A Trip To Remember

I am not a camping freak like he is but in the spirit of doing things together I agreed to go when he burst out with “Let’s go camping!”. We were thinking about a mini trip on the Memorial Day weekend coming up. We both receive major holidays off from our jobs so Memorial Day weekend was the “perfect weekend for us to go to my favorite spot” my honey said so enthusiastically. I was happy that he was happy and besides that was at least a month away so I would have time to get mentally prepared. We had a rough time of our relationship the past year so my participating in this camping thing was my way of saying I want us to succeed.

“All packed up and ready to go” he said as he revved up the car and we started out of our driveway on the Friday morning of our weekend. Memorial Day sure came fast. He had his lucky hat on and I had my old blue scarf around my head because he loves to have the car windows all the way down, even when it’s cold outside. I draw the line at 60 degrees though. There is only so much cold wind a girl can take.

We got to our holiday destination and the weather, I must say, was spectacular. Puffs of clouds in the light blue sky with a brisk breeze swaying the tree tops. The mountains were dotted with pine trees that you see for miles. The lake was crystal clear like a sapphire and the water was calm. We picked a perfect spot on soft dirt at the foothills facing the lake which had a portion of it jutting in toward the shoreline. It seemed like our own private cove.

We foraged for campfire wood and brought our bounty of sticks to the campsite. Our first night was so romantic as we sat around our tiny campfire. We could see the milky way in the star studded sky because the slice of a crescent moon made them stand out. We got into the tent and slept peacefully in our billowy sleeping bags and blankets. I had to admit that this was turning out to be a fun trip.

“Oh my heavens!! Get up!” he yelled, I could barely open my eyes as he was gathering up a blanket, his backpack and a lantern. He said to grab some water bottles and follow him. By the time I was aware of what was going on, the wind blew our tent away and the rain shot down like little arrows. Oh, but then came the pea sized hail. The thought in my head was ‘this isn’t fun anymore’. We ran toward the mountain and saw a small cave opening, he was running beside me to make sure I could get up the incline to the cave. I was hoping there were no bears inside since the opening was only big enough for one to get in at a time. I was trusting him that he would scope it out before we ventured in too far.

It seemed to be empty, but the cave was dark and cold. Thank God he thought to bring the lantern. He turned it on but we could hardly see the dank walls. I half expected it to be a deep cavernous type cave but it was only about 10 feet deep. We huddled together with the blanket around us and watched the crazy weather from the small opening. It was pouring down rain the winds were howling. I wondered how this cave came to be, did a bear once use it? Or a practical camper that was used to the weather changes here? As I contemplated these things and how this is turning out to be a bad luck cloud hanging over us again, my honey pulled a bottle out of his backpack. “Champagne!” he exclaimed with a sweet smile as he brought out 2 paper cups. I couldn’t help but smile as well. He said he was hoping to open it on our last camping day to celebrate our togetherness and commitment to work out our troubles but he decided this silly weather event seemed to be the time to pop the cork. I was so very touched. We toasted to us and drank the cold bubbly as we snuggled and talked of our future. The lantern’s glow made it all the more special and the cave did not seem dark and cold anymore.

The weather subsided and we gathered up the remnants of our camping site. We went home happy and content with each other. As soon as we got in the door, he said “When is our next camping trip?”, I said “Whenever you want, I love camping!”.

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From Kathy’s Writing Tasks # 597

gabyethington (8)