Our First "Adult" Camping Trip

Branden and I have been camping together a few times, and I've been camping with groups of friends before, but this was the first time we had a group going that WE were in charge of planning. It really made me feel like an adult. We no longer had our parents to plan the meals and buy all the food!

Preparation began a month in advance with the meal planning and logistics of trying to figure out when everyone would be heading to the campsite. Branden and I also had to figure out how we were going to hit everything into my Honda Accord. Since we were able to switch cars in Sacramento to my mom's Tahoe, Branden came up with the brilliant plan to bring a few of our camping bins to Sacramento a few weeks early so we wouldn't have to worry. Even then, my car was jam packed on Thursday morning, and Branden and Tomas had an uncomfortable 2 hour car ride.

The night before we left, I prepared an amazing 4th of July firecracker cake as well as some 4th of July themed Jello shots (which were delicious by the way). I'll write the recipes in another post. Here are some pictures of the end products.

 I bought the wrong size dixie cups which is why they look so empty!

On Thursday morning, while Branden was in class, Tomas and I got the car ready!

Once Branden was back from class, we were off and ready to head to Sacramento to switch cars and then head up to Donner Lake!

When we made it to Donner Lake we unpacked the car and set up our tents and decorations! We got so lucky because the entire trip there was nobody at the campsite next to us.

Most of the group arrived on Thursday afternoon and Tyler and Julie arrived around 1am on Thursday night/Friday morning.

 Branden and I with our nerdy but amazingly useful headlamps

Most of the group pulled an all nighter on Thursday night (I was not one of them) and so Friday morning I was left alone to enjoy tehe wilderness and do some reading.

Once everyone woke up, we cooked up some required 4th of July hot dogs and brats and then hung out at the campsite all day.

We made some amazing spaghetti and meatballs for dinner and ate the cake I made along with some homemade ice cream! My mom bought us this ice cream ball for Christmas and we figured it was the perfect time to use it. Almost everyone had a turn shaking the ball.

 

While we were making our ice cream, Julie found a little ducking right behind our tent. The little guy wouldn't stop following her. We kept the duck around until the next morning when the park rangers came to try and find it's mother. They told us later they were unable to find it's mother but would take it to a refuge where the duck would grow to an adult and be released.

At night we walked to Donner Lake to watch the fireworks. It was a great show that lasted 20 minutes with an awesome grand finale. Sorry for the blurry pics here.

We had tons of fun hanging out around the campfire every night.

 We made banana boats one night and s'mores another night.

On Saturday morning we had some of the best breakfast burritos (compliments of Branden) and then headed to the lake for some fun in the water.

After the lake we came back to camp and hung out for the rest of the evening.

 Brenda's dart landed on the handle of the ax that was on the tree.

We had such an amazing time with great friends and can't wait to do it again soon!