On this past weekend, my wife and I ventured out to W. J. Hayes State Park for our final camping trip of the season. On this trip we were joined by 3 other families, and had a terrific two-days of fun in the sun (and some rain). Choosing Hayes for this trip was fitting as it became the bookend site of our season, reprising our weekend there in April. We may add another trip this fall, but with our calendar being quite full it would be a challenge.

For this post I thought I’d take a look back at the past season, mention a few highlights and numbers, and give an overview of my thoughts and feelings.

By the numbers

• We took 7 trips
• My wife and I camped 23 nights together. I had 2 additional nights on a separate trip
• We saw a total of 20 lighthouses, 9 of them we hadn’t seen before
• We pulled the camper 2,566 miles
• Between my wife and I, we took 1,578 pictures (not including those on our phones)
• There were 44 people we knew that camped with or near us on trips
• I read 5 books while on camping trips, and finished dozens of crossword puzzles

Along the way I re-discovered my love of cooking in the outdoors, as I plan to write about soon. We watched part of the Perseid Meteor Shower, and dabbled with long exposure photography. We had short trips, and one very long trip.  Some places were favorites that we visited again, while others were new.

I got to go to a NASCAR truck race on a dirt track, and enjoyed it immensely.

We probably burned 2 cords of wood in various campfires.

My wife and I played over 25 games of Scrabble (she got the better of me more times than not).

And through it all we relaxed, enjoyed the company of one another and friends, and refreshed our souls.

At the start of the 101 days of summer I pledged to make every day count. Some of these trips were outside of those 101 days, but in every case we did our best to make sure that every one of them counted.

I don’t know yet where we will camp in 2014, but I do know that wherever it is we will enjoy it to the fullest, and continue to keep our spirits fresh.