Canoeing Part 1

Well we did it!  Canoed with the Taminator.  She was really good, even laid down for some of the time.  I'm always in the front of the canoe because the back is just too stressful so I could never see what she was doing and was always fretting but she was fine.  Never once tried to jump into the swamp.  Actually we did our best to keep her out of the swamp even when we were on land, no gross dogs in camp! 

Friday we got into Elizabeth City and had a nice seafood dinner with Kimberly and Matt.  Saturday we got to the park in the afternoon and canoed to our campsite with them.  They had lunch with us and we went on a hike and then we took them back to the parking lot so they could go back to school/work.  Saturday night there was a fire ban because it was really windy so the steak and baked potato dinner was not as yummy and delicious as I had dreamed.  We steamed the potatoes (they were still hard in some parts), and pan fried the steaks.  You'll eat anything in camp so it really didn't matter.  For dessert, we had pineapple upside down cake and even though it fell over into the fire pit, it was still pretty tasty (the half of it still in the pot that is).

Sunday we canoed for hours, so much that I got a little anxious and panicky.  I'm afraid of deep water and even though the swamp is so shallow it wouldn't go to my knees, I just couldn't take the dark water and what it might contain.  Most of all I was really afraid that Tammy would drown or something.  So ridiculous, I know, but there it is.  So by lunch time I was done canoeing.  We had lunch at camp and then packed up to leave.  We did a nice hike along Bennett's Creek before we left, though.  We got back home just at dinner time and ordered Thai in and watched Toy Story 3.

This trip was poorly planned by us.  We forgot a boat load of things: the veggies for hummus (bought those again in Elizabeth City), fruit, contact solution, enough fuel, a good map, etc.  We were worried about having enough fuel for Sunday's dinner and Jeff had to go to class again this morning so we needed to be back home.  We are out of practice with the whole backpacking/camping thing, it's been 2 years since our last trip, so hopefully when we go to Congaree National Park next month we will be better off. 

Overall, the trip was fun and we definitely improved our canoeing skills.