bears. beets. battlestar galactica.

shomik and i were able to take our vacation last year as a tag along on one of his extended business trips. so that was the plan this year. he had been scheduled to go on a longer work trip to a pretty cool place, and so we were hoping to get a per diem and make a mini holiday out of it again this summer. basically for free.

but alas... vacation plans in the hands of corporations can get very messed up.
and at the very last minute usually too.

so our summer plans were suddenly busted, but we really still felt the need to get away for a couple of days...and on a very very tight budget...to us that meant only one thing...
camping!!

now camping is one of our favorite things..though it's usually reserved for fall or spring around here.
if you live in texas...you know that camping out in july is pretty much a death wish. it's crazy hot.

so we did a little research and found a forest service park just about 4 hours away in the ouachita mountains...because it should be less hot in the mountains, right?

thankfully our hunch was correct...or else this could have been a very bad idea!
we drove up into a VERY secluded mountain campground (we were the only campers there!)...
and the temperature dropped a good 25 degrees!

now this was pretty rugged.
no running water...no showers.
so not for the faint hearted. you kind of have to embrace the dirt.
but there were cozy shelters, an amazing spring fed swimming hole, and views that can't be beat...
we felt like adam and eve!
and all that for $8!

so here are a few pics of our wonderful weekend.

we decided to be innovative and sleep in our hammocks since hard floors aren't fun. pretty comfy actually...and it felt very avatar.

good morning. yes, i have mole eyes without makeup.
but hey, there's no make up allowed in camping people!

ok, so i hope you like water falls...because you're about to see a lot of them.


oh, and if you're going to enjoy this post you should also like mountains, and things that are pretty.


i warned you!

out of our kids (aka. dogs), it's safe to say that numa hates camping...but mowgli enjoys it....
and bindi LOVES it! i think half the fun of camping is watching her go crazy...
                                     

 i don't think any of the dogs enjoyed the sudden downpour though...


but anyways, as you can see it was a pretty great camping experience.
though probably the highlight of the trip was on the morning we were leaving...
and a visitor came through our camp site.


i have to admit...seeing this guy walk out of the woods scared the crap out of me.
i have only ever seen a bear in the zoo!

i think it took me about 30 seconds to fully process what it was. black bears have sort of a funny walk because their back legs are longer than their front legs. kind of like us...
so i'm embarrassed to confess that for a split second until it got closer, i thought i might be seeing a sasquatch!

fortunately...for the sake of our sometimes stupid dogs...i was the first one to see our friend.
shomik didn't understand why i was yell/whispering at him to put the dogs in the car!

the pictures would have been better if i hadn't been shaking.
silly i know...but it was thrilling too!

this guy looked to be only about 100 pounds...so clearly still just a juvenile.
but hey, i still don't want to take my chances with teenage bear claws.

thankfully he just seemed to check us out while we checked him out, and then he strolled on down to the river while the dogs barked frantically in the car! haha.

once we all came out of that experience unscathed, we pretty much thought it was the coolest thing ever!
bears. beets. battlestar galactica.....well, at least bears.


so that was our last minute camping get away and our close encounter with the claws of death! i guess we wouldn't have found this place if our other plans had worked out.
we may just keep the name of our private little haven secret....what a find it was!

well, ok, if you really want to know then just ask...we'll tell you.
i guess we can share. :)