West Virginia Camping-Part 1

We joined up with several families we know to head to West Virginia for a camping trip. We were in the area between Princeton and Beckley. The camp is called Camp Creek which is also a state park. Beautiful country!!! Although, I do believe WV should be called 'Wild, WET, and Wonderful'. It rained a portion of every day.

The Latin King wasn't able to go with us, so it was just the boys and me. Setting up the tent was an event. First we had to wait till it stopped raining. Then trying to give directions in a nice voice while one is yelling "I can't do it!" and the other is asking "What do I do? What do I do?" makes for memorable family times. Once we got the main frame together though, it was smoother sailing. Those main poles are a bear for Pooh. He can't quite grasp the pushing up to bend, then insert into pin concept. It takes him few tries and he gets frustrated quickly. It's a learning experience. After the tent was up, I sent them to play so I could take care of the rest in peace. LOL

Here's Pooh enjoying a relaxing first night by the campfire. He's got soda and probably some form of snack. He's happy.

A big joy for Tigger was catching wildlife. The creek that runs all around the camp was full of crawdads. Tigger also told me about a 'water lizard' he saw but couldn't catch. When we got home we looked it up in our book and discovered it was a Marbled Salamander. Cool! This little guy in the picture with Tigger is a sub-adult Eastern Newt. His color was an amazing bright orange. I had never seen one before. I had to make Tigger let him go because all he wanted to do was hold him. A neighbor camper's daughter found a baby ringneck snake that she carried around the campground. With prompting from her mother, she let the other kids take a turn holding it. I didn't have my camera then. Darn!

There were lots of wildflowers around. These are what I had seen referred to as Joe-Pye Weed but are also known as Trumpetweed in my wildflower book.

There were tons of Spotted Touch Me Nots around.

Here's Pooh exploring the creek. He's probably engaged in his favorite activity of floating leaf boats down the stream and watching them as they go. His goal is to see how far they can go. He doesn't like them to crash or get stuck.