A Brief Camping Trip on Watts Bar Lake

It’s time for another camping recap!  In the late spring we took a brief weekend trip to Caney Creek RV Resort.  We have purchased land in the area and booked neighboring campsites with my parents (who have also purchased land) so that we could meet with a general contractor as we continue to get our plans together for building our homes. Turning the meeting into a camping trip sounded like fun, so that’s what we did!

This is the second camping season that we’ve used this pen setup and it has been great for Dexter and Dewey since they have more outside space to run around without needing to be tethered to a leash.  It also provides us with the convenience of being able to simply open the door and let them out of the camper to potty without having to leash them up and take care to not let them run away (and they will run away from us… freakin’ corgis, man)

After this trip we spray-painted the lattice pieces black to blend in with the camper, because while handy for preventing the dogs from escaping under the camper, it was an eyesore!

We stayed in site A-53, a plot we noticed during a previous stay at this campground due to its unique orientation to the water.  Instead of backing the camper so that the rear faces the water, you sort of parallel park it next to the water so that the broad side of your camper and awning area face the water directly.  Pretty neat.

Beautiful day and a beautiful view.

My parents were staying in the site next door, so after parking and hooking up we spent some time on their patio where Papa got some Baby Girl snuggles.

My mom keeps their camper stocked with toys, and Jasper knows it!

He’s started to engage in imaginative play and makes up stories or dialogues for his toys as he plays.  It’s been one of the coolest things to witness at this age.

Later in the afternoon we hung out inside my parents’ fifth wheel to start some dinner prep.

Miss Shelby was just starting to be more mobile and was preferring being free to roll around on the floor instead of restrained in a seat.

I’d been having a serious craving for a big pot of homemade chili so that’s exactly what my mom made for dinner.  It hit the spot.  You know that feeling when you get to eat something that you are reallllly craving?  Nothin’ like it.

Matt and I made our usual homemade cornbread .  We may have a slight… problem… with cornbread.  We make it all. the. time.

Dessert was easy – my mom bought a Marie Callender’s Coconut Cream Pie.

It also hit the spot.

This one fought every bite of his dinner even though it was food that he usually likes, but we finally got him to eat with a little bribe: eat your dinner and stop whining and you can go to the playground!

Jasper had been talking about the playground all day long, so we made good on our promise and took him to play after dinner.

Slides are still the favorite!

He seemed curious about the swings but needed some coaxing to try them out.  He used to swing as a baby and seemed to enjoy it but as a toddler he’s been a bit more apprehensive.

Not crying, not laughing, not quite scared but not quite enjoying it either.  Ha.

That was also the time when I looked down to see that I managed to get a nice uneven sunburn on my legs.  Drat.

There was a light mist on the water when we woke up the next morning.  The lake is very peaceful in the early hours of the day.

Thankfully, the little one had a good night and was all smiles!

Bringing the camper plate out of the cabinet is always cause for celebration.

A typical scene during a camping morning – one of us preparing breakfast and at least one crying child.

On the menu for the morning were some good ole cinnamon rolls from the can.

I have ambitions to pre-prepare some homemade rolls for a camping trip, but I haven’t brought those ambitions to fruition just yet.  One day.

A treat meal like cinnamon rolls means that we don’t get any hassle from the toddler about eating his breakfast.

We had an appointment with a general contractor that morning and afterward we visited Roane County Park, a large public recreation area across the inlet from Caney Creek RV Resort.

We could see our camper from the play area across the water.

Jasper was excited to have yet another set of playground equipment to play on, but needed a little extra encouragement from his Papa for the first time going down a new slide.

Meanwhile, Shelby decided this cool shady spot was a great place to grab a morning catnap.

Rolling his Hot Wheels down the slides is almost as fun as sliding down them himself.  Almost.

Miss Shel woke up just in time to check out the sights before we loaded up and headed back to the campground.

Back at the campsite, some snacks and cold drinks after coming inside from the heat were the perfect start to getting everyone down for a nap.  It wasn’t easy and took forever, but we finally got them to sleep and were able to sit outside with my parents to chat while the kiddos snoozed.

The afternoon was incredibly hot, so a lazy day spent cowering in the shade was all that any of us were up to doing.  Later in the evening, we got together for a simple dinner of hamburgers, Brussels sprouts, and fried potatoes and onions.

During dinner things got a little crazy as an afternoon pop up thunderstorm exploded just as we sat down to eat.  Living in TN long enough, I saw the signs that we were about to get blasted and made a mad dash back to our camper so I could put the dogs inside.  I got back to my parents’ fifth wheel just in time for the storm to blast through, but I failed to retract our awning.  Since awnings don’t fare well in high winds, Matt had to dash back outside, this time in torrential rain and horrible wind, to save our awning before it got ripped right off the side of the camper.  The storm cleared out in about 10 minutes, typical for a summer thunder boomer, and things calmed down and we were able to finish our dinner.

Last morning before heading home – a selfie with Mama!

Breakfast was another simple meal – cheesy scrambled eggs, sausage links, and leftover cornbread!  Cornbread drizzled with honey is fantastic in the morning, try it sometime.

But Jasper got to eat a leftover cinnamon roll in place of the cornbread.  Yet another sacrifice one makes as parents… you give the good stuff to the kids!

Who knows what he’s chattering about here, because this kid currently narrates his whole life.  Is he talking about the ducks in the water outside?  The turtle we saw the day before?  Asking if we can go to the playground again?  Probably all of those things and more.

Nana came over for a bit before we hitched up to leave to grab a few more grandbaby snuggles and then we were on the road for the short trip home.  Another camping trip in the books!

Where we stayed:

Caney Creek RV Resort (website)