Camping 2020 Fun

Hey everyone. It's been forever since I did a blog, and we all have the damn virus to blame. For those of you who may be reading in the future, I'm talking about the covid-19 pandemic/hysteria. That shot basically all the plans in the foot. Oh well, things cleared up enough for my family to go camping like we do every year, and boy was it fun.

This year was particularly fun, because mskate joined us this year. Why did she join us this year? Because we're engaged now. Yeah, I'll be getting married soon. Before I get to all that fun, first some pre-camp excitement. First off, my air conditioner went out, so I've been hot and have been taking cold baths to help with the heat. Normally I wouldn't be interested in swimming in the lake, preferring to sit on the beach and read my manga volumes, but because I've been SOOOOOO hot recently, I knew I would be going swimming. I also stayed with my parents the night before, because I needed a break from the heat and they had AC. It was a very quiet, simple night together; we chatted, ate dinner, and did some packing. Since I had been working 4 10-hour days that week instead of my normal 5 8-hour days, I was really tired and collapsed at 9PM. Mskate was asking what time we would leave, and I couldn't really give her an answer because my family "gets going when we get going, we're on vacation, no need to wake up early, the destination will still be there."

Now the fun starts. I picked up mskate around 9AM and pack her things in my car. Normally my family would just take 1 vehicle, but because we had an extra passenger with her own stuff, and I had a much smaller lease this year, we took 2 cars. For the drive up, mskate and I drove in my car and my parents drove in their car. I largely followed my dad up until we stopped at a rest stop. After that we went our separate ways as mskate and I wanted to stop at the outlet mall on the way. Her mom needed new croc flip flops, so we made a stop at the crocs store. They were having a "buy 2 get 1 free" sale, but since my current pair of crocs were still good and I had a back-up pair for when these give out, we didn't partake in the sale. We also stopped at the Coleman store primarily to see if they had pocket ponchos (we didn't have any, and they're good for camping). Unfortunately they didn't, but they had water bottles and mskate needed a new one. We got a 2 pack because that's what they had. Mskate wasn't exactly thrilled since she only wanted the one, but I told her it was good to have a back-up since she really likes those kinds and lost her last one, and if she didn't use it there was still packaging on it to indicate it's new so we could gift it. Since she loves giving gifts, that sold her on them. Around the crocks store I found a new store called "rewind." The name caught my attention, and inside was a millennial childhood paradise. They had Pokemon, Digimon, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Sailor Moon shirts, stickers, VHS tapes, toys, original Jordans, original Supreme skateboards, and so much more. I really hope they can last, because that is an awesome store. I didn't get anything this time, but next time I go to the outlet mall I need to get me some stickers. We tried going to the Pepridge Farm store to get cookies for the group dinner, but they were closed. Oh well, we just got some from a super market instead.

After the outlet mall we continued to drive to our motel. My parents say "they're too old for tent camping anymore," so we get a motel room that's close to the camp ground and just visit for the day. Since we had 4 people this time, we got 2 rooms instead. Since mskate are not married yet and are traditional like that, my dad and I shared a room and my mom and mskate shared a room. My mom made the initial reservations so I had to call to change to my credit card on the way up. This is where I had to be very sneaky. Mskate has been begging me to get a new phone to follow her on dexcom, or other thing and with her birthday the following weekend, I got a new phone; I just had to keep it hidden from her all weekend. I asked her to drive while I called the motel and that worked to keep her from seeing my new phone. Men were in room L and women were in room B. Mskate commented that we should have switched, so boys were in B and ladies were in L. We didn't though, and unpacked our "hotel stuff" (toiletries, clothes, laptops and devices).

