Harrison's 1st Camping Trip

We spent last weekend down in the hill country west of Austin camping and rock climbing with some friends. We camped at Pedernales Falls State Park and went climbing and hiking in Reimer's Ranch Park about 30 minutes away from there. It was hot on Friday night, so we didn't get much sleep that first night, but we had a great time regardless.


Here's the canyon we hiked down into. You can't really see it, but this is the view looking across it at the beginning of the trail.
Once we hiked down into the canyon and made it to the wall, we discovered we left the camera and the pacifier back at the car. So Martha-Ann and I hiked back to retrieve it. Once we made it back, we discovered a very upset baby. We figured he was hot and thirsty, so we poured water on him and let him drink from the nalgene bottle. He really just sort of licked at the water, but it seemed to help. Unfortunately for me, we used up all of my drinking water.
Here's the wall we climbed. It wasn't a very difficult climb. This was my first time climbing outside, which was way more fun than climbing indoors.
Here is the view looking down from the top.Once Harrison was calm, they built a little fort between the backpacks on the ground. He had alot of fun playing with all the stuff hangin down, as well as kicking the rocks.

Some of us headed down to the river to swim and cool off. Harrison swam in his diaper, and since no one told Lydianne or I that swiomming was an option, we didn't have suits, so we swam in what we had. We are such rednecks. Lydianne got a little nervous about the fish swimming up to him. The hike back to the car felt longer than the hike to the wall. He was asleep before I could even strap him into his carseat. Overall, he did great. If you're expecting a baby and are wondering if you should buy a baby Bjorn....do it!Here's Harrison taking a nap in the tent. Despite camping, he still had a little portable fan blowing toward him and a radio making white noise...just like at home. Spoiled?


That same evening we went swimming in the river back at our campsite. It was very refreshing, although, as Francisco noted, some people got upset when told that the camera added 10 pounds.

On Sunday, we hiked down to the river and across some pretty rough terrain along/across the river. After making a poor decision to slide down a particularly steep and smooth embankment, I had to make a pretty scary (not really dangerous, but not the best decision either) hand-off of Harrison across some deep rushing water to our friend that jumped across the river. It was either that or try to rock climb with a baby strapped to my chest. So that was kind of exciting. Lydianne wasn't too happy though. We don't have any pictures of the day though because 1. I was kinda busy, and 2. Our stupid memory card really doesn't hold that many pictures. But our leisurely stroll to the river turned out to be more exciting than intended...especially for a Sunday.

So it was a great trip, especially because of how great all of our friends were. There aren't alot of unmarried people that are patient enough to be willing to let a couple bring their baby along on a camping trip, let alone be as helpful and kind as they all were. So thanks to them for all that they did. Every time we turned around someone was offering to hold/change/feed/or help. We had alot of fun and hope to keep doing fun things with such a great group of people. That is if they still want to...