Ahhh...  We're back now from our camping trip.  It was a bit more eventful than we'd planned, but still a pleasant trip, nonetheless. 

We drove up to Big Meadows Campground on Skyline Drive on Monday.  Spent the afternoon setting up camp and getting settled.  Our campsite was literally a few feet from the Appalachian Trail.  At 2160 miles, it is the longest foot path in the US.  It starts in Georgia and following the ridge of the Appalachian Mountains, continues all the way to Maine!  We met several "through-hikers" who were making the trek.  They had left Georgia with their backpacks in February, and were hoping to arrive in Maine sometime in July!

As we were setting up our camp, we were amazed to watch the deer walk through the campground, not at all afraid.  The kids watched them for about 10 minutes before they wandered off.  We built a nice little campfire.  Hot Dogs & Hot Cocoa for dinner, then clean up (in the dark... we really need to learn to do dinner earlier when we are camping!) 

We've made a few wardrobe and sleeping adjustments (ie hooded sweatshirts, hats and extra blankets) from our previous tenting adventure{!} and we were all quite comfortable, in spite of the chilly temperatures.  We woke Tuesday morning to the sounds of the birds, and a gorgeous sunrise over the mountains.  At this point, we're thinking, weather permitting, we'll hang out for a week or so.  However, there have been thundershowers in the forecast, but they seem to come and go...   It's okay to tent camp in the rain, but thunder and lightning mean it's time for this mom to head home!

A leisurely breakfast, and cleaning up the dishes, straightening up the tent, then we were ready for our adventures for the day.  Our plans included a visit to the visitors center, in time to attend an educational program led by one of the park rangers.  He led us into the meadow, and was showing us the different plants that grew there, and how they used prescribed burns to burn off the dead underbrush in 1/3 of the meadow early each spring, in order to help prevent wildfires.  It was fascinating, listening to him talk about the whole process.  Ever prepared, my kids had their water bottles and snacks.  David was munching on trail mix, and said "oh, my tooth hurts."  Sometimes you bite down on something like a raisin, that has a high concentration of sweetness, and it does give you a momentary toothache, so I really didn't think much of it at the moment. 

We stopped at the lodge, and checked messages on the cell-phone, since the ranger told us it was the only place in the park our cell phones would work well.  The kids enjoyed the playground at the lodge, and we got some great pictures.  Off in the distance, we could see fires burning on a distant mountain.  (Different mountains from where we were camped.  We were never in any danger from those fires!) 

Off and on throughout the evening, David continued to complain of his tooth hurting, so we gave him some pain medicine, which seemed to help.  I figured we'd have to find a dentist, when we were finished with our camping trip, and get him checked out.  The last time he was at the dentist, they told us he had a small cavity, but it was too small to fill, and nothing to do, just keep an eye on it. 

So, another campfire, a yummy dinner of Taco Soup (one of our family favorites, and it's as easy to make in a Dutch Oven as it is in the crockpot at home!), and we're off to bed for the second night.  Only, this night isn't as comfy and cozy.  David begins moaning and crying, and proceeded to moan and cry all night.  It rapidly became apparent that there wasn't going to be any putting off the trip to the dentist until we were done with our camping trip. 

We were up with the sun on Wednesday morning, David's cheek is swollen up like a little chimpmunk.  So, we headed back for my parent's.  Thankfully, they live right in the middle of the Shenandoah Valley, so we were less than an hour away.  The plan for the day was to find a dentist who would see him on an emergent basis, fill the cavity, so we could head back up to our campsite.  We were back to my parent's and on the phone by 10 am.  Thankfully, there was a pediatric dentist, who agreed to squeeze him into the schedule at 2:30 in the afternoon.  The dentist saw him, and said "Oh no, he doesn't just have a cavity, he has a HUGE abscess, and his cheek is so swollen that we can't take the tooth out today.  He'll have to be on antibiotics, for a couple of days, then come back in on Friday, and we'll sedate him and take the tooth out." 

Now, I have this totally irrational fear of dentists, and practically have anxiety attacks, when I have to take my kids in, even just for check ups.  Forget what I'm like when I have to go to the dentist...  So, now my 8 year old has to have this MAJOR dental thing.  What kind of a mother am I?  How could I let it get this bad??  The dentist was very reassuring, that as crowded as his teeth are in his little mouth, there was really no way to prevent what had happened, and no way for us to know it would happen when it did.  That made me feel only slightly less terrible a mom. 

We headed BACK up to our campsite, at about 6:00 that night.  We threw together a quick dinner of Chicken Quesadillas, and were they yummy!  By the time we cleaned up, we just wanted to go to bed, so no campfire that night.  David now has Tylenol with Codeine, so he's a happy camper.  AND he slept!  Between the medicine, and not sleeping the night before, he slept soundly, so we all slept better that night. 

Since he had to arrive for his dental appointment early Friday morning, we decided we'd do better to cut our camping trip short, and break camp on Thursday.  We were very disappointed.  Camping is a lot of fun, but it's also quite a bit of work to set up camp.  I love it when we can go for a week or more, but all that work of packing and setting up, when we can only stay for a few days, hardly seems worth it.  The other kids, though disappointed, were good sports about the whole thing, and helped us to break camp on Thursday morning, after breakfast.  We did promise ourselves that we would take the kids camping again at the very next possible chance.  We really enjoy it, and were disappointed to have our trip end so abruptly. 

I'll come back and add pictures when I can download them from the camera, so check back!