We just had a very disappointing night in a very beautiful place. Could Not Sleep! I’d woken up that morning with the tinnitus in my ears just banging from one ear to the other. It’s a little scary to have this commotion going on with no ability to control it. Still, we gathered some camping things and some food and headed out to Penrose Point State Park.

The park was full, but no one was overly noisy so it was pleasant enough. One ominous factor was that we couldn’t find the little electric gadget that pumps up our back-of-the-car air mattress. When we pump it up, it’s actually comfortable, but it wasn’t fully inflated and the little pump that is supposed to reside in the car was somewhere else that night.

The weather was just right for camping: Not too hot, not too cold. That was one thing in our favor, but our battery charger was not working, so I didn’t have podcasts or music to lull me to sleep. I listen to things at night to keep my brain from solving all the world’s problems when I’m trying to sleep. Usually, I sleep through a long list of things, but if I wake up, something is playing so I can listen and go back to sleep. Most of the time, it works reasonably well.

We made it through the night, I eventually got a few hours of sleep, and the next morning we drove from the camping area to the beach. A very comfortable log was available, so we sat with the sun on our backs and watched people picking up shells and rocks. Don’t know why, but there will be no clamming or crabbing this year in that area. Soon a new group of folks ran to the beach, one adult and five kids. They were hilarious. The older kids turned over rocks and the littler kids squealed at the sight of tiny crabs scurrying about when they were exposed. This went on and on and on. At some point, they got the signal that food was ready and they all tromped up to a picnic table for lunch.

I don’t know about you, but if I can’t get out to the forest or a park once in a while, I get a bit crabby. We might have to give up on sleeping in the car at some point, but it’s worth trying at least once more. It’s as simple as it comes for camping. No tent to set up, no cots to set up. We can grab sandwiches on our way out of town, take some drinks, a one burner camp stove and a pot to boil water for coffee in the morning. We haven’t managed a two-night stay in the car yet. I’m not a big one for cooking while camping, so we’d have to go into town or something for at least one meal. If we’re lucky, we can see some stars at night. Too cloudy on this trip, but even our small city is big enough to make stargazing unproductive. Hence a big part of our desire to get out of town. 

We weren’t the happiest of campers on this trip, but I’m not giving up yet. Do you camp? Did you once? Tell me a story about a good or bad trip!