FYI: Day Camping Is Awesome

I'm not sure if "day camping" is an actual recognized activity, but the weekend before last, it's exactly what we did.  Robbie and I packed up our car bright and early with food, water, blankets and cooking gear and headed out along with four other adults and two especially rad children to a state park a couple of hours away.  We spent the entire day and well into the evening enjoying awesome camp-worthy things like hiking, fall picture-taking, gathering firewood and making s'mores.

The weather ended up being unseasonably cold, but we didn't let that stop us.  We bundled up and explored the trails through the forest, which was decorated in full autumn splendor.  We drank hot chocolate and told stories and played games and ate gluttonous amounts of food and enjoyed what we knew was one of our last full days outdoors before wintertime envelopes Chicago.

If a full camping outing isn't possible for you, or if you just want a fun way to spend a crisp fall Saturday, I highly recommend taking a camping-style day trip.  It's the perfect way to experience all of the other delights of a good camping trip and still get to sleep in your own bed that night.

Before I go, I want to give a quick shout-out to my pals at Mucho Mucho Bueno Bueno and Little Tree to thank them for filling in last week while I was in Austin!  I had an amazing time hanging with Robbie's family and dancing the nights away at Austin City Limits.  We got back late last night, and once again, I could use a vacation after my vacation.  I'm feeling rather elderly these days with how exhausted I become after traveling.  It's been pretty wonderful getting to be consistently on the road over the last month (3 states + 6 flights in 3 weeks!), but I'm looking forward to sticking close to home over the next couple of months.  I'll share some of our photos and adventures from Austin later this week.