This past weekend David and I, and several other friends, went camping. It was our first camping trip of the year, which is in and of itself rather tragic.

Usually we’ve been camping a number of times by June, but for some reason we just haven’t gotten into the groove in 2008.

Scott found a campground about 2 hours away, right in the midst of Napa Valley, that offered a refreshing and relaxing venue for camping. The place was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, and offered a creek-fed swimming pool, hottub, full showers/bathroom facilities, and meals. Aside from that you were pretty much on your own to provide entertainment.

We spent a lot of the time playing Catch Phrase, which is a very addictive electronic game where you try to get people to guess the word on the screen without saying any parts of the word. But back to camping…

Here are some photos of the place so you can see the layout and just how much nature we experienced, including an incredibly terrifying snake, and about a hundred million really cool lizards.

It is worth noting that I almost stepped directly onto the snake before I happened to look down at my feet and screamed. David actually had the nerve to touch the snake, at which point it curled up and slapped its tail against the ground over and over again – I’m thinking it was pretending to be a rattlesnake. Had we been on the islands, it might have been a Leopard Snake, which pretends to be a rattler to get away from prey.

The little lizard was more tame and actually let me get just a few inches away from it before scampering off into the brush. Very interesting markings on it too…nature can be pretty cool when it’s not deadly .

Finally we end with an allergic reaction, which you will not see a photograph of. When we got home, my right earlobe swelled to about 4 or 5 times the size of normal. The right side of my face was flaming hot, and the swelling lasted for over 6 hours, despite my intake of loratadine and application of topical benadryl to my ear. It was pretty freaky and I did not take a picture of it.

And now it’s back to the grind of work. I am, however, looking forward to the next camping trip, which will likely be up to Sly Park where we usually go. Have a great day everyone!