We started Father's Day by ending the weekend camping trip, and having a little breakfast out, far from home.

I'm working through the weekend blogging backwards, so hopefully I write this enough so that any one reading it chronologically will find it all fits, and isn't too repetitive.

I crawled out of my sleeping bag this morning about 8AM. Our boy and the other campers' boys were out of the tents doing what boys do at campsites, throwing things against the tent and making a bunch of noise. I grabbed some clothes and left the tent toward the restroom; usually I'd dress first, but I wanted to go more than I was worried about my camp-mates seeing me in my PJs. I was surprised to see the other tents were all but taken down, and the other campers were about ready to go! We overslept big to 8AM.

We had decided before turning in to beat the expected heat and try to tear down the tents right away. Maybe hit a cafe in town for breakfast before trekking home. Seemed like everyone was in on it. However, as we started throwing our sleeping bags and luggage in our trailer, with just the tent to deconstruct, our pals bid their adieus and took off. No worries, mates. I wasn't expecting help with the tent, but thought we'd finish over some eggs and coffee someone else made.

It was not yet 9AM, and already the temperature was over 80°F and climbing. That's an August temperature, on a bad hot day, not a mid-June temperature. Climate change is real!

We folded the tent parts, and piled it into our camp wagon, and put the wagon in the trailer we bring our stuff in. A last pass for anything forgotten, and we took off for the place we found the night before, Herby's. As we plugged it into the navigation, it warned us Herby's is closed on Sunday, so we went for our second choice (by distance only), and headed for Jan's. Jan's has a little parking lot, and we have a trailer, so I parked at the street, not far away, and made it in for breakfast.

I'd like to get rid of the stuff-trailer, and the tent, and get a sleeper trailer instead. Something that we can still take to the "primitive" sites, instead of lining up in camper row. More so that we can hang with our tent-camping friends, but sleep in the box on wheels in the parking lot. I don't want a tiny kitchen or bathroom in there. Just a decent mattress for everyone. There's a nice Colorado Teardrop that has a good-sized bed for the adults and optional bunk beds in the front for the kiddos (while they're still short and small), and not a lot more. It does have that pop-up kitchen in the back, but seems like it can be configured as you'd like, so it could be pretty camping minimalist, and not be a mobile cabin.

After a good breakfast, we made a short stop at a gas station to top off and grab some beverages for the road. It's about a three-hour drive, and after the last turn onto the freeway, it was just an occasional slow-down until we made the exit by our house. We pulled off the freeway onto our exit with just 10 minutes to spare in the day's little league game, which we'd talked about at breakfast, and in the days before, and even preceding the trip, but this close, and with what seemed an eternity, kiddo lost his mind. Fatigue and transition aren't our friends.

We pulled the food and clothes into the house, leaving the trailer packed with tents and sleeping gear and furniture and kitchen wares. The food was put in the fridge or shelves, and the clothes dumped into the laundry machine to get the smoke and spiders out as quickly as possible. The wife ran the kids through showers, and planned to follow shortly after. I jumped in the other Jeep (for variety) and ran to fetch the dogs; I'll shower when I get home.

Since it was barely afternoon when I returned with the dogs, it had been decided we should head to the local pool for a dip and play. I quick showered the layers of grime and bug spray off, and we set out.

The temperature had hit 95°F by the time we got to the pool. The lot was full, but since I had served at the alter of the parking gods for three years when I was in college, they shined on me and opened a spot just as we approached those closest to the entrance of the pool. We scanned our cards, found some seats that were almost shaded, but would be in the waning sun, and everyone jumped in the water. It was delightfully cool, but not unpleasantly cold. I lasted about one safety cycle (they evict everyone at the top of the hour to make sure everyone in the water is able to get out of it...), and then sat in the shade, relaxing while the kids played. The wife milled about in the pool, hiding from the sun under the giant umbrellas they have in the very shallow parts, wading or occasionally sitting in the knee-deep water.

We had a round of snack during one of the safety breaks, and left at the time we thought the pool was going to close, which turned out to be an hour early. We grabbed some take-out, because no one wanted to cook, and settled in at home to eat our fine cuisine. The little little announced he was too tired to eat and wanted to go to bed, so he did. The rest of us retired to soft chairs for a bit and one-by-one filtered off to bed. I'm going to do the same shortly.

A great end to a great weekend trip.

Everyone's healthy.