Family Camping Fail

Family camping did not go nearly as well as I had hoped. I should have seen the fact that the boat was running well as an omen of impending suckage.

Setting up our (my) new tent went well, but when we went to put on the rain fly, it seemed rather small. And loose.

Then, out of nowhere, the sunny day was overtaken by a rainstorm rolling in. As soon as the wind picked up, the rain fly lifted off the tent like a comb-over blowing in the wind. It lifted so high, in fact, that the mesh top of the tent was exposed to the elements, allowing rain to come into the tent.

The storm rolled through as quickly as it came and the sun was shining again before we knew it. We got the water wiped up off the floor of the tent and set up our air mattresses. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all. Famous last words.

By the time we went to bed, it was around 11:00. The kids should have been ready to go to sleep, but they were wired. And crabby. Addi wanted to sing herself to sleep, and Max kept yelling at her to be quiet. I just wanted them both to shut the hell up. This went on for, I dunno, an hour or so, when I finally tuned them out and fell asleep. I later realized, after rolling across the tent, that we had set it up on a small hill. This was amplified by the fact that my air matress was steadily losing air, rolling me even further toward the tent wall. Still, I was really damn tired and managed to fall back asleep.

The only times I woke up after that was when different family members would wake me to tell me they couldn't sleep. Fucking awesome.

So, anyway, we made it through the night, and Addi and I actually slept in until around 9:00.

Later in the morning, the wind picked up a bit, lifting up the rain fly and snapping one of the tent poles. The sharp end of the snapped pole then ripped through the tent, causing it to collapse and essentially rip the front door off.

What a fitting end to our camping trip.