Let's do the Friday dance!!!! Yipee.....it's Friday it's Friday...... Being a shift worker I don't normally get that excited about Friday as a Monday could be a Friday for me. Anyhow, today I feel like I am on holidays. I actually was able to get my nightshift off for tonight and for tomorrow night, I can't believe it.
I remember one time in particular. I was 6 months pregnant, my eldest daughter was 7 and my other daughter was 3 1/2. We were going to camp our way to Alberta to see my brother and his family. We left our sunny home early in the morning. Knowing we would have to make numerous stops on the way to our first destination we figured it would take us about 7 hours to arrive at our final destination for the day. We made it to the Okanagan where the sun was shining it was wonderfully warm, we stopped for a picnic lunch the girls ran around and played. After that it was making our last jaunt. Our plan was to stay at a Provincial campground 30 mins. past Osoyoos. For those of you who don't know Osoyoos, it is Canada's dessert. It gets extremely dry in the summer months cactus are abundant. The temperature when we arrived was 36 degrees Celsius which is about 104 F. Stinking hot!!! Anyhow, we made a short stop there so the girls could have a swim and then moved on to our final destination. We arrived. We start to unload the car....got the first tent set up when I heard a rumbling in the distance and this big black cloud. Oh my goodness...quick honey I shouted we have to get the cover set up over the table so I have somewhere dry to cook dinner. We had one of those mesh tents with the tarp roofs for putting around your picnic table....we were frantically trying to set it up....it was to late.....the rain came...and it poured ....and it poured.....as I was holding up one end it gave way to the weight of the water and it all came pouring down off of the tarp down my back....I was soaked. The girls where shooed into the car....we couldn't use the tent for sleeping as the rain had formed a river underneath 
it....we moved what we could from the car into the driest part of the tent....we managed to get the cover over the table so I was able to make a very simple dinner.....the winds came up and it got cold....we all piled into the car. My eldest daughter got the honour of sleeping in the front seat. The back seat folded down and that is where my ex husband, my 3/12 year and me and my 6 month pregnant tummy attempted to sleep for the night.
So I have big plans for the weekend. My youngest daughter is coming to the Island for a Field hockey tournament. This tournament will be played in Victoria. That is about a 3 hour drive away from where I live. So hubby and I have decided that we are going to go down there and watch her tournament. Rather than stay in a hotel we are going to camp. I love camping. I can't say that I loved it so much when my girls where little, it was a lot of work then. I mean think about it...what is so ideal about trying to cook a meal on a camp stove underneath a tarp as the rain is teeming down. Then trying to keep your little rascals dry and comfortable. I can remember at one point, my two eldest daughters said to the father and I....do we have to go camping ......it always rains. Which it did.
I remember one time in particular. I was 6 months pregnant, my eldest daughter was 7 and my other daughter was 3 1/2. We were going to camp our way to Alberta to see my brother and his family. We left our sunny home early in the morning. Knowing we would have to make numerous stops on the way to our first destination we figured it would take us about 7 hours to arrive at our final destination for the day. We made it to the Okanagan where the sun was shining it was wonderfully warm, we stopped for a picnic lunch the girls ran around and played. After that it was making our last jaunt. Our plan was to stay at a Provincial campground 30 mins. past Osoyoos. For those of you who don't know Osoyoos, it is Canada's dessert. It gets extremely dry in the summer months cactus are abundant. The temperature when we arrived was 36 degrees Celsius which is about 104 F. Stinking hot!!! Anyhow, we made a short stop there so the girls could have a swim and then moved on to our final destination. We arrived. We start to unload the car....got the first tent set up when I heard a rumbling in the distance and this big black cloud. Oh my goodness...quick honey I shouted we have to get the cover set up over the table so I have somewhere dry to cook dinner. We had one of those mesh tents with the tarp roofs for putting around your picnic table....we were frantically trying to set it up....it was to late.....the rain came...and it poured ....and it poured.....as I was holding up one end it gave way to the weight of the water and it all came pouring down off of the tarp down my back....I was soaked. The girls where shooed into the car....we couldn't use the tent for sleeping as the rain had formed a river underneath 
it....we moved what we could from the car into the driest part of the tent....we managed to get the cover over the table so I was able to make a very simple dinner.....the winds came up and it got cold....we all piled into the car. My eldest daughter got the honour of sleeping in the front seat. The back seat folded down and that is where my ex husband, my 3/12 year and me and my 6 month pregnant tummy attempted to sleep for the night.Morning couldn't come soon enough....the rain had eased off a bit...but when we looked outside the car we saw the mess the rain had left. Everything was soaked....I mean soaked. I suggested to my ex that he take the car and see if he could find somewhere we could stay to dry out. He left and again I attempted to make something for the girls for breakfast and start to pack up. Have you ever tried to pack up a soaking wet tent...urgh. Well we make it to a motel....where we were able to get a room, and shower and warm up. The rain had stopped so we unpacked the tent and laid it out on the car to dry.....it took almost 3 days for everything to dry out. And this type of weather and experiences kept repeating itself the remaining way to my brothers. It seemed every time we decided to set up camp the clouds came and so did the rain. My goodness...did we have the tarps or what......I was never so happy as I was when we reached my brothers. The girls were really good sports about it....but they too had had enough of the rain. And that is how most of our camping experiences where....spent camping in the rain.
