Sep 2009
Fall Camp in the Clouds
Greetings all and welcome to our maiden post!
Last weekend was our annual Fall Camp at the vineyard. Years past, this is an event not to be missed! Camping, wine, hiking, clay pigeon tournament, midnight trips to the swimming hole, etc, all amongst friends and family. This year though, things were a bit more low-key with the majority of the partiers...erm...campers off to Vegas. Those who were able upheld the tradition and made it up for the weekend.
My goals were stripped down to the essentials. Do some hiking along the Ozark Trail, get some early morning/late evening photographs of the vineyard, and enjoy good times and drinks with the family. Things started out well, at least.
We arrived Friday night at around midnight, [this was planned...], and set up camp in the middle of the night. Successfully too! Amber and I were woken the next morning with Renee blowing the bull-horn to call us down for breakfast.
After breakfast, I went for a little hike/trail-run around the vineyard to warm up a bit. After an hour or two of recovery and a few rounds at refilling the corn feeders, we settled in to wait for Amber’s parents to arrive. This is the point where the clouds enter the scene. Literally. Right into the valley.
[That’s Amber resting after some hard work... ;)]
Quite a pretty site! The clouds, however, pretty much nixed all hopes of getting those sunny late-evening photos I’d been hoping for.
It wasn’t long before the rain showed up. Which decided not to leave until around 9 o’clock Sunday morning. So, I packed up the camera and hiking boots, and we hung about enjoying the atmosphere. Dad had a good time keeping Madie out of our dinner:
I am pretty sure that at the point this picture was taken, we had discovered the baby copperhead that was curled up right next to that bundle of stakes. We certainly didn’t notice it until after we were all huddle around the fire getting things set up! I’ll be keeping a little closer watch from now on.
All-in-all it was a great weekend at the vineyard. Even in the rain, you just can’t beat a weekend away with family, a nice view, and a good dog.
Till next time! \o
Matt
Last weekend was our annual Fall Camp at the vineyard. Years past, this is an event not to be missed! Camping, wine, hiking, clay pigeon tournament, midnight trips to the swimming hole, etc, all amongst friends and family. This year though, things were a bit more low-key with the majority of the partiers...erm...campers off to Vegas. Those who were able upheld the tradition and made it up for the weekend.
My goals were stripped down to the essentials. Do some hiking along the Ozark Trail, get some early morning/late evening photographs of the vineyard, and enjoy good times and drinks with the family. Things started out well, at least.
We arrived Friday night at around midnight, [this was planned...], and set up camp in the middle of the night. Successfully too! Amber and I were woken the next morning with Renee blowing the bull-horn to call us down for breakfast.
After breakfast, I went for a little hike/trail-run around the vineyard to warm up a bit. After an hour or two of recovery and a few rounds at refilling the corn feeders, we settled in to wait for Amber’s parents to arrive. This is the point where the clouds enter the scene. Literally. Right into the valley.
[That’s Amber resting after some hard work... ;)]
Quite a pretty site! The clouds, however, pretty much nixed all hopes of getting those sunny late-evening photos I’d been hoping for.
It wasn’t long before the rain showed up. Which decided not to leave until around 9 o’clock Sunday morning. So, I packed up the camera and hiking boots, and we hung about enjoying the atmosphere. Dad had a good time keeping Madie out of our dinner:
I am pretty sure that at the point this picture was taken, we had discovered the baby copperhead that was curled up right next to that bundle of stakes. We certainly didn’t notice it until after we were all huddle around the fire getting things set up! I’ll be keeping a little closer watch from now on.
All-in-all it was a great weekend at the vineyard. Even in the rain, you just can’t beat a weekend away with family, a nice view, and a good dog.
Till next time! \o
Matt