Lee Family Vacation ‘09: Camping at Lake Monroe

Welcome to the inaugural blog post for the Lee Family Vacation ‘09!  Becca took 2 weeks off of work, so it’s off to the races.  What do we have in store?  A few days are dedicated to sitting around and staring at each other.  We’re going to Knoxville, Tennessee tomorrow.  But our first major activity was a camping trip at the Paynetown SRC at Lake Monroe.

This was Abigail’s first camping trip.  Becca’s been camping countless times with her family and a few times with me.  I’ve been camping on and off again my whole life – and a few under my belt just this summer.  But for Abigail, this was numero uno.

When we made the reservation, the weather was predicted to be sunny, warm and all-in-all suitable for outdoor activities.  Was that what we got?  Nope!  We got camp set up and ventured about the beach right behind our campsite and realized that it was getting cloudy quite quickly.  I gave John a call and had him poke around the interweb for an accurate forecast.  Rain, rain, rain.  Starting at 10 pm and continuing until Sunday, most likely.  DOH!

Becca and I decided that we’d stick it out.  We strapped a tarp to the top of the tent (yeah, it’s the same tent that she camped in as a kid…).  We got a few leaks inside the tent.  About 3 am Abby woke up terrified.  Turns out she had a leak right above her bed and was soaked.  Needless to say, the three of us spent the remainder of the night on the blow up mattress.  When we finally decided to get up and pack up (around 7:40 am or so), there was about 1/4 inch of standing water in the tent and it was a torrential downpour outside.

We had to set the tent up in our kitchen when we got home this morning – we still have fans running inside to get it dried out.  All of our other accoutrement are scattered around the house drying up.  We’re taking it all with us to Tennessee tomorrow, so it’s gotta get dried up!

Check back in over the next few days as I update the blog with our latest vacation adventures.  Here’s to the Lee Family Vacation ‘09!

5 Responses to “Lee Family Vacation ‘09: Camping at Lake Monroe”

1. Momma Sue Skaggs says:

   July 23, 2009 at 8:31 am

   Sorry about the rain…thought about you all when I saw the intellicast radar:( But, I certainly enjoyed your pics, videos and blogs! Thanks for taking us all (and me) with you:) LOL
2. John says:

   July 23, 2009 at 9:21 am

   Not a problem! We thought it would be fun to share our random adventures on the blog… we aren’t doing anything ultra-exciting, but I’m sure our Smokey Mountain pics will be appreciated (in a few days, that is).
3. Phil says:

   July 23, 2009 at 11:26 am

   Nothing Ultra-Exciting?! You’re staying with me for 4 days!! What could be more exciting!
4. John says:

   July 23, 2009 at 8:33 pm

   You know what I mean… it’s not like we’re going to Vegas and getting caught up in shenanigans a la “The Hangover.” Although I have heard that “what happens in Knoxville stays in Knoxville.” We’ll see. : )
5. Rebecca Lee says:

   July 24, 2009 at 8:18 am

   Hey we’re not in bloomington…indiana even. That’s ultra exciting to me!!