Friday afternoon a small group of us packed up my SUV and headed up north to Santos Campground in Ocala for some time with nature. And by small group I mean myself, Colin, Baron and Amy H. The rest of the gang were coming up on Saturday.

I have to admit, this was the first camping trip that I didn’t go with a purpose.

Whether it has been camping and mountain biking, camping and kayaking, camping and SUP’ing, or camping with the motorcycles, there has always been a purpose. The original plan was to go mountain biking. However due to people bailing (12 people went to 7) and then Colin getting sick, we decided to ditch the bikes and do some old fashion camping. Amy H was the lone ranger who brought her mountain bike.

With that being said, I have discovered I am not person who likes to camp without a purpose. I like to be doing something. Now don’t get me wrong, it was truly relaxing but not really my thing.

We did escape for a hike but I’ll get to that in a bit

Friday we arrived just before sunset, so it was a mad dash to get the tent set up before the sun fully set. Once that was done it was time to enjoy a Strawberry Peach Mimosa by the campfire.

Side note: Strawberry Peach Mimosa, my new obsession!

Even Baron hopped in a chair to relax by the fire:

Baron and the other Amy

Saturday morning was freezing!! We made sure to stay nice and bundled.

Colin and I

We also started the morning out properly with another Strawberry Peach Mimosa and some delicious breakfast of cheesy eggs and potatoes!

Baron kept guard as we cooked up a storm! Seriously, Baron is the best dog ever (yes I am slightly biased). He slept through the night except the few times he heard noises out side. He would give a growl and then curl back up and go to sleep.

After breakfast I headed to take a shower in the bath/shower building. Usually I leave these type of details out however there is a reason I am sharing this, actually 4 reasons. Reason one was right outside my shower stall:

Don’t let the picture fool you, that spider was HUGE and did I mention right outside my shower area?!?! Here are reasons 2- 4.

You can’t really tell but there are 3 spiders right above where I was showering. You haven’t really experienced a shower until you have done it with 4 spiders surrounding you!

Luckily, I survived to share the story

From here it was time to get more into nature. The rest of the group would be arriving in the afternoon so Colin, Baron and I decided to do some hiking on the Santos Trails that were right off the campsite. I packed up some water in my Camelbak for the little four-legged guy and we were off.

Since we had Baron we did about a 2 mile hike, give or take a little bit. There were a couple trails to choose from at the trail head but I went with the Landbridge trail. Why did I choose that one?! I wanted to see a bridge dammit!! Of course it was the longest trail and with Baron I knew we wouldn’t be able to do the whole thing but I was hopeful the bridge (if there even was a bridge) would be in the first couple of miles.

The walk made little B exhausted so he took a nap as soon as we got back.

The nap was short-lived though because his buddy Dumbledore showed up with his love interest Chelsea.

Baron and Dumbledore playing around in the background as Chelsea pays no attention to the hooligans

Failed attempt to cook a pork roast under the fire all day

The next morning it was all about the food and packing up all the gear. As the poached eggs cooked over the fire in oranges, we all begin the process of taking down the tents and packing up all the cars.

Cracking the eggs in the oranges

Cooked baby cook!!

We were home by one and that meant one thing…CAMPING RECOVERY!!

Spot the Baron

All in all, it was a great weekend! Nothing better than camping with friends!! Next time though, I’ll make sure to bring a mountain bike, kayak, or SUP

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