Melissa wanted to work for a bit today and I needed to at least check my work email.  She found a library and everyone decided to join us, excited for some wifi. 

There was a cool old graveyard across from the library.

We stayed for 2 hours and then we headed for a National Park nature center to turn in the Junior Ranger booklets. The nature center was closed “for the season” though (i.e. not open quite yet).  Instead the kids worked on their booklets while I walked around the gardens. I particularly liked the mosses which are usually not marked in botanical gardens.

Carnivorous pitcher plant

The kids found this cool bug which I then used Google lens to find out is a leaf beetle. 

It was about 1pm and the kids were getting hangry.  We went back to the campsite and Joe and Melissa made quesadillas for everyone for lunch.  I’m not a fan of those so I warmed up frozen Chinese leftovers I brought from home that needed eating.  Esme and Lily made pizzadillas and Esme declared them “just okay” and said she prefers a pizza pudgy pie over a pizzadilla in the absence of real pizza, her #1 favorite food. 

It was Lily’s turn to do dishes and I walked around and took pictures of our campsites.  We are next to each other with a little fern gully in between the sites.  Katy and Nova have been working hard on some fairy houses. 

I took a nap after lunch and the girls all played homemade board games again.  Melissa suggested it was time to go on our next hike and some did not want to go.  In the end, Joey stayed back to keep an eye/ear on Katy and Nova who played on devices in the camper while Joe, Melissa, Lily, Esme, and I went on the Bubbles hike.

This hike rewards you with a cool photo op at the top, a giant boulder that looks to be precariously perched on the edge.

First it was Lily’s turn, then Lily and Esme together, then just Esme.  Melissa took some pictures of me pushing the boulder which you can see on her blog. 

Joe and Melissa wanted to hike to the top of the other Bubble peak so they did that while the girls and I hung out at the top of the first bubble taking in the view.  After we had enough and ate a bunch of fruit roll ups as a reward, we descended the mountain back to the van. 

Joe and Melissa showed up a few minutes after us and we went back to the campsite, stopping for wood and to check out the pay showers nearby (there are no showers in our current campground or the one before).  Some of us improvised an outdoor shower to wash our hair at the last campground.  The pay showers were 25¢ for 15 seconds!  No thanks, we will just wait until our next stop. 

At our last grocery stop we made everyone pre-order their corn for tonight’s dinner.  Orders ranged from zero to four cobs each.  We ended up with more leftover burgers this time since there was so much corn to eat! 

The kids and Joe set up a hammock city which the kids love to hang out at.

Melissa and I saw this bird and got excited that it was something we hadn’t seen before but it turns out it was a female or juvenile male goldfinch.

With the fire going, of course we made s’mores!  We got the giant marshmallows which are my favorite because I like to toast the outside then peel it off and roast the inside again. Melissa has me hooked on s’mores with peanut butter in them.  Yum!

With all that excitement, I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow and did not post to the blog before going to sleep again!  It was only 9:30pm and I slept until about 9 this morning.