Last night we returned from our first family camping trip. Last Friday morning, we left to go to Dub-Dub, aka WW, aka Warriors and Warlords, an SCA event taking place in Cadott, WI. It was held at the same place that Country Fest or Rock Fest occur. This is the first year that WW has used this location (there was a problem with the site they had formerly used).

This was also the first time Shane or I had been to WW, so neither of us can compare this site to the former site, but I can tell you this site was huge and we only used maybe a quarter of the space available. And while it did mean a fair deal of walking to get from one area to another, in general it wasn’t too bad. There was a lot going on, and Shane and I managed to get to what was most important to us. We also volunteered to assist at Info Point.

I found this to be a good way get an idea of what was occurring, meet people, and garb watch. Garb watch? you ask. Well I was watching to see what others were wearing as garb, to give me ideas of what may beat the heat, be comfortable to wear, look good, etc. I now have plans for a bit more summer suitable garb. I have also received opinions from others that linen is a cooler fabric to wear than cotton and would like to try it for myself. As for one other tidbit I’ve personally gleaned … cotton canvas “wicks” heat away. I first learned this from using a butterfly chair with cotton canvas and after a while always ended up cold wherever it was near my body (even through other clothing). I really think I may have to give that a try when making fitted garb and see if that keeps one cooler as well.

I think Allyssa handled the heat better than mommy did. From what I can find online Friday the temperature was 86° but that certainly doesn’t take heat index into account. I can tell you it felt a lot warmer than 86°. Then on Saturday it shows 94° although, when I was in the chirurgeon building for about 20 minutes on Saturday, I overheard someone saying the heat index was 114°. That I can most certainly believe, I know it felt hot enough to melt. I should mention that the chirurgeon building had A/C and daddy was in there for about 30 minutes or so with Allyssa before I went in there to feed her.

I should also mention this was my first camping trip in a very long time. The last time I went camping in a vehicle/camper was when I was 10 and went on a trip to Canada with my aunt, uncle, and cousin. The only time I ever went camping in a tent was somewhere between ’90 and ’92. As you can see, I am not much of a camper, and my idea of what to do at a camping event is find the nearest hotel. On the other hand, Shane has been camping many times, including living at a campground for a summer or two.

So we ended up camping at the event, I really must say that the shade flies, (pop-up canopies) we purchased earlier in the month really came in handy. This particular site does not have shade. It does have a few buildings, and one with A/C but no other shade to be found.

We slept in the van, which has a very useful queen size bed, and Allyssa slept in the bassinet. We had purchased a large 50 gallon cooler to bring food in so we were covered there. Shane doesn’t believe in brats, dogs, or burgers for camping. Instead while we were camping we had Portabella mushrooms with Roquefort cheese and shrimp with ginger and paprika on Friday night. Then on Saturday night we had bbq ribs.

Except for the extreme heat, camping wasn’t bad as I recalled. The second night was actually warmer and a bit more humid than the first and therefore not as comfortable sleeping but all in all not too bad.

After breaking camp on Sunday, we planned to hit several state parks on our way home. On Sunday we visited Brunet Island State Park, Chippewa Moraine Ice Age State Recreational Area, and Wissota State Park. We ended up staying the night at Interstate State Park, which is the oldest state park in Wisconsin. It was especially nice after it cooled down due to a storm that passed through in that area.

Interstate State Park was a beautiful park to camp at. We actually stayed at a site which was close to the showers/flushies and had a river view. We were a bit concerned that we might be disturbed by semis going down the hill because of the grade and then a sharp turn at the bottom, but they didn’t wake us during the night. I must also say I really enjoyed the campfire we had. It was very relaxing to take some time to read a book, and just enjoy the fire and river view. And the Burgundy Pepper sirloin steaks we had brought with us were absolutely wonderful when grilled over the wood fire.

It was around 2 pm before we were finally left the St. Croix Falls area. After which, we stopped at Willow River, Kinnickinnic, and Merrick State Parks. It was actually the second time we have been to Merrick as it is only about 40 minutes away, but last time we didn’t get anything stamped from them and now we have a park map with their stamp on it to add the State Park book we are compiling.

We don’t have any digital pictures of our camping trip, because we forgot the digital camera at home. We did pick up a couple of disposable cameras though so we do have pictures which we will need to have developed and perhaps we’ll post some of the pictures then.

Today was the Fourth of July, so naturally we had to celebrate it. Especially since it is Allyssa’s first. After a bit of a sleep in for Allyssa and mommy, we proceeded on with making plans for the day.

We started with a trip to Festival Foods in Holmen, and a stop at Subway on the corner. And while Allyssa had some buffet before we left, she decided it was time for more while we were at Subway. Naturally she was taken care of quickly.

From there we proceeded to Perrot State Park. It’s a good thing that we purchased a yearly pass to the park. We have been there many times since we did. It’s a nice place to go and just enjoy nature.

While at the park we stopped at our preferred stop, and enjoyed nature. We did get out one of our new pop-up canopies (or shade fly) simply because it’s a more even shade then one gets through trees and we can control were the falls.

We had our lunch at the park, and naturally Allyssa decided it she wanted some luncheon as well. With the heat I’m actually glad she did decide she was hungry, since then I knew she would stay hydrated.

We stay at the park for approximately a couple of hours, and just enjoyed it. Then we decided to head home for a bit and cool off again. Once we were home, daddy decided he needed a nap so he had one of those.

We went to see the Fireworks display at Galesville. While we had recalled seeing information on it in the local paper, when we went to look for more specific information it was in the recycling we had taken out the day before. Since daddy wasn’t sure of the details any longer this sent him on a web search for information and verification that they were actually having fireworks.

After a bit of trouble finding specifics Shane finally did find some information on celebration being held in Galesville. So we went to the park in Galesville, and ended up with front row seats for the display. It started sprinkling shortly before the show started, but it didn’t sprinkle hard for long.

Allyssa did wonderfully watching the fireworks. There was one point after they had several extremely loud boomers one on top of another that she didn’t like the noise. But other than that she enjoyed the colorful light show just like her mom and dad.

Shane has already said that he doesn’t want to go back to Riverfest Fireworks shows. Too crowded, and the displays are smaller than they used to be. And with how much we enjoyed the show at Galesville, there is no reason to go back to Riverfest and deal with their crowds.