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| Camp Site at Council Grove Lake |
We were able to get our first camping trip of the season on June 14 - 17 at Council Grove Lake. The prior weekend we drove around looking at camp sites at various lakes, but decided on Council Grove camp site once we found this hidden gem right by the dam. No other camp sites nearby as it is at the end of the road and it was excellent!
We went camping with Erin and Greg for what I believe we discussed was our overall fourth time to camp altogether. We took Oliver with us on the camping trip and he had a great time. Greg and Erin took Charley for her first ever camping trip. I think she had a good time and also enjoyed some time in the water which I will share pictures of later in this post. Both dogs did well with only one instance where Oliver got aggressive as he thought Charley was going to take his bed. We kept the dogs up late each night we were camping around the campfire.
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| Sunset on Council Grove Lake |
I took the picture to the left while walking Oliver on Thursday night. The reflection of the sun off of the water was impressive and the picture does display how brilliant the view was from the walk. I took Oliver on a number of walks although we let him wander around the camp site without being leashed. He enjoyed it and did a good job of sticking around the site as well as coming back when he would wander off to far.
Wednesday night we got to the camp site around 8 pm. I worked that Wednesday and then left for the camp site once I got home. We are about an hour from Council Grove Lake although we had our car packed and items on the roof, so we had to drive a little slower than normal with chairs and items on the roof. Greg and I had a golf draft to do at 8:30, so we quickly got our tent put up for Carrie and I. The ladies went to pick up Pizza Hut for us for dinner while Greg and I did our draft. It was some of the best Pizza Hut I have had in a long time. Cooked perfect, hot, and delicious. Worked out great as we had arrived at the camp site so late in the day and no time to cook anything ourselves. A perfect plan we had thought up leading up to our camping trip. We stayed up late around the fire Wednesday night and talking about our upcoming adventures. Fun first night!
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| Sleepy Oliver After Up Prior Night |
Thursday morning Carrie and I slept a little late as Oliver did not sleep well Wednesday night. He was restless and running around the tent. Each time I was almost asleep, Oliver would get up and walk around the tent making noises. Finally, about 6 am Oliver finally found a spot to lay down and went to sleep. I am not sure what his issue was other than both Carrie and I usually do not sleep well the first night of camping so we are guessing that Oliver is the same and has problems sleeping the first night too.
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| Cornhole Tournament While Camping |
After waking up, having a small breakfast, we relaxed around the camp site. I read a few chapters and dozed in my chair. Oliver of course slept from being up the night before. An enjoyable start to our first full day of camping. After a late lunch, we spent part of the afternoon playing Cornhole. We only played Cornhole the one day although we planned to play more we never got back to play. It was fun and took us to the early evening of playing before we started dinner.
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| Chicken Piccata on Firedisc |
Thursday night for dinner, Carrie made chicken piccata for us on the
Firedisc. It worked out great and it was delicious! First time making chicken piccata while camping. The chicken and green beans on the
Firedisc were really good and then the pasta was one Carrie found that did not need to do boiling water, so we were able to warm those up on the
Firedisc. Yum!
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| Finished Chicken Piccata for Dinner |
We ended up eating around 8 Thursday night and then spent the evening around the fire listening to music, talking, and enjoying the outdoors.
Each time we go camping, we try to plan a theme for a music list so we can listen while we are camping. This time we decided to come up with ten songs from the year we graduated high school that were released the year of our graduation year plus the year both couples were married with each person selecting ten songs from the year married that were released during that year. Makes for a fun time and then we try to guess who selected what songs. If you are interested, here is the playlist Carrie put together with all the songs titled Camping at Council Grove: June 2023.
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| Boating on Council Grove Lake |
While we were hanging out Thursday afternoon, we wandered about renting a boat. Sure enough, Council Grove Lake rents out boats, so we got one reserved for Friday. We had a blast! We took the dogs which was the first time boating for both Oliver and Charley. We went over to the beach where the marina recommended would be a good spot so we could easily get in the water. The dogs loved it and we all had a good time floating, drinking adult beverages, and enjoying the dogs in the water. At one point, we went back to the marina where they were making frozen margaritas that we took back out on the water. They were delicious!
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| Oliver Floating on Life Jackets |
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| Charley Relaxing on the Boat |
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| Oliver Relaxing |
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| Charley Swimming Like a Champ! (Video) |
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| Floating on Life Jackets... Happy Dog! |
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| Sun, Water, and Boating. Good Life! |
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| Polska Kielbasa and Fried Tators |
After a full afternoon of boating, we were starving. Carrie did fried potatoes and Polska Kielbasa on the Firedisc. We made a lot of potatoes and I think we put a huge dent in what was cooked. While we cooked, the dogs slept and watched us, but never got up to come over to see what we were doing. They were both exhausted from floating/swimming they had done during the afternoon.
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| Camp Site at Night |
We all went around the campfire to relax for the evening. While Erin, Greg, and I were relaxing, Carrie snapped some pictures of our camp site capturing the lights. It is so perfect! The only issue we had our last night of camping were the gnats. They were everywhere and flying into our faces. We had not experienced this the other nights, so not sure if it was due to storms that were supposed to roll into the area the following day or not. We covered our drinks and enjoyed our time around the fire, drinking, and listening to music.
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| Nature Trail Hike Before Leaving |
Carrie and I had planned to camp Saturday night too but weather was scheduled to move into the area, so we decided with Oliver, it would be best to leave Saturday when Greg and Erin were leaving. We packed up our tent and some items from the camp site before we drove to the nature trail. It was a 1.25 mile hike we did with the dogs and it was perfect. We all talked about how it would be great do to the hike early in the morning when the sun was rising although it was beautiful mid-day as we did the hike.
I am so happy we were able to get our first camping trip completed. We had a wonderful time and plan to go back to Council Grove Lake in the future. Our spot was perfect and we liked the beach area where we swam off of the boat too. We do not have a next camping date set, but I hope we get one set soon.
