How rain can ruin your camping trip....

This is us....right before packing up and leaving.... see our smiles?

For months now...scratch that...years.....my husband wanted to take us camping. He is an outdoors aficionado. Well before we were married, he was a hike leader for the Howard County chapter Sierra Club.

Still to this day, whenever he gets a copy of the Campmor or Sierra Trading Post catalogs he salivates over the camping/hiking equipment. This past Christmas his main gifts to us as a family were sleeping bags, tents, and other camping paraphenelia. When he was convalescing at home from sinus surgery, he ordered tons of more equipment. Needless to say, we were taking a camping trip this summer.

Our friends, D and J are also keen outdoors folks, and their kids love camping. We thought the long 4th of July weekend was the perfect opportunity to break in the camping equipment, and quickly booked a three night stay at Rocky Gap State Park in Cumberland, MD. We spent weeks preparing for this trip. We powwowed together by emails and dinners figuring out who was taking what, and what kind of food to prepare, etc....I bought the largest watermelon I could humanly possibly carry to my car.

The week before our trip, I checked the weather and there was a 40-60% chance of scattered thunderstorms for the weekend (thursday-sunday), but that didn't deter us from having some outdoor fun. We started our journey around 5pm on thursday night. Not a cloud in site as we leave the D.C. metro area. Made it to the camp in 2 hours, and as we drive up to our camp site the heavens opened up. Thinking that the rain can't get any worse, my husband and I try in vain to set up our tent (we only practiced once before). Swearing to each other as we try. Meanwhile our friends (who started to set up their tent well after we started) finished putting up their huge 8 person tent. Sadly, we were still trying to set up our tent feeling really incompetent.

Everything was wet. Our tent was wet, our sleeping bags were wet, the kids were wet, but we kept telling ourselves it'll get better. We ran out of dry towels sopping up the water in our tent (and we brought six towels). That night, we drank three bottles of wine to cheer us up. My husband told me he saw a skunk, but I just thought that was the wine talking.

Because of the wine, around 3am I had to use the bathroom. While the bath house was only a short distance from our site, I stumbled all the way down the hill with my fancy LED lantern (which my husband swears is the brightest and best money can buy). Let me tell you...you can't see much regardless of how bright your damn lamp is, and walking uphill with flipflops on...not a smart move on my part (especially in the rain).

Friday morning....4th of July! Woo hoo, camping is gonna be fun! The park itself is gorgeous with so many activities (canoeing, fishing, kayaking, animal exhibition shows, an aviary, beach, etc...). All throughout breakfast there wasn't a drop of rain. But as I was washing up, the drops were the size of a water balloon hitting you. None of us slept and were bone tired (having drunk wine hours before didn't help), but we were so desperate to do something that we decided to take a drive through "downtown" Cumberland.

We drove through town forgetting that nothing was open due to the 4th. But wait, there's a bowling alley and it's open! The bright neon sign was like a beacon to us....but by the time we arrived at the bowling alley all the kids were sleeping. So, we drove around some more and found a creamery that was open. How I spent $75 on some sandwiches and ice cream, I have no idea. I did learn (from reading a laminated newspaper clipping) that Willam H. Macy (the actor) is a native of Cumberland, MD though!

We returned to our camp site and went to the beach. I thought "hey, if we're getting wet...we might as well swim." That lasted all of ten minutes. All the kids were freezing and complaining so we went back to our sad little site.

After a quick shower (guess what...no dry towels!) and dinner...we were able to start a camp fire and roasted marshmellows. The one year old almost fell in the fire ring, but was saved in the nick of time. After the sugar rush kicked in, the kids ran around the woods catching fireflies. STILL RAINING!

And guess what? The skunk came to visit! The kids delighted in seeing some wildlife while us parents are holding sticks trying to fend it off. Skunks...they aren't afraid of humans as it turns out.

The husbands and I really wanted to pack it up and head home. The fireworks were cancelled and both husbands checked the weather on their Blackberries (yes folks...you can get reception in the woods), and it showed to be the same for the next day. J really wanted to stay though...so like suckers...we stayed.

All of us slept that night, but as we were on an incline...we all (meaning the kids and I) rolled off our mats and towarded my husband. I woke up realizing that we only occupied 1/4 of our tent, and my husband somehow survived the night, and slept with all of us practically on top of him.

We had breakfast...and hey...is that the sun?

My watermelon was on the ground next to our picnic table for the last two days, but was nowhere to be found that morning. We all looked around, and here is what we found about 50 yards downhill.....

Apparently, the watermelon rolled downhill in the middle of the night, hit a tree, and split in half. The guys thought we could still eat it...the girls...not so much. It was tossed.

We all made unanimous decisions to leave the area for good after we take a 3 hour circuit train ride (Cumberland is home to the Western Maryland Railroad). The train ride, itself, was fun. The train stops in Frostburg, MD for about an hour. Just enough to see the train engine turn around in the turnabout. The kids were thrilled to ride in a real steam locomotive. The town of Frostburg is anything, but fun. It was eerily quiet, and the only people we saw were our fellow train riders. We stepped into this small pizzeria, but quickly realized that we probably didn't belong there.

Watching the train "turnabout"

All of us...repeat...all of us fell asleep on the ride back to Cumberland (that's two sets of parents, with two sets of kids). I'm sure some of us were even snoring.

J tried to convince us to stay for an early dinner, but I was done. Ironically, it stayed moderately dry all day, but there was a 60% chance of rain so we were out of there. As we approach civilization, we realized that despite the rain, we're already planning for our next camping trip.

Cape Henlopen, DE here we come!

As for our friends....they actually end up staying one more night. Brave, very brave....