Day 3387 – Weekend Away!

Posted on October 19, 2018 by 365 days of marriage

This weekend we are going on our annual camping trip with our friends (and former clients). It’s a highlight of our year and we can’t wait to relax (and smell like camp fire!)

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Day 3188 – Is It Time To Camp Yet? – or – The First Camping Trip Of The Year – or – The Gaitans Versus Nature – repost

Posted on April 3, 2018 by 365 days of marriage

I posted this two years ago today. I can’t wait to camp this year but this was a good reminder to wait until you know the weather to book a local camping trip. 🙂

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Originally posted 4/3/16
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A month ago, we booked a camping trip for opening weekend at our favorite campground down the street from our home. It was also the last weekend of Bret’s spring break. It was a perfect plan! We got a little nervous as the day approached when we looked at the weather, but knew if we could just get the tent set up before the rain, we’d be fine. It was spotty rain. No worries. As we packed up the car, we started to sweat…it was pretty warm on Friday! “This is great! What great weather!” When we drove over, only 30 minutes after check-in, the weather was absolutely beautiful. We got the tent up, bought our firewood and settled in for reading, chatting and fire watching. It was magical.

A few hours later, the storm started rolling in. Would the storm foil all our plans???

Thankfully, it wasn’t much rain, and it was just beautiful. We had a thunderstorm looking one way, a rainbow another and a beautiful sunset the other way.

We put our dinner on the fire and then….the rain….

We huddled in the tent and checked our dinner periodically. Our favorite camping meal are these amazing apple chicken sausages roasted on tin foil over the fire. Mmmmm, SO good. Sadly, nature won this round. Our sausages while somewhat tasty, were missing the crispy, roasted taste.

We slept well in our little home. The soft, morning rain was a delightful way to wake up. Thank you nature!

But what if nature tries to foil our plans again?

Nahhhh, this is going to be a great day!

As the day winded down, we cooked our dinner. These sausages cooked completely. Take that nature!

Here is where I will say, don’t mess with nature. The forecast was calling for cold temperatures (there was a freeze warning) and wind (there was a wind warning). It called for about mid 30’s and a 24 mph wind. We thought, hey, let’s try it! But we’ll pack up everything but the tent in case we need to make a quick getaway. We were in the habit of packing up everything because of the rain anyways. We had just put out the fire, packed up and locked the car, about to settle into reading and going to sleep in the tent. It was pretty much one of those things straight from the movies where you zip the tent closed and the wind starts to howl. We look at each other with trepidation….”well?”….I decided to put some of the extra books in the car and get a feel for the situation. I stood outside looking at the branches swaying, listening for things falling and weighing options. Bret joined me and after a big gust, we decided to call it. In about 15 minutes we had quickly cleaned up our tent. Shoving things anywhere. We had an armful of wood left (you have to purchase wood there, you can’t bring in your own) and decided to drive around and see if anyone was up who wanted it. We found a group and they were very appreciative…even offered us sodas and hot dogs….if we weren’t fearing for our lives, we may have made new friends. We shouted off a “nah, we’re right down the road!” thank you and continued our escape.

Nature was not in the mood to let us go. As we turned a corner, we saw that our path was completely blocked! I put the car in park as Bret charged in to do battle. He hefted the branch (the width of his arm no less) to the side of the road, protecting fellow humans in the fight. He gave it a further toss for good measure. We slowly continued our journey through the minefield that the road was becoming. Branches fallen, sticks, rocks, thorns (not cool Robert Frost!) As we neared the exit and main road, we breathed a little easier. We merged on to the main road and started the long commute home…

*5 minutes later*

We safely park at home and start to carry things inside. In a last ditch effort, nature threw all the wind and rain it could as we unloaded. Not wanting to feel as though we wasted our money, we continued our camping trip.

We even had a fire all night, right next to our tent.

It sure was nice waking up in the ~~great outdoors~~ warm living room and having a cup of coffee by the ~~fire~~ laptop.

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Day 3026 – Unplugging For A Weekend – How Did It Go?

Posted on October 23, 2017 by 365 days of marriage

We returned yesterday from two nights away. I put my phone on airplane mode for the drive up to listen to music, and then turned it off when we arrived. The first night at the fire was a little weird, because I couldn’t read or write since it was so dark. And when I was the only one at the fire, I was left with only my thoughts. The second day, I didn’t really think about my phone at all. There was something that happened that required getting in touch with us, but thankfully Bret had his phone on. This led me to turn on my phone the last morning, otherwise it would have stayed off until we got home.

I learned a lot about myself this weekend. I have a totally unhealthy attachment to my phone, and coping mechanisms of playing games and obsessively checking different apps. It was a great reminder that I don’t need to be attached to my phone 24/7, and I really want to bring this into my day to day life. Maybe doing things like, only checking it a few times a day, and getting back into only going on social media two times a day. We’ll see how it logistically fits in. But I have to say, it felt SO good not being attached to my phone.

While I was there, I read a really great book, The Lazy Guru’s Guide to Life: A Mindful Approach to Achieving More by Doing Less* by Laurence Shorter. It really broke down what it means to process what happens in our lives. There was a whole section on the “shoulds” that sometimes rule our lives. It talked about how to stop, process, and let things go. It was filled with pictures, and I loved it. I really wish there were more books like this. Big ideas broken down into easy to process and understand sentences….with pictures. If you know of any books like this, let me know!

Since I didn’t have my phone, I didn’t take any pictures. Again, thankfully Bret had his phone and did. 🙂

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*Amazon Affilite link
Did you like what you read? Here’s some ways you can support us and this blog!
Join our Facebook group, Planning an Epic Road Trip on Any Budget
Join the Journey With The G’s email list (bonus – you get my Epic Road Trip Budget spreadsheet)
Buy my book, Planning an Epic Road Trip on any Budget
Buy my book, Trusting God With 2 Cents: 22 Days To Becoming A Successful Christian Business Owner.
Shop on Amazon (no additional cost to you, this gives us a percentage of what you order).
Check out our resources page.
Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

Day 3023 – Out Of The Office

Posted on October 20, 2017 by 365 days of marriage

We’re heading out today for our potentially last camping trip of the year. I think I’m actually going to completely turn off my phone while I’m away, which is SO new for me. So catch y’all next week! (But enjoy the scheduled posts!)