Anniversary Camping Adventure

About a month ago Darrell and I found a few minutes together to talk about what we wanted to do for our anniversary. Darrell had a few requests: It had to be something relaxing and not stressful (he's been putting in ridiculous hours at work), and I had to plan it. My request was that we "copied" something we did on our honeymoon so we could start some sort of a tradition. I suggested staying at a Bed and Breakfast like we did on our honeymoon; Darrell suggested camping. And camping--being the significantly cheaper option, paired with the fact that there isn't much Bed and Breakfast selection around Sioux Falls--won. So I began to look into options, and found a campground that I loved in Nebraska. Well, the week before our anniversary, I was looking at our calendar and realized that under no circumstances would we have much time to pack for a camping trip before Friday, which meant driving two hours to a campsite on Friday night would be chaos (I was working until eight every night, we had errands and chores that had to get done before the weekend, etc). So, we scratched Nebraska and went instead to Newton Hills, a nice state park just 20 minutes from our house, which gave us much more time to leisurely pack and get ready. And another perk was that we'd be able to attend the Open House for Calico Skies Winery and Vineyards, a new winery near Inwood, IA (also a throwback to our honeymoon where we visited a local vineyard).

So plans were set, reservations were made, and then Mother Nature spoke. Friday afternoon I emailed Darrell from work and proposed backing out of camping for Friday night--we still hadn't got anything packed, and there was a 80% chance of thunderstorms overnight, which I didn't think would be very conducive to relaxing and getting a good nights sleep. Saturday's forecast looked significantly better, with a chance of storms in the morning and partly cloudy skies the rest of the day. So instead we ordered a pizza, picked up some beer, and grabbed a movie on Friday night. Perfectly relaxing. And a perfect segue into Saturday.

Saturday was wonderful. We slept in, lounged around the house and watched Shrek, made a big breakfast, and got our stuff packed up for camping. After a stop at the gorgeous vineyard (where we naturally picked up a bottle of their wine after sampling it), we headed to the campground. Things were going well--the ground was a little wet from the night before (it had crazy stormed Friday night and we were super glad that we weren't camping) and the hiking trail was pretty muddy--but we had no issues getting camp set up and dinner going over the fire. Just as we were uncorking the wine we heard a rumbling in the distance, and brushed it off as a motorcycle starting up at a nearby campsite. But the rumbling was incessant, and as we looked to the skies we instantly realized its source. Hoping the storm would blow around us, we (foolishly) set up our dinner and wine on the picnic table and began eating. Not but five minutes later the rain started. Thankfully it was really light at first so we were able to get the campsite organized--food and wine in the tent, unused logs under the tent's vestibule to stay dry, and a few extra logs on the fire to build it up to withstand the storm (we were expecting it to blow over fairly quickly and had plans to do popcorn over the fire later).

Needless to say, Mother Nature had other plans. It stormed for two hours straight, and any plans for the rest of the evening (besides sleeping) were shot. I'll stop rambling and let the pictures do the rest of the talking.



No, that's not fog. That's a downpour. Our fire was still going strong at this point, but that didn't last. And notice our neighbors with an open tailgate--they pulled up about five minutes before the storm started and were frantically trying to get camp set up without getting everything soaked



Not a good night to be camped under a tree. Right as the lightning was starting to pick up Darrell suggested making a run for the car, but then another downpour started, and we figured we'd be safe in the tent



Pea-sized hail? Thanks for the anniversary gift Mother Nature (and thank you Darrell for insisting that we invest in a quality tent--the only reason any water got into the tent was because we kept unzipping the rain fly to take pictures and watch the rain and lightning)



Attack of the earthworms! These guys were EVERYWHERE

Still having a good time! (at 6:00 the following morning when water was still dripping onto the tent from the trees above us I was not having such a great time--the incessant dripping was torturous!)

Happy Anniversary to us! Cheers!

I do have one final picture--because of the ridiculous amount of rain that fell, Darrell and I opted to pack up camp early and head home for breakfast. Since the forecast was calling for a chance of rain again on Sunday Darrell didn't want to set the tent outside to dry, so he improvised in our basement.

It's a good thing we don't have the basement finished yet.

Here's to hoping the next year isn't nearly as eventful as our anniversary camping trip was!