About that Camping Trip....finally.

It was a wonderful camping weekend and nothing ruined it, but there were unexpected elements. First, we had planned this surprise for the kids all week. Chris has been working a lot and we finally had a day off to spend just as a family without any outside influence (read: no cell phone towers for miles.) But the morning of, the sky threatened storms. Not rain. Storms. We packed up anyway.

We put up our tent with rumbling thunder threatening at any moment to pour on us. It was exciting. The air was charged and we were a focused team on a mission. But it never rained. We spent hours lighting a fire with wet wood. And it was fun. Lots of fun.

No cell phone towers also means no bathrooms. No showers. No electricity. It was a very remote, simple campground. We had a clearing for a tent and a short hike to a port-a-potty. Roughing it.

There were only 2 other campers in the entire campground and we had solitude. Delicious solitude. Until 10:00 at night. Just as Chris and I blew out the lantern and snuggled down to sleep, several trucks screeched in and blazed the area with their headlights. Lots of people. Lots of loud people. And, how nice, they handled that electricity problem by bringing their own car batteries with which to hook up their sound system. They proceeded to party LOUDLY all night long. Until about 4:00 a.m.

At 6:00 a.m., one of the original campers set off their car alarm and shouted "Wake Up Call!" in an attempt to make them feel a dose of their own medicine. I was up and walking to the box of stench port-a-potty and got to see him do it. I didn't sleep all night.

Not only was there music, but we also had raccoons. Poor Chris. I woke him up to announce that there was something out there. He didn't care. "No! It's something big!" I hissed. But my hissing was followed by the unmistakable chatter of raccoons. The next morning we discovered that raccoons know how to open coolers. They removed our Hershey bars and our cheese. Nothing else. They managed to open every last chocolate bar. Eddie the Rack got my chocolate.

Not only were there raccoons, but I heard growling. I woke up Chris (one of about half a dozen times) to announce that a bear was outside. "Uh. No." But I insisted I'd heard it growling. He rolled over and started snoring. Turns out, it was Joel's stomach.

The next day, our "friendly" campers started their music again at about 9:00. Heavy Metal. Very Heavy. We were having to speak loudly to hear each other over it and they were camped no where near us! Finally, someone from the parks department came and the music ended.

One of the best parts of camping is the quiet. You know? Well, maybe you don't. Maybe you're like us and this is pretty much the same strange twist in the story of every camping trip you make. But it makes a good story. It's always a comfort, in any miserable situation, to remember that you get to blog about it later.

Pin It