In July, Josh and I took over a week off from work and had some well-deserved time off. We spent the first part of it camping at our normal campground, Yellowjacket, up in Icehouse. It is such a great campground. We loveD the site that we had....until we had some activity a couple of nights there. More to come on that...
The first day of camping was uneventful: just set-up and settling in. The second day, we took the dogs down to the water to play. Do you think that they enjoyed themselves??
They were POOPED when we got back!
The second day, Big Gramma and Nan came up to visit. It was a really nice treat for us! Even though we were stinky and dirty, we really enjoyed their visit.
The THIRD day, my parents came up for lunch and to spend some time with the dogs down by the water. I wish that they still camped because I know that they would really like this campground...even if there are night-time visitors... The dogs love when Gramma and Grampa come around because it means that they don't have to listen to us. What?
This has got to be my favorite picture of Josh with Legion.
And what is THIS?!?!? Crazy stick-looking bug! It was the only one that we saw like it...THAT.WE.SAW!! I'm getting the heebie-jeebies now, thinking that it could've been crawling around in the tent, or something, and I didn't know...
My little Hayden-bug had been playing so hard that he put himself down for a nap.
The fourth day was spent just playing down by the water and walking along the bike path that goes through the adjoining campgrounds. We absolutely love this place because it's so quiet, clean, so close to the water, and it's not far from home either - about 35 minutes up the hill and the another 20 or so winding thru the road to the campground areas.
The second night that we were there, we had a visitor... Every time that we've camped at this place, we've dealt with bears. The first time, Josh just saw one. The second time, it was just hanging out in the area AROUND our site, once walking thru in the middle of the night. THIS TIME THOUGH, the bear got brave. We heard snorting and rustling and then we heard our coffin-sized ice chest being batted around like it wasn't still full of food, ice, and water. Of course, I'm WIDE awake at this point, heart feels like it's going to beat out of my chest, I have all three dogs around me, and Josh is frantically scrambling to get his shoes and gun. He gets out of the tent, scares it off, and comes back inside. But these bears aren't scared of people, they mock us. They said "Oh, you think that you're all cool with your big 'ol cooler? Lemme just show you what I think of that." So, the dang bear stole our 'mallows, chocolate, and cheese for our sammies!! We didn't even realize it though until the next day, when we were walking around in the area behind our campsite and found the remnants. The last night that we were there, Josh rigged up a boody trap, a booby trap?, yeah, a booby trap, that's what I said, in case the bear decided to come back. Of course, it didn't. It was probably dealing with the belly-ache from eating so many sweets. GOOD! Didn't stop me from sleeping with a gun right by my head for the next couple of nights though, waking up at any slight rustle or snap outside of the tent. You never realize how many noises go on in the dead of night in the middle of a forest, until your hearing is hypersensitive. But since we were inside of the tent, we were all safe. Because a bear can't easily get into a tent, right?? Can't slice right thru it with it's super huge and sharp claws, right??
When we were hiking around in the area behind our site, Josh realized that it was the end of a game trail. That was the reason for all of the visits from the bears. Welp, that's the end of us staying in this site... :( We were really bummed too because it's so set back from the road and other sites but it's just not worth having the bears so close to us, and the dogs. So we scoped out other potential sites when we were leaving and are pretty confident that we'll enjoy those too.
So after our stay up in Yellowjacket, we packed up our dirty, stinky gear, dogs, and bodies and began the drive back home. The boys were sitting in the back seat of the truck and Abbi was on my lap. What, like she doesn't belong there?? When we almost get into Placerville, I feel something crawling around on my hand and on Abbi. I just brush it off and I see it fly away. No biggie and we ride on. Abbi's still in my lap, I look down, and see a yellowjacket ON.MY.CHEST. I have no idea what I'm doing at this point. I have lost all control of my mind and body. I'm scared and panicking. Abbi gets thrown across the cab like she weighs a fraction of her 42 pounds. After the fact, Josh tells me that her leg got caught in the steering wheel, that she turned on the windshield wipers, and he almost swerved into the center median. All of this while we were in stop & go traffic. The yellowjacket is still hanging out on my chest, I'm paralyzed so Josh swats it off and it lands on the open windowsill of the truck. Doesn't help. It's still alive. Now, I'm frozen to the back of the seat, crying, Josh is yelling at me to brush it out, crying still, and finally begin to feel better when he reaches across, pushes it out, and it flies away. If you couldn't tell, I am TERRIFIED of bees. Yes, I am a 34-year old woman that has an irrational fear and goes completely bonkers when one is around. Not even allergic to them. Just terrified. I had to immediately laugh at the situation because it was just so crazy and so irrational, meanwhile, Josh is still irritated that I almost killed us, and Abbi is still wondering what in the world just happened and why her mom launched her into the steering wheel. I can chuckle now, but can't you understand why?? I was almost killed by a yellowjacket!
