SD Camp Out - Days 4&5 - Wrapping Things Up!

We had plans for Friday too. Great plans. Old Town, Mormon Battalion, maybe hit some of the cool stuff we missed at Balboa Park. Friday was going to be a great day!

But you know what they say about plans - they are meant to be broken.

We did make it to the Mormon Battalion, though...

Of course when I say "we" I really mean "they." They made it to the Mormon Battalion. I wasn't there. Can you look at this picture and see who else is missing? Where's Waldo?

If you guessed Nathan, you win!

Nathan and I did not make it to the Mormon Battalion because we decided to had an entirely different adventure checking out a local ER. I know. Everyone was totally jealous of us. I mean, what an opportunity to see junkies up close and personal.

The week before, when Nathan was at scout camp he was miserable with an ear ache. They took him to the ER up there and the Dr. said he had ear wax compacted in his ear which was causing pressure and pain so he prescribed an over-the-counter ear wax remover. Well, when he came home from camp his ear still hurt, and then we left on this trip and his ear still hurt, but he kept using the stuff they gave him and hoped things would start getting better. They didn't. He spent most of the trip pretty miserable.

He spent much of the trip pretty like this.

It seemed like his ear was getting worse, instead of better, and I got sick of seeing him miserable, so I decided it was time to get to the urgent care. But the urgent care wouldn't take our insurance, so we had to go to an ER. That was a nightmare. They were doing some construction at the ER so there were not rooms for everyone. What they had instead were gurneys lined up in the hallway with screen dividers between each one. Space was TIGHT! Nate pretty much took up the whole gurney and there was no room for chairs, so I had no choice but to stand the entire time. The doctor even treated Nathan and even did a painful procedure where he shoved a wick into his swollen ear canal. Poor Nate. It is bad enough to have something so painful done, but worse to have to have it done in a semi-public place. And what we did get to do while we sit there was to hear the junkies on either side of us going on and on trying to convince anyone who would listen that they had lost their prescription, and simply needed another one, and really didn't need a doctor - until the doctor didn't come, then they were moaning and groaning that they were dying over here and they need a doctor real bad.

Lets just say, it was an education for my 13 year old about what drugs can do to a person. Very sad.

In the end, we were there about 4 1/2 hours. Turns out Nathan had a raging middle ear infection, and the doctor was shocked that the other ER had not prescribed antibiotics. So glad to finally get that taken care of.

Dennis and the boys came by to pick us up. By then the day was mostly shot. But Nathan started feeing better almost immediately, which is a really, really good thing!

There was time, however for a trip to Mr Frostie's in PB. We can't ever visit San Diego without stopping for treat there. For me it is always a peanut butter malt. Always.

That was all it took to forget about the trip to the ER.

Of course, as soon as we got back to the campground I had to go to the pharmacy to get Nate's prescription filled. I stood there for an hour and a half! Apparently my kid's health insurance card might as well have been in a foreign language or something, because it took the gal a whole hour just to figure out what our insurance coverage was. How hard can that be? It was written on the card. RX $5.

I came back to camp exhausted from standing all day long.

That KOA is not like any campground I have stayed at before. Lets just say that you don't come camping here if you intend on communing with nature. It was like camping in your backyard! There were lots of trees and plants, but everything was manicured. Everything was paved, and the campsites were all covered in grass or wood chip mulch. In fact, the only dirt anywhere was in the flower beds. That part was kind of nice because I always associate camping with dirty. Not here.

Oh, and did I mention free internet at your campsite? No kidding! You know you are definitely not roughing it when you get wi-fi in your tent.

The kids loved all the fun things there were to do there. The playground was pretty close to our tent, so they spent a lot of down time there.

We also brought some skateboards and bikes and that was a really smart move, since everything is paved. They had more fun riding all over the place with their cousins.

Dennis and my brother-in-law Ossil had a grudge match going over table tennis. I think Ossil was afraid of Dennis' powerful serve, because he wore his helmet the whole time. But I am not going to tell you who the ultimate champion was, in order to save my husband from humiliation. You understand.

All the cousins piling in Grandpa's truck. Who needs a playground? I remember doing the samething in my grandpa's truck when we were kids.

On Saturday morning, while Dennis and I were packing up camp, the kids all participated in some games and activities for the kids. Dyaln did particularly well and ended up winning an hour rental of a KOA trike. So instead of working, Dylan got to play for an hour - making the prize even more valuable than originally thought.

After packing up the car - and I mean PACK (I cannot believe what we were able to cram into and on that car!!!) - we headed for one more trip to the beach. This time, La Jolla Shores. My old stomping grounds. I went to college at UCSD which is just up on the cliffs above this beach, and so I spend much of my college time studying down here on this very sand.

I just love La Jolla Shores. It is my favorite beach in San Diego. It is so scenic and has nice amenities. And as far as surfing goes, it is perfect for novices like me. In fact, it is quite an ego boost because it turns out that we were better than most of the surfers out there. Not saying much since most of them were newbies, but still, the shallow depth and smaller waves that break very far from shore make it a perfect spot to get some good practice in without the fear of being gored by some big shot surfer with a very pointy board.

Lisa and Dylan and I were out there for hours! The best part was when Dylan and I would catch the same waves and I would look up and see him right next to me. Once we even got so close that we could high-five each other! How cool is that? Now that is what I call quality one-on-one time!

Then we hand to repack the car and drive all the way home with sand in our shorts.

It was quite a week! There were some not some not so fun and frustrating parts, but we also did some very great adventures. I think I prefer camping to be a bit more in nature, but at least is was clean, and I can't complain about that.

Still, the best part of the trip was being with family!

(And the surfing.)