A weekend away and the dogs do play!

Typically we do not go away on holiday weekends - especially camping.  Too many people for our liking.  But - this past weekend we headed out to one of our favorite little campgrounds for a long weekend of rest and relaxation. 


Jon got off work a couple hours early and we headed toward the lake; Lake Erie that is.  This campground is on the lake, a couple hundred yards away in fact.  The sites are all situated around a small pond that is stocked with fish for catch and release fishing.  Jon planned to do a little fishing and I planned to do some reading while sipping on a glass of wine.  I have no idea what the dogs had planned, but they did have fun.  As soon as Jon got home they raced for the truck.  They knew we were headed somewhere because they had made the billion and a half trips from the house to the camper with me while I loaded up our supplies.


We've been camping at this campground since before Suzy or Annie were ever thought of.  Missy was the first lucky dog to camp here.  We used to have a pop-up camper and we'd load it up with Missy and Stephen (who was still in high school) and the boys and dog would go hunting at the nearby marsh while I would read and await their return.  When Steve was in college he would meet us there after his evening job in the college computer center.  We would wait to eat dinner with him.  Or maybe I should say we waited for him to bring dinner.  He discovered a great little "hole in the wall" pizza joint, so he would order the pizza and stop and pick it up.  This place has great pizza and is always packed!  It has become tradition for us to always have pizza on Friday night of camping weekends up on the lake.  This trip was no different.


We spent time doing what we had planned and even more time just walking the dogs and watching them have fun.  We took them down to the lake and let them run along the shoreline.  Anyone who has lab can guess how long the run down the shoreline lasted.  They dove into the lake and swam for what seemed like hours.  When they finally emerged from the water with tongues hanging out we knew they had had enough.  We walked them on their leashes a while until they dried off.  If you've ever camped with a dog you know you do not want a wet dog in the camper because the first place they go is to jump up on your bed!


Monday we packed up our stuff and headed home.  We had plans to stop at a few wineries - one in particular to have lunch.  They have excellent lobster bisque and it goes so well with a nice, crisp white wine.  This time I also had a piece of cheesecake.  My sister and brother-in-law (who live in S.Carolina) were at my parents' house.  My brother-in-law's father was ill and he had passed over the weekend.  There was a cook-out being planned for Monday evening so that we could all have a chance to see them.  I had taken an extra long lunch break on Friday to visit with them, but a little longer visit would be nice.  When we got home, we quickly put everything away and headed out to the cook-out.  It was nice to see them, though it would have been way nicer under better circumstances.  They both agreed it was nice to be able to get away from what brought them to Ohio for just a short while, so a cook-out was just what they needed.


This morning I was up and heading out the door when it hit me - we don't usually go on camping trips where we have no concrete plans, and this trip was just that.  Most of what we did was mostly fun for the dogs.  I guess you could say this camping trip went to the dogs!