but they give you the idea of what we saw on the trail....also, keep reading, but I was a bit too scared to be whipping out my phone to take pictures....
We actually started to pick up the pace a little bit at this point because we didn't have a ton of light left in the day, and it felt darker under the cover of the trees. Also, we hadn't seen people in a while, and the trail started to become harder to follow. At one point, we crossed the river on slippery rocks, stepped over some huge fallen tree trunks, annoyed some bees that stung poor May puppy, and walked past a large snake that was partly covered in leaves but too close for comfort on the trail. It was then that I basically freaked the fuck out and we all decided to turn back on the trail.
We walked pretty fast- like more than a stroll, but less than a jog. Powerwalk? Sure. We powerwalked the entire way back, including the arm swing (mostly on my part though...lol)
And we made it back to the parking lot before it started to get dark, but MAN was I tired! Like, I've run three half marathons, but I can do a two mile POWERWALK hike in the woods. lol
All in all it was a fun hike. I made sure to get a sweaty AF picture after we got back to the car because memories. Here it is, don't we look adorable?
Most of the camping trip was hanging out, playing cards and bags, drinking, and lounging in the youtubed hammock near the fire. Everyone else decided to go kayaking, and Tommy and I hung back and laid in the hammock and read/took naps. It was so nice!
A whole other day we decided to go wine tasting at Blue Sky Winery near the camping grounds! There are a bunch of wineries down there I guess, who knew? We tried a few different kinds of wine, sat on the patio outside, snacked, and enjoyed the beautiful day. We also went on a short self guided illegal walking tour of the vineyard, and even tried some grapes (which I don't recommend- they were too hard and tasted gross, lol) I took a bottle home with me to save for a special occasion in the future
The trip was basically everything a camping trip should be: little to no showering, campfire smores, bonding, and hiking with friends. Oh, and spiders. And sore backs from too many nights of sleeping on the hard ground. And being so, so, hot because it's summer in IL.
YAY! Can't wait for next year!
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