What an adventure it was.
I have not uploaded any pictures or anything yet, other than this one:
Martini was WOOOORN OOOOOUT After our morning hike yesterday.
So, yes, our first ever camping adventure was just that.
D, the girls, and I went up on Friday afternoon as soon as we got off work to make sure we could get a campsite since Rock Island only takes reservations 1 week out, and none had been made for the group of us yet. We left and it started raining... it rained the entire way, until it stopped raining for a few minutes to begin POURING. We eventually made it in about 2:15 (It was supposed to be 1:28 according to google maps), and tried to figure out how to set up this tent... you know, in the rain. It stopped for about 10 minutes, which was just enough time for us to get the tarp down, tent up, rain cover on, and run back into the car for the next downpour. Then it quit for a few, and we had made a list of things we didn't bring but would like to have (i.e. playing cards, massive amounts of liquor, gigantic rainwater-powered wind fans, 100-foot in diameter umbrella, etc.) and D went to the market, while I took the big plastic bin and blew up the air mattress, then put the fitted sheet down, made the bed, fluffed the pillows, put the dogs' beds in the tent... and OH YEAH THAT IS ALL THAT FIT IN THE TENT! hahaha
---> We borrowed this tent from my brother and his fiancee'. We've never been camping before, so we didn't have one, and didn't feel like buying one if we didn't LIKE camping, so we borrowed. Didn't realize that tents aren't all the large ones that you can basically walk around in and sleep 10. Oops.
SO, I get all this crap set up, he gets back... with cards and candy. NO massive amounts of liquor to entertain ourselves, no industrial-sized rainwater-powered FAN to keep me cool, or 100 ft diameter umbrellas... Nothing to do, 80 degrees and humid/still kinda raining, what can we do? We sit in the tent and talk about playing cards... we then laid there for the next 5 hours and covered and uncovered the tent with the rain and listened to the crazy lady across the way talk to someone LOUDLY. Her children also kept getting things out of their car, which made the Jeep's lights TURN ON and shine right into our tent all 5 times they did this. Saturday 5 am sunup time was incredibly pleasant for me.
---->Apparently, tents also mean you wake up when the sun comes up bc it shines in them!
WHO DOES this for FUN?
We did some hiking, then went back to our campground and waited on Shannon, Blaine, and Carolyn to get there while we played cards.
I don't remember a whole lot more stuff because I'm so tired, but eventually we made hot-dogs and veggie burgers, had dinner, and played Rummy... which we had to work on some people learning, and I got told that I am apparently "intense" and "high strung" and that "it's just cards" and all this crap. Whatever. It's a GAME, which means there has to be a WINNER and a LOSER and I need to be the WINNER and if I WIN I get to GLOAT. Seriously. Where is the issue?
So I'm a little competitive.
After that was S'MORES time, where we all demonstrated our inability to build a fire. Thank God that one of the other campsites' people had diesel fuel, and they dumped it on our logs to start our fire. :o)
I then proceeded to get S'more remnants all over me. As in Chocolate all over my mouth, arms, chest, clothes, etc. Because I like to make my S'mores differently than most people. I like to heat the mallows, then put them on top of the chocolate on the graham cracker, and then hold that open-faced s'more over the fire so it allllll melts together... Seriously. Try it.
Today, up at 5:30 (SLEEPIN LAAAATE)
Picked up after ourselves
Packed up tents and crap
Made breakfast (leftover hot-dogs on sandwich bread)
Went hiking/rock climbing/tried to kill our less-experienced friends in the gorge
Went to the "beach" and played ball with the dogs/tried to drown Carmen by throwing two balls in the water at one time and she couldn't figure out which one to get... and laid in the sun, got sand in all cracks and crevices, etc. and then came home.
So incredibly tired.
It turned out to be a great weekend for camping- with the exception of Friday night. The weather was perfect- sunny, hot, crazy hot, but then pretty nice in morning and night (at least Saturday), and waking up to the sunshine in the morning gradually is a very gentle way to do it. Much easier to get up at 5:30 that way than 5:30 to the alarm or 5:30 to a LIGHT TURNED ON haha It was nice.
No shower. No hair brush. Dirty feet. Smell like firewood. Exhausted. Almost sunburned.
Overall- I think we'll do it again... with a bigger tent, better cooler, battery powered fan and radio, and tethers to tie the dogs to so we don't have to keep up with them/their leashes constantly. And in the end of September... when it's cooler at night!!!
Maybe I'll post pictures one day when I upload the suckers. :)
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