Okay, so that title may be a little off, but not by much:)
When you say camping, some people are all about it, like set up a tent, use no electricity, etc. That's not me. And then you have some people who would not set foot on a campsite. That's not me either. I'm somewhere in the middle. Here is my camping style. We take the camper, we have electricity, I take the coffee pot, I love to lay out in the sun, and swim in the river, all the while making sure there aren't any bugs or crawdads near me. Hey, I'm spending the night in the woods, not in my bed, so that IS camping. You may think otherwise. And you're wrong. :) My husband, on the other hand, would sleep in a tent, use only flashlights for light at night, drink his coffee from a percolator, and really rough it in the great outdoors. He's a bit off...hehe!
Let me set the scene: every summer, my fam of 5 plus my mother in law, sister in law, her 2 kids, my husband's aunt and uncle, their grown kids and grand kids, and this year, my husband's uncle and aunt from Illinois go camping for 4 or 5 days at the Buffalo National Park near Yellville, Arkansas. It's roughly 2 hours away. Not so far that its a long drive, but far enough that we are getting away. It is breathtaking there. The bluffs, the trails, the river is so clean. It's just perfect. This year there were 18 people who camped. We reserve campsites side by side that way we are all together. We eat, swim, take walks, sunbathe, eat, play, eat, and did I mention, we eat?That's pretty much it. And it is glorious.
Okay, rewind about one month. I've said it before, so you know by now, I am a list maker. A planner. An organizer. So about a month before we leave, I started a list. Well, my first list of many. I think it was the "things to buy" list. I also started a "things to pack" list. I added a couple of things to that list, and never touched it again until about 2 days before we left. That's where it all went down hill. You just cannot make an accurate list only 2 days before you leave!!!! So long story short, I ended up just jotting things down at the last minute, and you know what that means, you forget things. More on that later. I'll give you a hint, it wasn't the camera this time! I just tried to fit too many things in this summer which has us going around like chickens with our heads cut off. This is the last summer we have together before my oldest starts kindergarten, so we are enjoying every second of it!!
We leave on Saturday night, (when the hubs gets home from work) and arrive at the camp at about 9:30. Not ideal, but we were so excited to get there, we didn't want to wait until Sunday morning to leave. We get the camper and everything set up, and hit the sack. I should also mention, that before we got there, it had rained for about 2 hours. That would set off a chain of events that almost made us pack up and come home :o
The next morning, we got up, made coffee, had breakfast, and then headed for the river. We stayed until lunch time, then went back to the campsite for lunch. It started raining. We had everything out. Chairs, dry towels and clothes on the line. And it rained. And rained. And rained. For THREE straight days. Now, it wasn't an all day and all night, build an ark kind of rain, although, that was considered. It would rain for a while, then quit, only to start up again. On Monday, I was listening to a local radio station, and they said that the last record for rainfall was set in 1964, and it was about an inch. Well guess what, that record was broke that day! It rained 2.6 inches. Ugh. Wet chairs, wet towels, wet clothes, everything was just wet. And it was miserable. We spent a lot of time in the camper. Playing cards, doing crafts (thanks to my mother in law for bringing those). It was just hard. The kids were ready to be out of there!!! And so were the adults!!
On Tuesday, we had planned to having cheeseburgers for dinner, and my husband had just got them on the grill, when, you guessed it, it started raining. Oy. At this point, he just said, "forget it. I'm cooking." So my sister in law, bless her heart, stood out there with an umbrella holding it over the grill while he cooked. I had to stay in the camper with the kids, and set up the table so we could eat in there. It was a sacrifice I was willing to make :) By the time they were done, they were both soaked. Wait, soaked is a huge understatement. I don't even know the word to explain what they were. But the burgers were fabulous! Thanks, babe!
It did rain a little Wednesday, but we were able to enjoy the sunshine most of Wednesday and all day Thursday. We have been camping together like this for the past 9 or 10 years, and this is the first time this has happened. It was nuts!!!
But, we did have a great time, and made memories, and that's what it's all about!! The hubs and I plan on going back in October for our 10 year anniversary, and hopefully the rain will stay away!! And I will remember the pillows this time. Yes, that's right, that's what I forgot. My husband's aunt came to the rescue, and had 4 extra ones for us. I love her. Hey, I definitely wasn't on my A game when it came to planning and packing this time. It won't happen again. I hope. :)
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