Just two weeks later, we were back at Falls Lake State Park, in a campsite that was more private and much easier to back into. Thanks to David’s lessons, our trailer backing skills have gotten better and better each trip. Once again, our son loved every minute of our weekend adventure. This trip, he got to splash in the lake and run around the playground.

When he finally went to sleep for the night, Paul and I enjoyed s’mores and time to talk around the campfire.

For our third trip, I decided to try out a different park. I found a lake-front campsite in the Kimball Point area of Kerr Lake State Park and booked it. The weather leading up to the weekend was bad. We came close to cancelling our trip several times. If there had been a way for me to cancel online, I would have. But procrastination and dreaded boredom at home got the better of us and we decided to tough it out in a weekend full of rainy, stormy weather.

We arrived at the park around 5:00 on Friday afternoon. Our son was in full meltdown mode after the 1.5 hour drive. Tensions were running high. But we backed our camper in quickly and realized how beautiful the spot was, being just feet from Kerr Lake.

As we hooked up to the water and electric, we encountered a serious problem. The water spigot was about 80 feet away from the campsite. Our 30-foot hose was not going to work. The only solution was for Paul to run out to the closest store, which was a Walmart over 30 minutes away. An hour and a half later, he returns and we’re able to connect to water. We definitely needed it after Nat found a nice mud puddle to play in while I was trying to set up the new picnic canopy.

The rain came in around 8:00 that night. We were so thankful to have a camper, because we stayed dry and cozy in the bad weather. We were even able to watch a movie in bed with the sound of rain coming down.

The next morning, the lake was noticably closer than it was when we had gone to bed. Our lake front camp spot was even nicer! The day was dreary with rain coming in intermittently. After a failed walk to the playground that ended in another rain storm, our cabin fever got the best of us. So we did what every millenial parent does; we Googled the closest brewery for a field trip!

Bugg Island Brewing was a 40 minute drive from the campground. We drove over the dam that holds in Kerr Lake and ventured into the cute town of Clarksville, VA. The brewery surprised us because it looks like a house. I’ll admit to judging its appearance and hesitating to go inside. But we were quickly welcomed in, even though we had a kid in tow. What a cozy little spot to enjoy a couple of beers and wait for the weather to pass.

When we returned from the brewery, we were able to capture the last of the afternoon’s decent weather. I could no longer hold Nat back from the lake and threw on my swim suit and followed him into the cold water. He loved every minute of splashing around while Paul grilled up dinner.

On our final morning, I awoke to a flurry of animal noises outside. Squirrels and crows had surrounded the cooler that we left outside.

I thought we were fine since it was zippered up tight, until I saw a squirrel pull a full sized wrapped Hershey’s bar out and run into the distance with it. Those brazen animals had ripped open the fabric and bypassed the entire zipper issue. Lesson learned for us and a sign that it was time to pack up and head home once again.