Location...Location...Location...

Lake Cascade is a beautiful spot not far from Boise and we are fortunate to camp there often with our family in our tent trailer. Part of the appeal is the the short drive to Lake Cascade and the lazy days spent relaxing not too far from home. Until this weekend our camp site location has never been too much of a concern. For the most part we have been lucky in our landings and have really loved our camping weekends. Mr. Blackvelvetrav took to the road on Wednesday morning with Lizman to get us set up for our camping weekend. I received a 30 second call from him that was a snap shot into what he encountered. "Hi, it's me. There is only 1 camp site left on the lake and it's next to the road. I need to go the camp host is walking over."

I was not sure what to expect from the call but I was not fearful as I am often off boxing or exploring and do not hover around camp too much. Still I knew he was at a different camp ground and he sounded a little panicked. Not a good sign for a man who is as cool as a cucumber.

With businesses they say the three most important components of success are location, location, location. I discovered this weekend the same is true with camp sites. Having arrived in Cascade after GreenJello's visit I encountered what it is like to camp in the middle of an express way. Not only were we situated next to the road but in addition we were in between the road and the parking for the tent campers. That was not all. We were at the entrance to the camp ground and there was a boat launch at the back of the camp. We just spent 5 1/2 days with a constant stream of large rig vehicles, people and dogs walking through, in and around our camp site. At one point I timed how often one of the above mentioned went by and I could not time a full minute of peace.

The camp host was a wonderful man who did everything he could to pack in as many tents as the area would accommodate. Unfortunately it meant more and more campers being added with a maze of cars piling up each day. And every new tent camper came along with kids, dogs and pounds and pounds of camping necessities. Some individuals were even rude enough to actually stand in our camp site as they repeatedly yelled at their kids or dogs. I even thought some of the families walking through our site must be unloading clown cars because the stream of stuff seemed to never end. You don't even want to get me started on the person who threw firecrackers from their car next to our tent trailer, the giant family who all thought we loved mariachi music at full blast, the man who set off his car alarm every morning at about 6 a.m. (hello!) or the torrential downpour Wednesday night.

Locaton...Location...Location...