Miss Priss Goes Camping

The family headed north just before the 4th of July and landed in Colorado. Usually we meet up with Dad's parents/siblings at the condo during this week. This year, we were very fortunate to add my mom, dad and grandmother to the group.

One of the items on the agenda for the week was to take the kids camping. Dad and Rowdy were so excited about a night under the stars. Petunia was more worried about bears and really wanted to stay back at the Condo with Auntie M's dogs. I had NEVER had a good camping experience with Dad and was certainly NOT looking forward to it.

Dad and Papa got up early the morning of the 4th of July and scouted out the "perfect" campsite. After a day of celebrating in town, we all headed up to the campsite to cook hamburgers for dinner. At one point in the evening my dad spoke with my brother on the phone. My brother couldn't stop laughing at the thought of me, self-proclaimed Miss Priss, spending the night in the middle of the forest in a tent. Thus, Nana took a picture for proof ...

Dinner went off without a hitch. Papa even had the opportunity to enjoy a cup of Joe from Dad's fancy-dancy coffee maker.

Just about the time we were cleaning up, a large grey cloud appearred. It was almost like you could hear it .... Dummm dummmm dummmmm. The rain gods were ushering in an evening of festivities for us. Let the "fun" begin.

All the extended family loaded up and headed back to their respective "homes" and left the four of us on the top of a mountain to spend the night. Not 10 minutes after they left, the largest rain/thunder/lighting storm I think I have ever seen appeared. Am I just a glutten for punishment?

So, what do you do in a situation like this? Why of course you load up in the minivan, pop in a DVD and wait it out. Dad tried to get an idea of how bad the storm was on his Blackberry.

After about 30 minutes, the lightening stopped so we proceeded to the tent and huddled into our sleeping bags. Need I say the partially WET sleeping bags? Petunia and Rowdy sacked out quickly. Dad and I had a little bit of a harder time. We both slept in short spurts. It WAS rather cold - a mere 45 that night. I was not at all happy to bare my tush at 3:30 a.m. when I had to go potty!

So, let me recap for you ....

Miss Priss went camping to be a good sport. She slept in a wet tent with a wet sleeping bag, peed in the woods and smelled like a campfire for days. She ate food cooked over a campfire and washed her hands in the river. I think she paid her dues for this year.