After checking in and registering on my godfather's site, we went around and said our hellos to everyone. It was really fun introducing mskate, because I got to say "[friend] this is my fiance [mskate], [mskate] this is [my friend]." It was kind of the first time I really got to do this, and it felt great. After introductions I wanted to get in the lake and enjoy the cool water. It's been years since I went swimming, and it was really fun having my fiance there with me. One thing we did was have fun with the buoyancy of water, where she was able to princess carry me with ease. We also spent time visiting with our friends as everyone else was swimming too. Dinner was simple, just hamburgers, hotdogs, and brats. After dinner we went to the ice cream store that's just outside camp, and it was fun getting to see my little god-siblings eat their ice cream. Ice cream is a pretty common date for mskate and I, so this was nothing new for us. After ice cream I went to the liquor store that was close by and bought sunflower seeds, because those are fun to eat outside where you can spit them anywhere.

Evening activities were calm, just a camp fire. What happened next was really cool. Since I took an astronomy class in highschool I was looking forward to seeing the clear, country sky and all the stars. As I invited mskate and some of the friends to the beach, someone asked us if we were going to see the comet. I wasn't, but now I was. I looked through the sky and I eventually found it. I pointed it out to everyone and they were really impressed. It was a little hard to see, but if you were looking at it in your peripheral, it was pretty clear. According to some news articles, this was the Neowise comet. Some friends were confusing comets for shooting stars, but then I explained what a comet is and why they're so rare. It was quite the experience, especially for someone with a mild interest in astronomy. After that we went to the hotel for the night.

Saturday was fun. We had breakfast in the motel room and it was simple cereal and muffins. After dinner we stopped at the camp ground, but then mskate and I had a zoom call for couples with a diabetic partner. This was our first real "engagement seminar" since covid killed all our plans. It was really fun being among other engaged and married couples in this kind of capacity, and I learned some things. After the call we went back to camp for lunch. Again, simple hamburgers, hotdogs, and brats; and bacon ends and pieces. I have a meat market by me where they fresh cut the bacon, and they sell the scraps. It made for good lunch. After lunch was more swimming. What was really fun was some more friends came up for the day, the ones with Louie the Chihuahua. We tried to take him swimming, but he wasn't really into it. He did enjoy the raft we put him on though, and he looked very regal in his pose. We also jokingly did some water zumba since some people were playing music on their boat. It was fun. After swimming mskate and I were going to go for a walk to the boat basin and watch the boats launch, and maybe find a swing to have a nice nature date. However, I had both room keys and dad needed to go back to the room. He called me a little into the walk and this is when mskate found out about the new phone. "Happy birthday, I got a phone for you." After walking back and giving dad the key, she set me up on her dexcom. We decided to drive to the boat basin instead. The boat basin was fun, but a little crowded. We weren't able to get on a swing, but had fun sitting on the side watching people bring their boats in. We also went to the camp store, just to look around since it was close. Eventually it was time to head back for dinner.

For dinner we got pizza from a local pizza place, and mskate and I split a pepperoni, pine apple, and banana pepper pizza. Everyone enjoyed the cookies we got. After dinner we went for ice cream again. This time my little god-brother was really thirsty. Since his dad did these kind of things for me at his age, I gave him a drink from my water bottle. His mom didn't know me then, getting married when I was a teenager, so I said "after all the times your husband did these kind of things for me, I can repay the favor." It's fun having that whole "full circle" thing. After ice cream we went to the boat basin and were able to swing. Mskate was really tired when we were swinging, so I took her back to the motel afterwards and came back by myself. More camp fire fun. I stayed maybe another hour, then I went back to the motel for the night.

Time for Sunday. We had simple breakfast in the motel room and got in our church clothes. We went to church together like we do every year, but because of social distance requirements we weren't able to take over the back chair section like we've been doing for 30 something years, so we just spread out. It was a good sermon. After church we went back to the motel to change into camp clothes, pack-up, and check out. There was a communal breakfast were we share what we have left, so some of the bacon ends and pieces went, as did the ice tea I brewed the previous day. I intended to make my iced-tea and lemon drop moonshine cocktails, but I forgot so we just had iced tea. I also brought some of my home made bread, and everyone really liked that. After breakfast we went home. Mskate and I drove home separately, and I dropped her off at her parents house with all her stuff. Well, except for her camp chair; that got left in my car. Oh well, I'll return it later. All in all a great time. This has been Pokematic, signing off, and bu-bye.