Off to the Mosquito Ridden Woods

We decided we wanted to get one camping trip in before the baby arrived. It turned out to be quite a challenge just to find a campsite. All the campgrounds around Red Rock and Saylorville were full by Thursday night. So I spend part of my Friday morning looking for some private campgrounds or off the beaten path ones. We finally decided we were going to go to Pammel State Park, which is about 40 miles Southwest of Des Moines. However, received a call that his motorcycle was fixed. Well he has been without it for over a week. (Boys and their toys!)

Therefore, we opted to try a small campground along the Des Moines River, about 10 miles from our house, called Yellow Banks. We have never been there, but thought we would give it a try. I had been trying to call there all day to find out if they had sites, but no one ever answered. Since it wasn't that far of a drive we took a chance. When we got there, they had 4 sites left. They were in the primitive camping area, which means no electric, no bathroom and you have to walk your stuff in to the site. It wasn't the ideal campsite, but Chase was so excited about camping. So we took the closest site to where you could park. We soon could see why it was still open. We had a lot of traffic walking by, as people were going to the other sites. Needless to say, we did make the best of it.

Once the tent was up, Chase spent the next 2 hours playing in it. He jumped on the air mattress and pulled out his toys and had a really good time. Eric and I got everything else unloaded and I got dinner made. We had brought the radio and a fan, a lot of good that did us, without electricity! It also turned out that this area we were in attracts the younger crowd. We had some high school kids in the site next to us, and some young 20 somethings behind us about 100 yards. Right after dinner this kid came over to us, he was maybe 16 and asks, "Could you help us get our fire started?" I looked at him and then at Eric, I thought he was joking. Eric says, "We brought a fire starter log, that is why we have fire." I told the kid, we had a gas grill, so I didn't have an lighter fluid. I had been watching them trying to start their fire. He had thrown his t-shirt on it, in hopes of it starting. I guess he never learned that clothing helps suffocate a fire.

It is 10pm we are in the tent attempting to sleep and we hear all the partying going on around us. Two dogs start barking at each other, people keep getting in their cars to go to the bathroom. Have they not heard of using a tree? It took us a long time to finally fall asleep, but I guess that is tent camping!

Saturday started off cool, but by 11am it was steamy hot. We went into town so Eric could pick up his motorcycle. Chase and I headed off to the beach. We had a great time playing in the water, and Chase practiced floating on his back. We then headed back to camp to make a late lunch. It was still beastly hot, even in the shade, but Chase managed to take a nap under a tree on his air mattress. Come 6pm, the mosquito's came out full force. They were horrendous. We were putting OFF on every hour or two! We all came home with souvenirs from our outdoor adventure. I am happy to report that all the party animals only stayed one night. So our Saturday night of sleep was much better. We woke refreshed and ready to head home to our air conditioned home!