Shorts about the camping trip: Part One

Our camping trip was a learning experience. I was raised being told, "You hate bugs! You like to shop!" In reality I was a miserable little teenager and I think that my parents told me that just for the excuse to not take me along. I knew this and decided that when they took me camping, they never gave me a job. They should have made me the camp cook so i could stay at the camp site and man the fire and keep things going. I get sad hooking fish (can fish eat again after you catch and release them?) and I really do not like bugs. I was wearing a v-neck t-shirt with slight cleavage and my husband was amused that insects kept flying down it.

But-- first things first. On Friday we went to a site in Eagle River. We wanted to hike around that damned Eklutna Lake (damned because of my obsession-- I have no qualms with the lake.) I chose a site that I did not know had been taken. (My husband was supposedly "right behind" me. He would get there three hours later.) While waiting for Darrin, the kids got out and I unloaded a few things. People kept walking by and we were referred to as the very large family and they were asking me how they managed to get along. I would always say, "If they don't behave in public, they stay home."

"Do they get along at home?"

"No. They like going out!"

That was funny.

Rigth after my husband showed up, the woman and her huge entouage who'd reserved the space came by, they came by with a ranger. They drove past us several times and I finally asked what was wrong. The woman was blubbering and pointing fingers and I was like, "Hey, we are new to this. Why did you get a ranger? We'll leave. Karma kisses to you and yours, have a great time." I asked if she would pose with me for my blog but she wouldn't.

At this point it was 9:30 and not a space was available in the Eagle River area. I thought it was funny that we were trading our roughly one acre piece of land for much smaller plots to sleep in tents and sleeping bags with portapotties at least 100 yards away.

We drove and we drove. My husband grew up in Eagle River and we kept driving. Aroudn midnight I was getting hissy. We went home but stopped at a camp ground near Palmer. We got out and Princess Cloud, at 12:30 in the morning, started yelling her joy that we'd found a place. We got back in the vehicles.