Sometimes when you have a mostly unplanned camping trip, you also get some unexpected campsites. We had two very different, both very memorable campsites on this trip.
Campsite Beautiful
Since this was a trip without a plan, we did not have campsites picked out ahead of time. When we were in Kansas, we started looking for a campsite well before dark. According to the map, there was one near us. But the map, and the roads, and the signage did not seem to agree on where to find the campsite… Turns out the campsite was at one end of the lake and we had turned into the access for the other end.
By the time we ended up finding the campsite, we were all a little frazzled. And it was getting quite dark. So we just took an available site and pitched camp without looking around much. When we got up the next morning, we discovered a beautiful campground surrounded by HUGE trees. I never thought of Kansas as having big trees, but these were so big is took all the kids to encircle one. I would actually love to go back there and recreate the picture, now that the kids are so much bigger.
The kids had lots of fun exploring the campground and we would have liked to stay another night, but needed to press on in order to get to the wedding which was our destination.
So we crossed into Missouri and visited Prairie State Park. If you have never visited, it is well worth the trip. The park has trails across the prairie, a bison herd, and a nice, interactive museum. We had a great time, but it was a little early to stop for the night (plus the kids were a bit leery about camping across the fence from the bison), so we headed off toward Springfield.
Campsite Rough
When we got to Springfield, the local KOA just had cement slabs next to the railroad tracks, so we decided to press on. According to the map, there was a campsite in the Mark Twain National Forest not too far away. The map lied.
We drove for it seemed like forever. We ended up eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the car (my husband does not consider peanut butter actual food) rather than cooking the BBQ chicken we had planned. Finally, after dark, we arrive at a campground.
We couldn’t really see anything, but found a sight by flashlight. At least we were guessing we had the right spot, since there was a picnic table nearby. When we set up the tent we spent quite a while pulling rocks out from under it so we could be somewhat comfortable as we slept. I had not realized how rocky the Ozarks were until we camped there.
We couldn’t find the water in the dark, so just cleaned up the kids with wet wipes and tried to fall asleep. There were still quite a few rocks under us. Next, the noise. We had no idea what was making all the noise around us. We found out later that Missouri has tree frogs that are very noisy at night.
When we woke up the next morning, we discovered that the reason we did not find the water hydrant the night before is that there wasn’t one. So we 
drained the drink cooler to boil water for coffee and hot cocoa. We then ate a quick breakfast and backtracked to Springfield to visit Bass Pro Shop. This was a destination requested by my husband and kids, and it turned out to be lots of fun and way more than just a store. Although a store full of camping and outdoor equipment was cool, too.
These two campsites that were so different from each other both contributed to our very memorable trip. It really went against my nature (control, control, control!) to have such an off-the-cuff, spontaneous trip, but it turned out to be one of our favorites. Take the time to make memories with your family. It will give you lots of pleasure talking about them for years to come.