When it rains it pours...at least when we're camping

After our last two camping experiences of getting soaked, you think we'd listen to the weather before we pack up enough camping equipment for a whole scout troop and head to the beach. We heard that there was a slight chance of rain but what does the weather man know? Last time he predicted severe winter weather and school got canceled for nothin. So we packed up the coolers, the sleeping bags, the tarps, the tent, the camp chairs, the firewood, the cooking utinsels, the lantern, our clothes- pretty much half the stuff we own minus one very important detail, pillows! And I thought that would be the worst of our troubles.

We drove down to Crystal Beach which is about 2 hours from our house. We got to take a free car ferry ride to get to the beach which was a fun surprise.

It was dark by the time we got to the beach so we set up the campsite in the dark. Our cars got stuck a couple of times in the soft sand which was just the beginning of our adventures on Crystal Beach. Once we got everything set up, we were feeling pretty good. The stars were beautiful, the waves were crashing just a few feet away and it was perfect weather for camping on the beach. We busted out the bratwursts, s'mores, and banana boats and had a tasty dinner.

We started noticing how humid it was. Everything that was out was wet in a few minutes. Even the graham crackers were getting soggy. We were thinking this is so weird, why is it so humid? Well duh, a tropical storm was on it's way in and we didn't even know it. And we were right there sitting on our little camping chairs on the edge of the ocean like we were just asking for it.

We went to bed and fell asleep, even without pillows. (Mitch had spent about 5 minutes trying to get a blanket to work for a pillow, the poor guy.) About two hours later, we woke up to some rain on the roof of our tent. I don't remember being surprised at all because I am so used to being rained on in our tent. And speaking of tents, I think they are very decieving. I don't know why I feel so safe sleeping in a bunch of fabric and poles when I have to double bolt the door to our house. Back to the rain. Soon after the rain came extreme wind, blinding lightining, and earth shaking thunder. I woke up with the other side of the tent (it's a pretty big tent) a few inches away from my face. I panicked and went to wake up Mitch and he was already awake just staring up at the other side of the tent and looked like he had been up for a while. I said Mitch look at the tent it's going to fall over! He was like where have you been for the last three hours? Asleep I guess. I asked him what have you been doing? "For the past 3 hours I have been calculating how many miles away the lightning is and thinking that every car's headlights was a car about to run into our tent and kill us." I wonder if it was the lack of a pillow, the tent pole digging into his leg, the rain dripping on his face, or the blinding lightning that kept him from sleeping.

 I woke up a few more times to ask Mitch what time it was, each time hoping he would say time to pack up.  The sun finally came up, but the rain didn't stop, it got worse. Right when we started taking down the tent and trying to put everything in the cars, it started raining harder than I have ever seen before. It was amazing! In just a few seconds, I was as wet as if I had just jumped in the ocean. Our campsite which was dry the night before was a river! Mariah and Brad were practically floating on their air mattress. We shoved everything into our car and just had to laugh at what a crazy night we had just had.

    Everything was a mess and it took all of Saturday just to get everything dried, washed, and swept off. We had brought stuff with us to make breakfast, but we decided to just head home and make it somewhere with a roof. We had some good laughs about the night and after Mitch told everyone that each time he saw car lights he thought, "this is it, we're done," Jerrick, who was sleeping closest to the tent door, said that he had tied to the zippers together cause he started thinking about how easy it would be for some creep to stick his hands through the door and strangle him. I guess your mind starts thinking pretty crazy stuff when you're up all night counting lightning and thunder.

I'm so grateful for a dry and now clean house! I still love camping, but next time, I'm listening to the weather man.