Summertime

Not quite. We went camping for Memorial Day Weekend and according to some sort of Weather Law (applying to camping, long weekends, or both), it rained the entire time. Actually, we were boating but it seemed a lot like camping because the canvas leaks. drip ... drip ... Oh, and the microwave conked out so cooking was limited to our one-burner butane stove for the most part. Oh yea, weenies. Again.

You either have to hole up in the tent/boat for days on end or you have to gear up and venture out. I didn't have rain pants or another pair of shoes so even though I had plenty of socks, hats, and rain jackets, I was always somewhere on the scale between damp and damper. (Good thing it wasn't very cold or things could have been really miserable.)

We left Thursday, got home Monday, all our clothes wet. The boat is even wetter. Between the drips and the comings and goings, there was no way to keep the cockpit dry. It stayed pretty warm and dry down below but if it doesn't stop raining soon, the outdoor carpeting will sour something nasty. We'll take warm showers, wash our clothes, dry out. But I can't imagine the boat ever drying out. (I'm thinking it may be easier to buy a new boat than to clean this one after the long, wet weekend.)

For all the rain, we still had a good time. I read a lot but I also managed to take something like 300 photos. We cruised with close to 50 other boats and approximately 250 people. We wore funny hats, roasted 30 whole salmon on planks over a giant fire pit, had pony rides for the kids (no kidding), had toy sailboat races, potluck dinner, pancake breakfast, 500 hot dogs, and more beer than we could drink. It took a small U-Haul to deliver all the food. Although everyone probably has a runny nose, no one got hurt, no one fell in the water. (This group wasn't so lucky last year.)

I've already uploaded over 200 photos to a Shutterfly account. I'll do the rest right after I take a shower and put on something cozy. We're home now and mostly unpacked. Ate lunch and will get the laundry started. Time to get ready for the work week.

But here's a hint for next time: If you come home with clean underwear it means whatever you're wearing probably isn't.