Our first camping trip together...

We started on the road to making our marriage richer (in experience) - broadening our horizons beyond the farm and family. Jarrod and I camped together for the first time last night. We decided finally to just do it, packed up a few things, picked up a few things, and headed for one of our pastures. The cows have kept the grass mowed close to the ground near the pond and it's a quiet, secluded location. We worked together to set up our tent for the first time and couldn't quite figure out what we had wrong...the poles kept wanting to warp sideways. We thought maybe we had it stretched too tight, so we adjusted the stakes, but ended up with one pole that was still wapperjawed come morning.

Since we got a bit of of a late start, we didn't do much but sit around and watch a storm, talk and drink beer, and go to bed. Thankfully the bulk of the storm didn't hit our area, but we did get to enjoy the lightning show from a distance and listen to the gentle rain as we tried to sleep. Neither of us slept very well (we'll have to find a pad or mattress of some sort next time), but it was nice to wake up to the birds talking, evidence that the cows had been over investigating at some point in the morning (fresh tracks in the mud nearby) and a cool morning. We had some poptarts and sunnyd for breakfast, tore down, checked the cows and went home. But I woke up feeling much more at peace and much less stressed and we both had smiles on our faces all day.

Next time we'll have to try for a weekend of camping instead of just an overnight. :) And hopefully this is just a start to experiencing more of the world and more of life - together. Here are a few pictures: