Tales from the Campground
So yeah, we went camping last weekend. Sun Lakes is about a four-hour drive from Seattle. A hot four-hour drive. By the time we got there, we were all ready to be out of the car for a while. We were not, however, ready to be out of the car and into the easy reach of the two humongous guard dogs that were lurking at the campsite next to the one we’d reserved. As Shane pulled into our site, I told him not to bother unpacking the car. There was no way in hell I was going to spend the weekend stressed about the safety of my kid.
Note: I am all for pit-bull rescue. I am against breed-specific bans. But I am not okay with testosterone-loaded, speed-boat-driving, cigarette-smoking pit-bull-using folks. I’m just not. I’ll trust my mama instincts on this one. I feel sorry for the dogs in these cases, but I don’t want them anywhere near my kid. Period.
So I marched straight to the campground office and got us a new campsite. No problemo. We were promptly moved to a lovely site near the golf course.
Yes, golf course. There was also mini-golf, paddle boats for rent, a water-balloon throwing course, and lots of cheap beer for sale. This was American camping, people. We’d decided that we needed at least one big, noisy camping trip this year, and this was it.
We were actually pretty happy on our little patch of heaven until a group of guys came in and basically took up the entire communal lawn space with their regulation-sized volleyball court. This was made even more irritating by the fact that they seemed to lack the physical skills necessary to actually play volleyball. They attempted to make up for said lack of skills by doing quite a lot of talking. And yelling. At one point, they were using the term “girl” in a very derisive manner (as in, “you suck, you girl.” It happened that Shane and Lina were around when this happened, and before I had time to start a fist fight with anyone, my fabulous husband said, “Hey! Don’t put girls down!” Or one of them will kick your lame asses without breaking a sweat, I said under my breath.
But we had fun, and Lina took part in her first real hike. I believe that the high point, for her, was going for a paddleboat ride. Or maybe this was just the high point for me. My sister and I used to rent paddleboats at the lakes near our childhood home, and I was reminded of how much fun we used to have. Shane and I also had fun jumping into the lake from the boat. Lina sat on her little perch between us, bundled up in her bright orange life preserver, happy as a clam. I believe she was also sucking on a lollipop during that time, which further increased her level of satisfaction with the overall situation. Seriously, I think the kid was in heaven.
The one quirk that emerged is that she’s afraid of bugs. Seattle isn’t a terribly buggy place, so she doesn’t interact with bugs on a daily basis like I did when I was a kid. Anyway, there were times she’d freak out a little when she encountered a bug. I just stayed calm and reminded her that the bug was probably afraid of her, too. We saw a magnificent (but dead) beetle near the restrooms one morning. It was probably two inches long. She didn’t want to be anywhere near the thing. I hope to eventually ease her fears a bit. Somehow.
Overall, it was another successful camping adventure. We’re off to Orcas Island to camp with some friends in a few weeks, which should be cool. Bugs and all.