Last weekend we reserved a campsite at a state park down the road from us in . We had been watching the weather reports closely and were not sure how much rain we would get but decided to go anyways. After, all we both have lived in the northwest.

Thursday and most of Friday I spent buying supplies, prepping, and packing.  We left and got set up Friday night. We enjoyed our beautiful view of the brook from our campsite, set up the tent, and table, and got a fire and hot dogs going. Everything was going well.

We had a good night sleep and next morning made a large camp stove breakfast with strong coffee. After a few hours enjoying the campsite, reading and relaxing, we decided to walk the gorge and rim trail. I got my sunscreen and bug spray on and was ready to go.

We got less then a quarter mile in when we heard claps of thunder. I thought we had brought our thin rain coats with us to the trail head; but we ended up driving back to the campsite. When we got back we decided to wait out the weather. L took a nap while I read. It stayed sunny the whole time.

When L woke up the rain hit, and it hit hard. L had some work to do so we decided to go home for a few hours while it rained then go out to dinner. When we came back to our campsite it was still wet and raining.

We decided to get a fire going anyways and to make ourselves some berry cobbler over the fire in foil (which turned out very yummy). But when we got ready to go to the tent for the evening we discovered our sleeping bags were wet. There was water dripping in at the center of the tent.

Lesson Learned: If you are going to be adventurous and go camping in the rain make sure your tent has recently been waterproofed.

We  cleaned it up, put a towel down where it was dripping, and moved our sleeping bags and clothes away from walls and the center. We tried to settle into our sleeping bags for the night, but it was humid and the water that came into the tent caused everything to be a little damp. I knew I would get damp and as the temperature dropped after the storm passed, if it passed, I would get cold. We tried to stick it out.

Lesson Learned: If you want to be adventurous when camping, no matter the weather, do not go camping near your home. It is too much of a temptation to know you are 10 minutes from a warm dry bed.

By midnight we were back at home. When we returned to our campsite the next day we decided we needed to tear down camp. The rain was not letting up and we found our tent site was turning into a puddle. Because it was pouring we had to pack the dry items, then put towels down, then the wet items. When we got home we hung all wet items including sleeping bags, tents, picnic tablecloths etc. in the laundry room to dry.

It was still an enjoyable day and a half outdoor, we had a lot of laughs, and spent the rest of the weekend together, as we had planned, (mostly) away from technology. On the plus side also items on the house to-do list left on the list for months finally got accomplished.