One More Camping Trip

 H decided that we needed at least one more "real" vacation this summer. For H, a "real" vacation involves not being at our house. I on the other hand am perfectly happy. during a pandemic, to consider anytime I do not have to work for an extended period of time a "real" vacation. Leaving the safety of our neighborhood for an extended period of time to stay in the vicinity of a bunch of strangers who could possibly pass along a deadly pathogen just by breathing near you is not my idea of a "real" vacation.

Knowing that both H and K needed some time away from home doing something that seemed reasonably close to normal, I put aside my crazy as best I could and went along for the ride....

This particular trip was to Salisbury State Reservation and involved camping with some close friends who have a child around K's age. Both facts raised my anxiety since I rememberer Salisbury as a place of rampant partying and I knew that we were going to be eating with other people and that K would be playing, unsupervised, with another 10 year old. I had to keep my rational brain firmly in the driver's seat on this one. Our friends have been following good safety procedures all spring and summer; we were going to be outside the whole time, and K is pretty good about remembering her mask and keeping physical distance. We were not doing anything high risk.

One of the hardest things, for me, about this whole COVID thing is that it makes me question everything I do that involves other people. I have never been a huge fan of crowds and was always slightly suspicious of most other people. Now I just see everyone, even people I like, as possible threats. It is not that I worry about anyone being malicious or stupid or anything other than just plain human. I know that they could be sick and contagious without even knowing it. I, despite my neurotic avoidance of other people and any place that is not super low risk, could be patient zero.

Anyway, the forecast for the trip was pretty bleak. There was a chance of thunderstorms or rain the entire time we were scheduled to be camping. The forecast was not enough to dissuade the ladies - well not H. I think K was kept in the dark about the weather until it was too late for her to complain.

We, of course, got a late start. Partly it was me dragging my feat and partly it was H doing twenty things at once and K being ten. We did get to the campsite in time to get our tent and the screen tent secured before it started raining the first time....

We spent a good 30-40 minutes sitting in the car as is poured rain and occasionally boomed. We did take a drive around the camp area so I could keep the AC going. I was not going to sit in a hot, humid truck...

During the storm our friends developed a puddle under their tent which was seeping through the floor. It was trapped between their ground cover and the tent floor... Once the rain stopped, we surveyed our tent to discover a similar situation. While the ladies made dinner and the kids cruised about the camp ground, the men dug out trenches to redirect water away from the tents and to make sure there were not any spots where puddles would form. Fortunately their was cider to be drank...

I want to say food prep was being done to my safety standards, but I cannot control everything... Mask were mostly worn during cooking and definitely during serving. Nobody shared utensils or plates. Some people shared apps, but that was just a step outside my comfort zone. I did my best to keep 6' away from everyone without looking antisocial....

Then it started pouring again.... So, it was back to the trucks for another stretch. This time we drove over to the boat launch where we could see the lightning across the shore. The second set of showers were shorted and we let the kids get out and run around in parking lot before dragging them off to bed.

K wanted to sleep in the car because it might thunder again. She was totally freaked about getting hit by lightning. In fact, she wasn't even sure the car was safe enough.... I cannot say I wasn't considering the sleeping in the car thing myself - it would make the eventual run to the truck easier....

We made it through the night without any more thunder. It may have rained, but we were all too tired to care.

The forecast for the second day had changed for the better. It looked like it would be mostly sunny until thunder showers moved in around dinner time.... H was lucky the forecast changed because if it was going to be more rain, I was taking my toys home.... I was working very hard to keep things together and another day of making sprints to the truck was just not going to happen without me melting down like one of the ten year olds...

Not that the plan for the day was anything to write home about. We were planning on spending the day sitting on the beach... with signs posted warning against strong rip currents.

We showed the kids the eddy line near the rocks and told them to stay away. We watched as two rescue boats on the far shore dragged a couple of kids out of the currents. Then we settled into an anxious routine of chatting and checking on the kids. We had to make sure they were not drowning or getting too close to other people.

It was not a bad day. I was outside near the water chatting with friends. (I was a little sad that I did not have my kayak because the currents were ripe for playing...) The kids enjoyed themselves digging in the sand and frolicking in the water. I could almost forget that there was a risk of death lurking about in the air.

When we heard the thunder rolling in, we quickly packed up and headed back to our camp sites to begin sheltering in the cars...

Fortunately, nothing much materialized and we were able to enjoy a nice dinner and a campfire with friends. Enjoy in this case is sort of a loaded word since I was anxious about people keeping proper distance since masks are impossible when eating and drinking. A non-small number of ciders did help moderate my anxiety in the moment.

I do know that my anxiety is not rational. My rational brain, and the facts on the ground, all point to our activities being extremely low risk. We were with people we know and trust and we were outdoors. None of us have any conditions that put us at high risk for complications.

Rationality does not always win....

On the last morning I was a model of packing efficiency. I think I had the entire site down and in the truck in just around an hour.

The kids were off scouring the campground looking for painted rocks and climbing trees. They had masks on when they left and convinced myself that they would just keep them on... The park actually had painted rocks scattered around the area for kids to find and post photos with. It was the idea. We made the kids wear masks in the photos.

I just focused on getting structures down and packed into the truck. It was the nicest weather of the three days we had. There was a slight breeze and sunny skies - and a looming threat of rain that was far away. I was on a mission to get back to my safety bubble and begin my 14 day countdown....

After a quick stop at the beach to see the ocean one more time and have K suffer a post vacation, hanger meltdown... and some greasy fried seafood and ice cream which cured the meltdown.

K and H got their annual lobster - at sale price.

Both the seafood place and the ice cream place had excellent distancing protocols in place, well spaced outdoor seating and full mask compliance. I actually felt reasonably OK about eating there.

The trip was relaxing-ish. The girls enjoyed getting out of the house and seeing some friends and having a somewhat normal couple of days. Their mental health definitely improved.

I had moments of relaxation that were tainted by crushing anxiety. It was nice to see friends and do some normalish things for a change. But there was always the voice in my head....

I cannot wait for science to make this pandemic thing at least more known and manageable.

I would wish for my anxiety to magically go away, but that is like wishing oneself away.