Camping at Lewis & Clark

Our last camping trip of the season was September 15-20th at Lewis & Clark. Bernie and I both took Wednesday off and had a leisurely day of packing. We stopped in Vermillion and had supper with Becca at the Main Street Pub. A great way to start off our camping trip! Headed to Yankton and set up. We had realized the day before we were to leave that we had forgotten to make reservations. So unlike us but with our busy summer, it didn't surprise us. We got a spot at the last minute, but when we got to Lewis & Clark, most of the first come first serve sites were still open, so we exchanged our spot for one of them. It was an awesome spot and we loved it. Might try to do that again next year! Not the no reservation part - that was too stressful, but the exchange for this great first come first serve one. This is our 2nd big camping trip in our new camper and we love it!

Every morning we got up and rode our bikes to Captain Norms for the Argus Leader and came back and enjoyed our coffee and read the paper.
Thursday was a leisurely day. Bernie and I had an early supper in Yankton at JoDean's buffet. We were so full! It was great. We got a call from Becca that she and Shalena wanted to come for supper. Becca had a rough day. She had left her keys hanging in the bathroom at Jolley Elementary and they were gone when she went to get them. She reported it to the school and they told her they would look for them. Hopefully whoever took them would return them to her. Shalena drove them over and we had a great time. They went on a nice bike ride and then we started out the campfire with s'mores.

The girls made pizza sandwiches in the campfire. We kind of burned them, but they seemed to enjoy them anyway!

The girls headed back to Vermillion. I gave Becca my key to her car and when they went to get it, her keys were on the seat! Either someone returned them or she left them there. We will never know which! Bernie and I caught the news and relaxed with TV.

Friday was another beautiful day for weather. We went on our bike ride for the paper and got ready for the kids to come for the weekend. Bernie got the campfire ready to go.

He swept and cleaned around the camper.

The view from our lot was beautiful! We could see the river but were not to close to get the cold wind. We had lots of open area for games.

We relaxed with our books and enjoyed the wonderful weather.

When Steph & Josh and Becca & Travis got there, we took a bike ride to the Marina and back. I got great pictures of the Marina, but can you believe I didn't get any pictures of us on our bikes? For shame!

We had a wonderful campfire that night with campfire food.

These two found a comfortable spot to watch us get Travis's bed ready!

Saturday dawned cold and windy. It didn't stop us from having a good time. Even though we couldn't do all the outside things we would have liked to, we were together and had fun.

We played games in the camper and bundled up and went outside. We took a little break in the afternoon and went for a drive to look around. Had ice cream (an Ideker Tradition when camping) at the Cottonwood Corral.

Travis and Bernie played a little catch - Travis had brought his baseball mitts.

We started the campfire early because it was pretty chilly.

There was lots of "remember whens" discussed about past camping trips. The girls said they wished we had been this close to the playground when they were young. So they didn't let their ages prevent them from using the playground!

Becca and Travis enjoyed pizza sandwiches from the campfire. This time they didn't get so burned!

Another Ideker tradition is that Bernie burns his dirty, no-longer-wearable caps in the last campfire of the season. This trip was no exception.

We can be easily amused when camping. Sitting around the campfire, we wondered what would happen if you put a raw egg in the fire. So we decided to try it!

We were all a little nervous that it would explode on us, so we backed up away from the fire.

Brave Josh went up to poke it!

Well, it didn't explode, just cooked! The kids then got their banana boats ready and cooked them.

Pretty chilly outside, so they went inside to enjoy them.

Played games and cards inside. Even though the weather wasn't the best, we still had a great Saturday. Sunday dawned not quite so chilly and windy. We started the games after breakfast.

We had lots of firewood left, so we had an afternoon campfire!

We all got pretty comfortable!

Everyone but Bernie and I had to head home. Josh did a great job securing their bikes in the carrier!

Bernie and I spent our Sunday night cooking steaks and watching DVDs. It was a relaxing evening for us. Of course, Monday dawned sunny and beautiful. The high for the day of packing to go home was almost 80! Now why couldn't this weather have happened on Saturday and Sunday? Oh, camping life in South Dakota! You always pack everything from swimsuit to winter coat, even in July! Our last camping trip of the season was the best. Now we will spend the winter planning for next summer!