A Not-so-successful Foray into the World of Camping
I’m sitting in a ten-year old van with 3 other girls, bracing myself for what I’m sure is my imminent death. Why the heck did we think this was going to be a good idea?!
The summer before sixth grade, my best friends and I decided we wanted to go on a fun trip to the beach before middle school started. We found out the camping by the Jersey Shore would only cost us $30 dollars a night! After an unusually successful Koolaid stand in our neighborhood ($75 in two days), we raised enough money to go. Weekend at the beach, here we come! Natalee brought her carp fishing rods with her in an attempt to catch us some dinner. To be honest, she’s a real fishing bore going on about carp luggage carryalls and carp unhooking mats and all the other finer details of carp fishing….snooze!
Anyway, our abysmal attempt at putting up the tent should have been our first warning that this trip was doomed. Natalee hit her thumb with a mallet while trying to insert a stake into the ground. She promptly fainted at the sight of her blood. The first night sleeping in the tent, Anne vomited all over the tarp-like bottom after a bad turn with a really sugary Slushie.
And just when things couldn’t get worse, a severe thunderstorm rolled in just as we we’re falling asleep. Lightning struck the ground around us and heavy rain pelted our flimsily erected tent.
We were left with no choice but to abandon ship and sleep in our van. When we look back on this camping trip as adults, we always end up in tears with laughter. Our attempts at camping have been more successful since then, but I will never forget that first camping-trip-that-wasn’t.