I’ve told you about preparing for our trip, now on to the fun of the trip itself!
The state park we went to is one that we’ve gone to three times before – the last time we went camping at a different state park that had some less than pleasant surprises, we agreed we’d go back to our favorite campsite in the future. The park is called Greenbriar State Park, in Boonsboro, MD, about an hour and a half away. One thing we especially like about this park is that there’s a beach for swimming and fishing, in addition to the hiking trails.
We usually choose the campsite closest to the path that leads to the lake, but since it was prime camping season when we went this time, our usual site would be in the middle of where everyone was walking. We got there and told them we’d like to drive around and pick the site we liked before registering, and found a site we were really happy with. The way the campgrounds are set up is like this: in the center is a public bathroom. Then in a ring around that are campsites, a ring around that is the road that people use to access the campsites, and then the final ring around it is campsites.
We chose a site that was across from the bathroom (important in the middle of the night, when it’s nice to have an easily followed path), but on the outer loop. Even though there were a lot of people camping when we got there, the sites across from us and on each side of us were empty. On one side of our site was a forested area, with a stream running through – the kids could explore this huge area and I was able to easily keep them in sight the entire time. There was a path from there to the fishing part of the beach, and since the entire time we were there we only once saw people there, it was like our personal path and forest. It really didn’t feel that different from when we’re the only people there!
The first thing we did when we got there was to set up both tents. I had wanted to bring only one (keeping it simple!) but the kids asked to take both, so I agreed on condition the site we chose had room for them. I took ds2 for a walk to the lake while the older kids set up the tents – he was out of sorts from sleeping in the car and being woken up abruptly, so keeping him happily occupied made things more pleasant for everyone. Ds3 and ds5 explored the stream and forest next to the site in the meantime, and then everyone collected firewood.
When I got back, the tents were up, the campfire was going, and a lot of the things unpacked. I heard a distant rumble and asked the kids if they heard anything. It was sunny and nice out, and they said they thought it was an airplane. I wasn’t so sure, and when I heard the distant rumble again a couple of minutes later, I told them we needed to get the rain flys on the tents. As they were putting it on, I was racing to get all the gear into the tent with the better rain cover, and put away all the food and supplies that had been unpacked. Ds12 told me he didn’t see any point, that it wasn’t going to rain and if it did, it would take at least a half hour until it got there. I told him we’d need it and to get it up fast; not even a minute later the wind started to blow and I warned the kids that a storm was coming fast – and within a minute of saying that, the rain started to pour. (This was about five minutes from when the sky looked clear and the rumble had been so distant that we could hardly make it out.)
The rain fly on the main tent wasn’t fully on yet, but it mostly was so it stayed dry as ds12 and dd14 worked to get it totally on. Then they put on the fly for the other tent – I told them to forget about it and come inside the first tent, but I think they were enjoying working in the pouring rain together. 🙂 We had started a campfire for dinner, planning to cook hamburgers, but our fire was quenched by the rain; even after the storm was over, the forest was soaked so there was no dry wood to be found. So I brought sliced bread, butter, jam, and canned vegetables into the tent to have for dinner instead.
After the storm cleared, we decided to take a walk to the beach, so everyone got into their bathing suits (except me and dd14 – she no longer has a modest bathing suit that fits, and mine is a maternity one so I wasn’t going to wear that). When we got to the beach, we were the only people there – they closed the beach for 90 minutes because of the storm, so all the day visitors who were there left. We were the first ones on the beach after the beach reopened, and after that only two other families came (who were also camping there), so we each had our own spacious section of the beach to ourselves. I hadn’t been sure we’d be able to go to the beach at all since it’s such a popular place in the summer, and not exactly filled with modestly clad people. So this was really, really a nice bonus resulting from the storm.
We got out a few minutes before 9 pm and headed back to the campsite. Since it was almost dark, I said it was time for bed. But ds12 wanted to get the campfire started – he said it didn’t feel like a camping trip without a campfire – and the littles didn’t want to stay in the tent when they could hear the action all around them. Dd10 figured out how to get the hurricane lamp working (the second lamp was defective), and between that and the electric lantern we had, we had some dim light at the campsite.
I started our new readaloud by Joan Aiken, The Serial Garden, which was easy to get into, and easy to see thanks to the camping headlight that I strapped to my forehead! When it was just a few minutes to ten, I told ds12 he had four minutes to get the fire started and then it was bedtime for everyone.
Remarkably, after almost an hour of trying, he got it started in those few minutes, and we all sat around singing together. (Every time we go camping, I think that we should make a booklet of songs that we like to sing that we could pass out, but I haven’t yet done that.) After about an hour, I put the littles to bed (or should I say, to sleeping bag?), and went to sleep myself. The kids had asked if I could stay in one tent with the littles so that they could have a ‘party’ tent, and I agreed. I didn’t have a very restful night, since ds2 and ds3 kept waking up and being frightened since they didn’t know where they were, so I would quickly wake up each time to reassure them. I heard the middles and dd14 drying out their tent and then talking together until late into the night.
Avivah
