Pond Weekend 2021
Tim and I took a MUCH needed long weekend off over the Memorial Day holiday and boy was it an adventure...
I set my away emails, got all my outstanding albums out, set my reminders for when I got home & I moved all of my social media apps to the last page of apps on my phone (I'm extremely guilty of opening up my phone and tapping on the Facebook or Instagram icon and mindlessly scrolling). I prepared myself to unplug and relax for the weekend.
Why does nothing ever go as planned when you try so hard to make things go smoothly, lol.. I spent all day Friday food prepping and packing essentials for the weekend, and then when Tim got home from work that afternoon, we got the bed setup in the truck bed, coolers packed, and everything loaded up and headed out of Glen Rock.
We stopped to grab some White Claws and brews in Shrewsbury, then made it to Tim's shop in Stewartstown to grab our camp chairs and outdoor games. Ya know that feeling you get when you forgot something but you can't remember what you forgot? Mmmhm. At this point we're about ten minutes away from the pond and I realize we had left the bag of frozen turkey burgers, chocolate for s'mores and fruit for our smoothies in the freezer at home. UGH. So instead of driving the whole way back home, I decided to make a pit stop at the local grocery store to get what I left at home. Could've been worse!! But wait, there's more, lol.
We finally got to the pond at 7:30ish and by this time its a complete DOWNPOUR. And it's cold and windy. I was so close to asking Tim if he thought we should just turn around, get back in the truck and go home for the night. But in the true spirit of camping, we stayed. We headed for the pavilion with our pup Archie & a cooler, popped our first alcoholic beverages in six months (Tim chose Dogfish Head 60min, and I had a Wyndridge Blueberry Cider!), and heated up our prepped dinners in the microwave (thank God for the microwave). We waited for a break in the rain to setup the tarp and rainfly (we used this one and it worked super well!) over the bed of the truck and successfully got set up for the evening.
Soaked to the bone and freezing cold, we climbed into the bed of the truck, layered up in warm, dry clothes and huddled for warmth under three cozy blankets. I know it sounds dramatic, but this is not an exaggeration, lol. I'm here now typing this blog post, so it's obvious that we made it through the night!
The next morning we built a fire, setup our chairs as close to the fire pit as we could, and enjoyed the first 45 degree full day at the pond. I'm an over-planner and usually an over packer, but I'm extremely grateful for that habit over the weekend because I used pretty much every single thing I packed for us and it all came in handy so much! We bought this Coleman camp stove to make delicious omelettes in the morning, and also used it to heat up hot water in a sauce pan for lots of hot tea to keep us toasty warm.
Saturday and Sunday was a lot of sitting by the fire and playing fetch with all the pups. There's actually still a little bit of that fire smell to my hair lol. I don't know if we would've made it those first couple of days without the fire pit! It rained both of those days pretty much all day too, luckily it was mostly just a light mist so we were able to setup some canopy tents and hang out under there and in the pavilion.
Tim and I squeezed in a game of scrabble when we hopped in the truck to warm up for a little bit too! When it got dark and Archie was still running around, playing with his friends, I used this rechargeable LED collar to be able to keep an eye on him, I used it twice and didn't have to recharge it. We'll have to see if it works again next year.
Sunday night was cold again. I hopped into the truck bed in warm comfy clothes, with a thermos of hot tea and a book (The Colorado Kid by Stephen King), turned on my headlamp and read til I was warm and sleepy. I think knowing that the next day was going to finally be warm (75 degrees to be exact) was what got me through the night lol.
We woke up and opened the truck bed window to birds chirping, sun shining and a cool breeze. I got up and made us coffee and we snuggled with Archie and sipped with the window open 🙌🏼 Pond weather was finally here! After breakfast, Tim and I took Archie out on the kayaks for a bit, and then I promptly changed in to shorts and a swimsuit and lathered on my tanning oil. More friends arrived early in the day and we grilled, chilled and tanned our skin. What a reward from toughing out the previous two days!
We went home happy and rejuvenated that evening (and maybe a little sunburnt, lol) and although we enjoyed our time away, we were happy to be sleeping in our own bed again that night. I didn't end up getting back online until Tuesday, so I had about four full days away from social media which was amazing. I love being able to connect, share and be inspired through social media, but sometimes we all need a break to let the inspiration come to us naturally in a clear mind.
We passed around three disposable Kodak Fun Saver cameras over the weekend and I'm absolutely in love with the outcome. So much that I am strongly considering carrying a disposable camera on my person at all times from now on, lol. Click the link below for the full album of film photos scanned in from that weekend.
Thanks for reading - now go get outside!
-J
