User blog:Rchie743/A Camping Tale

Note from the author
This is a written account of my first family camping trip to First Landing State Park, Virginia. None of the events are fictionalized. If you do not believe that any of this happened, ask Sherman or Wyvern - they will be happy to confirm it.

Day One: 7/2/2013
We were three hours into our journey down South and I could already feel the heat. It was around 2:30 on Tuesday, July 2, and the wilds of Virginia were blazing hot. It probably didn't help that I had my favorite fuzzy blanket on my lap - plus my big brother Sherman was refusing to turn the air conditioning on. "Can you please turn the A/C on?" I whined. "No, it's freezing!" came the response. "Not for you it isn't." I retorted. "You're not crammed in the back seat with a smelly dog!" Cassie turned her pale blue gaze at me and panted softly. She wasn't especially stinky, I was just using her as a tool to bargain my case. "Why don't you get rid of that stupid blanket then?" Wyvern, my older sister, remarked, glancing back. "Because I have literally nowhere to put it!" This wasn't exactly true - I had plenty of space on the floor, and I could always shove onto Krom, my little brother, who was quietly trying to finish his five-hundred something page book. I doubt he would take that very well, as he had less space then I did. I warned him not to bring two pillows, but no, no, he didn't listen. As I continued to whine (I am not proud of that), my father shushed me from the driver's seat. "Rchie, quiet. Your mom's on the phone." I poked Wyvern's arm. "Who is she on the phone with?" "The state park. Hush." she whispered back. "Oh sorry!" I squeaked out, barely audible. I leaned closer to the front of the car, straining to catch valuable bits of information from my mother's conversation. "---wondering about the check in time for the state park. The paper said 3 pm, but there's not way that's going to happen!" Mom chuckled. I glanced at the clock - it was 2:35; I glanced at the remaining time on the GPS - we still had another two hours and forty some minutes to go. What if the camp doesn't let us in? My heart froze in my chest. ''No, that'd be a really stupid policy. They couldn't do that.'' Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I focused back onto the one-sided conversation. "Uh-huh. Mhm-hmm. Really? Wow! Uh-huh, yep. Alrighty thanks! You, too. Bye!" "What did they say?" Krom looked up from his book. "They said that you can check in after three and it'll be fine. Also, we should take our time because it's raining cats and dogs in Richmond." "Really?" Wyvern didn't even move her eyes from the three-hundredth some page of Les Miserables. "It looks fine here, though," she announced as the sun streamed through the car windows. "I hope it's not raining when we get there." Krom glanced at me. "Knowing our luck it probably will be," Sherm laughed dryly. I rolled my eyes at his optimism, but I knew he was right. I closed my eyes, prayed for the best, but expected the very worst.

About two hours and forty some minutes later, we had reached Virginia Beach. And it was pouring. As we drove along Main Street in the pouring rain, we passed a few hotels, a McDonald's, and a Food Lion. "LOOK! There's the hotel we will stay later in the week when the tent leaks!" Krom joked, with his face pressed against the glass. I giggled. As we sped down the road, we noticed a sign saying "First Landing Campsite Check-in" or something along those lines. We turned left, and pulled to the check-in station, where they told to park the car and go to the window to get our papers. As Dad left the car and ran through the rain to the little building, we sat there in silence for a few minutes. Suddenly, the little ''drip... drip.. drip... turned into drip... plink... plunk... PLUNK. PLUNK. PLUNKPLUNKPLUNKPLUNKPLUNK''. "This doesn't bode well." Sherm look up from scratching Cassie, who was whining at the car door where Dad had exited the car. She jumped in excitement when he returned, his shirt freckled with water droplets. He explained that we could have any unclaimed campsite with a white tag. We drove along, passing claimed campsite after claimed campsite, until we stumbled upon campsite "B6". It looked fairly large, but was on low ground; if it were to rain (again), we would be sunk. Literally. We decided to keep driving and see what else we could find. After looking for the better part of ten minutes, we had narrowed it down to "B6" and "B11", which was on higher ground, but incredibly close to our new neighbors. Also, those were the only ones available. We decided to look at them more closely, so we drove back to B6. "Go down and see what it looks like!" Mom patted Dad's shoulder. "You are welcome to!" He retorted. "I'm not going, it's pouring." "Just go and see what it looks like! The rain's letting up slightly." "Okay." He opened the dorr and shut it quickly, so as to avoid drenching the inside of the car. He returned a minute later, "There's enough room, but there is a stream running through the middle of the clearing." "Perfect! Let's do this one!" Mom replied, completely ignoring the second part of the sentence. "There is a stream. RUNNING THROUGH THE CAMP!" "Well, we're not going to pitch it on the stream, are we?" "You know wh--, okay fine," he gave up trying to argue. We all exited the car, to find that the rain had all but let up and it was only a few gentle but continual drips falling from the trees. In about two hours we had both the main tent and Krom and Sherm's tent pitched, plus a canopy over the picnic table that Cassie was hiding under. We had no means of food, and decided to go out to eat. We drove for a good twenty-five minutes down the island before we found something - a boardwalk! After parking the car, we walked down for a bit until we found a place were we could eat with Cassie. It was a little pizza shop with outdoor tables, and after eating nothing but lox and bagels on the car ride down, I gladly welcomed it. Dad, Wy, Krom, and I all entered and ordered while Mom and Sherm stayed outside with Cassie. After purchasing our drinks, we headed out to sit with the rest of the family. I had gotten a Brisk Pink Lemonade and it was delicious. Dad and Sherm weren't that lucky; they had both ordered a Brisk Lemonade. Dad took a swig of his and immediately made a face. "Rchie, does yours taste funny?" he asked. "No... What's wrong with yours?" I replied. "It's salty!" "Really? Lemme see." He handed it to me and I took a sip, determined to like it. Aww, man this is really bad. "Blah. That is salty!" Sherm uncapped his salty drink on downed a mouthful. "Ickth." He drank more. "Sherm, don't drink it - it's gross..." Krom looked up from his meatball sandwich. "No, I'm going to finish it." "Eww," I made a face. Dad had already thrown out his - it was to disgusting to drink. "C'mon, let's walk a bit!" Dad got out of the booth and we followed him, looking at the various shops along the way ad Cassie inquisitively sniffed the air. Sherm gulped down more of what was probably toxic waste bottled and sold. He was about halfway through the bottle now. "Chug! Chug! Chug! Chug!" Krom and I were chanting but we broke off as soon as we saw the Old Time Photo shop. "OMG OMG! We NEED to do this this week!" I was ecstatic. "That would be fun," Dad replied. I could see the wheels turning in his eyes. This is going to be epic! It was already 10:45ish and we needed to get some sleep. As we walked back to the car, Sherm chucked his empty Brisk bottle into the nearest trashcan and a wide smile crossed his face. "Done!" "Eww, I still can't believe that you did that..." Wy wrinkled up her nose as we hopped into the car.

Thus concludes our first day camping.

Day Two: 7/3/2013
COMING SOON