Baby’s First Camping Trip

Otherwise known as camping to celebrate Ben’s birthday.  It was definitely an adventure!  Three weeks ago we made our camping reservations for First Landing State Park – just about 10 minutes from our house, on the beach of the Chesapeake Bay. 

 

The weather did not cooperate with our camping reservation.  It has rained everyday this week.  When Ben checked the weather on Thursday he was encouraged that the weekend forecast was only a 40% chance of rain.

 

When Ben arrived at work on Friday morning, he discovered that he had appointments until 7 pm.  There were scattered showers during the day, but the downpour came around 5 pm.  Apparently God knew when it was going to rain, so He scheduled Ben to work late.  We arrived at our campsite around 7:30 pm, just as the rain stopped!  We were able to pitch the tent and start the fire.  By this time Baby was very hungry!

 

It was really a cool evening compared to the weather which we have been experiencing.  However, because of all of the rain we also experienced about 96% humidity!  Sitting around a campfire was a little too warm for my pregnant thermostat! 

 

We had a simple dinner of hotdogs roasted over the fire.  As I took the first bite (in the dark, with only the fire for flickering light), all of the catsup slid off my hot dog and landing right in the middle of my shirt.  “Oh well, I’m camping” was my thought.  The next catastrophe occurred when I went to get a bun for Ben’s hotdog.  I got out of my chair and assumed that I could make it back to the picnic table without a flashlight.  I was doing very well until I stepped on my soda can.  I hit it just right, crushing the can, and sending a fountain of coke spraying over me & Ben.  Combine klutz, pregnant, dark, and wet ground and you have our night camping!

 

We had our devotions, roasted a few marshmallows, and played a game of backgammon before hitting the sack.  The condition placed upon this camping trip was that I was only going if the air mattress would fit in the tent.  We have a small 7 x 7 tent, but Ben assured me that it would fit.  The only problem was it lifted us high enough off the ground that Ben didn’t fit – his legs were too long!  He didn’t sleep so great, needless to say. 

 

My brilliant idea in the heat and humidity was to remove the rain cover so that the air would circulate in the tent better.  If it started raining in the night I just figured Ben could jump out and put the cover back over the tent.  He convinced me that this was not a good plan.  Ben said we would get soaked if it did start raining, and that it would start with a big rain drop right in my eyes. 

 

I relented and the rain cover stayed in place.  I was laying back down and adjusting my pillows when suddenly a huge drop of water fell from the trees above, through the screen window on the back of the tent, and landed smack between my eyes.  So much for the rain cover!

 

After packing up most of our campsite this morning, we decided to take a walk on some of the trails.  It was very humid and I was sweaty and tired and  cranky.  He assured me that the loop was only a quarter mile.  However, the trails were not marked very well and we came to a crossroads with no signs.  We ended up on a different loop – the longer one.  Finally we found a sign and it said “Visitors Center” with an arrow the opposite direction.  We backtracked and finally came out of the humid swamps at the Visitors Center.  My quarter mile had turned into a couple of miles, and I was tired. 

 

We finished packing up and headed for home and a nice shower.  I came home convinced that I definitely a city girl, and Ben came home determined to “toughen me up!”  And that was Baby’s First Camping Trip!