Out of the Wild
We went camping this weekend. It was supposed to be beautiful, no rain in the forecast. Cool bike trail. River with a pretty beach…
We woke up in the middle of our first night out to rain pounding down on our tent and it never stopped. Luckily we had borrowed a canopy so we were able to cook and eat in relatively dry conditions.
Madison LOVED it. We’ve been watching reruns of “Out of the Wild” and she really wanted to go on a weeklong trek– living off the land (instead of a 3 day camping trip) so the cold and rain made it feel sort of like we were “surviving” — which, oddly, was TOTALLY COOL!
We were wet. We were cold. Our clothes were soaked from the rain (and flooded tent) but, thanks to about 5 neighboring campers, we got a roaring fire going and I tended that fire all day long! That fire WAS NOT going to go out (or we were done) because it was such a nice “moral booster”. There was a little store nearby and Wes made about 3 trips for more firewood. I think we could have paid for a nice hotel room for what we spent on firewood in one day.
This morning we woke up bright and early to brake camp in pouring rain and get the heck out of Dodge!
BUT WE HAD A GREAT TIME!
We haven’t been camping in 10 years. Now I remember why we generally go for a cabin for our “Out of the Wild”-like adventures!
What awesome fun did you have this LONG holiday weekend? Hope you were warm and dry!
You are such a trooper. I HATE camping. The only thing worse than camping is camping in the rain. A couple years ago, we went camping, and there was a torrential downpour in mid-evening. Everyone (we were camping with our best friends) retired to their separate tents, and commenced with going stir-crazy with small children in a very confined space for over an hour. It was the longest hour of my life! I literally thought I was losing my mind. I finally let out a silent scream, grabbed a flashlight (by then it was getting dark), and RAN away from camp. I had to get some air and sanity. Luckily the rain stopped a few short seconds after I took off. The rest of the trip was better, but just thinking about that rain storm makes my skin crawl and makes me want to scream. How many times have I been camping when it hasn’t rained all night? Exactly 0. May be why I don’t like camping?
What a visual! Andrea running full on away from the crowded tent in the pouring rain screaming and flailing her arms…(I added the last part because that is literally what I would have done.)
I think 10 years from now I’ll be too old to even try to muster enough enthusiasm for a night in a tent. We should just give it away now and save ourselves the trouble of hauling it around with us for the next decade!
Rain and thunderstorms are my favorite weather, I love camping, and to my mind, there is nothing more cozy than a tent with the raining pouring down. Preferably not leaking into the tent! You made precious memories.
Saturday was the baby shower for my granddaughter’s coming baby, she is due the end of November. It was lovely, but it took me all day yesterday to recover, I was TIRED!
Congratulations on your coming grand baby!
I too love rainy weather. I love to cozy up to the fire and read a good book while it drizzles or pours outside. I just like to be dry. LOL
I feel for you! We used to camp on the Oregon Coast every August. Out of the 10 years we went, we had one year that it poured for all five nights. By the last night, it started dripping on us inside the tent. Needless to say, it took a long time to get everything cleaned up after that year… But the good memories are there too! 🙂
Pam
We had our ground covering extended beyond our tent the first night so the water ran back under the tent and of course up through the “floor”. It’s been so long we don’t even remember HOW to camp right. LOL Our neighboring camper helped us rearrange everything so we stayed dry the next night but when everything is already wet and it’s wet outside so there’s no way to dry anything…it’s a losing battle which is why we high tailed it out of there bright and early the last morning. We were all determined to make it through the entire planned trip so when we woke up, we were all, “We made it. Now let’s get out of here!” LOL