So I find it funny that I still enjoy camping, but I do. I love to be outdoors, I love the smores you make while sitting at the camp fire....the smell of bacon on the grill, the echo sound of someone chopping wood.....the children's laughter....the dogs barking in a distance....the crackling of the fire......yup it's camp out time this weekend.....Yippe!
16 comments:
Growing up, we had a tent trailer after dad sold the camp and every summer would find us going to various campsites. I loved it but of course, as a child, you don't think of all the work it meant for my mom! lol I do remember one time when she had just finished setting up everything in the kitchen tent, this storm blew in...it was so severe, I remember all 7 of us huddled into the tent trailer waiting for it to stop. When it was over the kitchen tent was down and all the jars of condiments (no plastic back then, all glass) had come crashing down and everything was broken all over the place. I remember mom just sitting down and crying. Now, as an adult, I can see why she was so upset!! Camping can be great but only if the weather cooperates! Good luck this weekend with your camping:-) xoxo
Isn't it the journey that is more interesting (More than the destination that is)? Have fun!
and that is why I refuse to camp until the kids are old enough to put up their own tents! lol
We'll stick to RV's, cabins/trailers and hotels/motels for now! ;)
My parents have a 33 foot RV with all the comforts of home and that kind of "roughing it" works for me!
We camped a few times the first year of our marriage...we always found it was miserable and we'd rather be home...
Ya'll have fun though!
:)
That was a great post smalltown. It brought back memories of camping for me.
We went camping on our honeymoon in Europe 46 years ago and we camped in Canada until my kids were teenagers. I loved it because there was no housework, just shake up the sleeping bags, cooking over a campstove was not easier but meals could be simpler. Remember hamburger helper, only acceptable while camping, never at home.
The only problem for me was the bears, and do I have some bear stories I could tell.
Have a great weekend
regards
jmb
Enjoy your camping trip RN. I used to love roughing it. :-)
Good luck with the camping this time around.
My family cheated, we had a trailer so rain didn't bother us too much, at the most we ended up getting cabin fever from being trapped in the trailer.
Good luck to your daughter on her Field hockey tournament. Wow, camping sounds fun. The last time I went camping, I was in high school. I've never gone camping with my family before. Must be a worthwhile experience. Thanks for sharing those memorable moments. I enjoyed reading it. You know, I've never had smores before. I know I could do it at home but I've always thought of smores as a great camping snack.
Thank you for visiting my photo hunt earlier.
Mary Anne, I hope you have a good time...:)I wanted to tell you that I started a new blog. If you click my name it should take you to it..
Back in the 70's many of my cousins used to camp out at the little park near here where we have our family reunions. One year - the first time ever that my Mom's one brother decided to tent out there with his daughter's family, after everyone went to bed that night, it poured down rain! Their tent apparently wasn't in the best location because a lot of the water came flowing into the tent and they got up very soggy in the a.m. but even in his early 70's then, my uncle loved the experience and regaled the family the next day with his interpretation of sleeping in the rain!
As a child, I loved camping and roughing it! Of course, then I had none of the work involved and all of the fun. We too, had many experiences with days upon days of rain.
As an adult I don't like camping as much! That may come from camping in Michigan's Upper Pennisula and getting sick in the middle of the night and finding a bear while outside the tent a few feet away upchucking every last item in my stomach. Hubby says as grumpy as I was, I scared the bear away!!!!
oh man, that brought back memories lol!
hope you have a great weekend camping and good luck to your daughter
I grew up camping. My father was a geologist and complete rock hound. The Gold ghost towns of Ransburg and Johannesburg, California was my backyard with Highway 49 our footpath to adventure. We would stop over in Yosemite to watch the Fire-falls and fill our canteens with the best tasting water in the water.
Although, I have no tales, quite, as bad as yours. My memories include some flash floods that I would soon forget!
I still have my mother's cast iron 12” pan. But, my father's four-man canvas tent is long gone...
I do hope your trip is safe and fun
Steve
I hope you had a great weekend.
Loved reading your camping adventure.
We're still campers, but no longer rough it! We used to camp just in a tent with two small children. No more though!!
:)
I love camping...em I loved camping..pre kids...I loved sitting in camp chair with coffee topped with brandy and reading.
You can't do that with kids.
Trying to keep them happy and NOT falling in the fire is a lot of work.
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