Vagabond Tales +1 -Breaking Covid Quarantine

August 4-6 , 2020

A Birthday celebration a bit late…but a celebration, never the less!
(Note the anti-bacterial hand wipes in my hand)

For our youngest granddaughter, Hattie’s birthday…October 2019, her Poppy and I had promised her a weekend camping trip… complete with being able to commandeer the top bunk to herself. We were afraid we would not be able to squeeze it in before her next birthday because of the Covid – 19 pandemic, the beginning of the school year and all that came with it. But we decided we could choose somewhere close to Nashville, TN, and with the help of her parents, Ryan and Leslie, we could make it happen.

A wonderful campground built by the Army Corp of Engineers.
So many special campsites…all sites on our loop had places along the lake you could tie up your boat or swim.
A rousing game of King Domino then off to bed.
Oh, the privacy and coziness of a top bunk!

Day Two: We headed out early to meet Stone River Kayaks at…where else? The Stone River.. We had packed a lunch and were going to have a day on the water. Sprayed each of us liberally with suntan lotion…or at least we thought we had.🤔. Harry didn’t bother with his shins because he thought we were renting closed cockpits kayaks. I only sprayed to the bottom of my jean shorts because I forgot to take in account of the pant’s legs rising while seated. Hattie was well off because she had a swimming suit on, I sprayed her and then she decided to put her shorts back on. Brainiacs that we are…we left the lotion in the car. Who needs to reapply on a four mile river run?

Ready to go!
It surprised Hattie that we rented her a solo kayak…but she did fantastically!
This…the typical photo from a kayak! It was a beautiful, sunny day!

Lunch on a Rock or …Stone

We pulled our worthy sea vessels to the side and ate our lunch on the side of the river. Hattie found an old ear of corn and a May Apple. We would take that Apple home to dissect it. It was about this time Harry and I were lamenting not bringing the suntan lotion along. Hattie said she was fine! Had to keep reminding her to put the visor on.😁

The afternoon brought butterfly and dragonfly visitors to each of our boats.
We formed a choo choo train or conga line if you will behind Poppy! He was giving our arms a rest. It was fun but we couldn’t do that too long as we would tire him out!
There were some remarkable sights along the way! Cool caverns dug into the stone walls, several groves of bald cypress ( I didn’t know they could be found in Tennessee.), multiple water birds, and a cool bridge we needed to float under.

Both Harry and I were sunburned when we got back! His full lower leg and my knees. Won’t do that again. Older and now wiser.

Arriving back, Hattie headed out to the lake to swim. We watched from the bank and a pontoon boat from the park slid in to enjoy the shallow water and a swim as you will see from the pictures.

4 miles of paddling and then 1 hour or more of swimming!
Wish I had that much energy!
the making of a Skillet pizza for dinner, some Pink Panther theater, along with a little science…does a May Apple look like an eating apple when cut in two?
An experimental marshmallow. A first for all of us!.
We voted the new marshmallows delicious…but we were still yearning for more chocolate. We did, however enjoy how melted everything became.
Making mask lanyards. We won’t lose our masks with these.

Day 3- Packing up…playground and Daddy pick up.

I promise…this was not as scary as it looks!
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6 thoughts on “Vagabond Tales +1 -Breaking Covid Quarantine”

  2. That is an exciting camping trip. How precious the time with Hattie. That one picture of Hattie in her visor by the lake, looked like she was a pre-teenager. She is growing up so much. Thanks for sharing in your camping adventure. Looks like a fabulous time!

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  6. What a wonderful treat! Looks like you were able to do so much in a short time! So glad you got to do this with your granddaughter! She will never forget this!

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