Spring Break 2019 - William B. Umstead State Park

Carefully, I researched, planned and reserved a nine night camping trip with three destinations. But it was not to be. The flu struck the morning of our Saturday departure. The girls spent more than half of spring break watching Netflix at home while waiting for chills, body aches, and fevers to pass. Once we had accepted the unfairness of the situation - we had, after all, dutifully received our flu vaccinations at the end of October - we salvaged what was left of Spring Break.

The car is always a bit full.

Leaving Thursday morning was easy since the car had been carefully packed for a Saturday departure five days earlier. We set up camp at William B. Umstead State Park. The first night camping in 2019 reminded me why I love tent camping. Cool, but not cold, sleeping weather. The rustle of spring leaves in a gentle breeze. The first night of tent camping was the best one. The other two nights were filled with heavy rain and I was very glad I had taken the time to spray waterproofing refresher on the tent.

Camp setup

I wish there was a good camping spot closer to the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro. From Umstead, the drive took over an hour and some roads were incredibly narrow and curvy. Like, so narrow that I don't think two school buses could pass opposite each other if they met. There is a campground near the zoo but it has very mixed reviews on Google. Lots of long term residents camp there, apparently, and I like the security and dependability of a state park. The North Carolina Zoo is huge and the ropes course is great. I tried to bring my phone for photos but the safety harness cut right into the phone and I had to leave it behind. The Air Hike, as the ropes course is called, is safe but thrilling and we will go again.

We briefly went to the Museum of Life and Sciences in Durham. From the website, it looks like the Life and Sciences museum might be a good rainy day activity, however, many of the exhibits are outside. Visiting on a day of heavy rain was not good. The museum has a train and many animal exhibits throughout the park. The museum is not advertised as a zoo but it might as well be. There is a nice casual restaurant on the premises but getting there requires going outside and the rain was pouring. Then I got delivered a veggie burger that I think was real beef but I didn't realize the mistake until the end when I took a close look at the meat.

Marbles

Despite being ages 8 and 12, my girls still liked the Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh. Plus, we got in free with reciprocity from our Maryland Science Museum membership. Reciprocity is great and I'm so glad another mommy from the bus stop told me about a Groupon sale. Having one membership has given me access to other museums. The parking lot is hard to find unless you realize in advance the museum has their own dedicated lot directly behind the building. The neighborhood surrounding Marbles wasn't super great and I did not feel completely comfortable parking the car on the street. We kept driving around, looking for parking, until we circled completely and found the lot right behind the museum. Relieved, we parked, paid, and went in. Otherwise, we could have skipped.

On Friday, the first full day of the tent camping trip, I accidentally let one of my girls drink non-potable water. As I approached the pump, there were no warning stickers visible so I took some water. Only when we went on a full walk around the campground and I approached the spigot from the opposite side did I see the rectangular warning label. So, the lesson I learned is that looking at all sides of a water spigot is very important.

Annoying pools of water on picnic table canopy

I have to do something about our picnic table canopy.  The canopy is waterproof and keeps the rain off the table but the water pools in gigantic puddles on the ceiling and has to be emptied very carefully so as to not have the water come pouring down on the top of one's head.

Paperback for the tent

When the rain falls and cell phone reception is low, it's always a good idea to have a disposable paperback to read out loud to keep everyone entertained and in good spirits. Some of our favorite paperback camping reads could be A Wrinkle in Time, Scott O'Dell's Sarah Bishop or Island of the Blue Dolphins, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Cards in the tent are fun, too.

Uno in the tent

Art from leaves on the camp site

Astronomy Go Fish on a chilly camp morning

A clean camp site. Rear cargo bag is packed and site checked for trash. Done!

I Hate Beach Camping #2 - First Landing State Park

After the Assateague Island Disaster of 2016, I decided to try again with a different beach and a different season. Thankfully no theft or illness befell us while we were camping at First Landing State Park but it was miserable.

1. I made the mistake of choosing camp site 150.

• On the map, 150 looked great. There was nothing between 150 and the ocean. In real life, though, site 150 was surrounded by tall shrubs and sand dunes making a beach view impossible. 

• Site 150 was in the full sun with zero shade available.  The sand was burning hot and there was no shade to escape to. In the early morning the site was ideal, but only until about 9 am.

• 150 was all sand and no dirt. I had to pitch the tent on the deep sand because there were no other choices available. With sand right outside the tent door, keeping sand out of the tent was impossible. 

2. We arrived during a heatwave

• Even on a reasonably cool July day I should have expected lots of sun and temps in the 70s and 80s. We arrived during a heat wave and the temps were in the 90s with high humidity. 

• Camping with children is tiring on a good day. Excessive heat makes camping exhausting.

3. We didn't sleep well in the tent

• The night provided little relief from the heat. The humidity and sweat caused sand to stick to our bodies even in bed.

• The helicopters from Fort Story were active during the night, flying directly over the tent at low altitude many times. This was a neat experience, but tiring.

4. Sand was everywhere

• Sand was in the car. I still have sand in the car from Assateague Island from 2016. Next year I still have sand in the car from First Landing. No amount of vacuuming will remove all of it.

• Sand was on our bodies during the night despite rinsing off at the beach shower. We should have gone to the bath house to take a full shower but we were too tired on that first night.  

• Sand was in my bed the morning after I got home. I used the same blanket in the tent that I used on my bed but I shook it out well. It wasn't enough.

5. We weren't at the ocean!

• How I could have missed the fact that First Landing State Park was on the Chesapeake Bay and not the Atlantic Ocean is mind boggling to me. The ocean was a 5 mile drive away but we didn't go because I thought we were looking at the ocean. One look at the campground map would have informed me of this, but I was so sure the campground was on the ocean that information to the contrary didn't register.

6. The water at our beach was dangerously dirty with poop

• One day after we left, the State of Virginia issued a Swimming Advisory and posted a warning sign at First Landing beach explaining how people shouldn't wade or swim in the water because the poop levels were too high. Yuck!

• All the beaches surrounding First Landing were fine. Of all the water we could have chosen, we had to choose the dirty water.

Some Items Need a Spare and the Magic of Laundry Baskets - Lewis Mountain Shenandoah National

Usually the CRV is so packed that the girls can't see each other in the back seat and I can't see out the rear view mirror. I  packed lighter this time but my efforts backfired. Our faithful air mattress of two years leaked terrible on the first night, leaving us sleeping on the rocky ground. The lightweight girls didn't sleep too badly but I spent most of the night awake and in pain. I eventually abandoned air mattresses altogether in favor of a cot but I hadn't made the switch yet at this point.

Roof Bag and Kelty Cosmic Down 20 Sleeping Bag - Assateague Island

Taking two children camping is no small task. Even an adult alone requires a bunch of equipment. The car is usually stuffed so tight that my girls can't see each other and the passenger seat is filled.

That situation changed when I began using a Sherpak Go! 15 Roof Bag on my Assateague Island Trip of 2016. I packed the roof bag on the ground to see how things would fit but then I took everything out, hefted the bag up to the roof, and repacked it on top of the car.

At first I threaded one strap through the front car door opening and the back strap through the back door opening but the straps buzzed terribly and gave me such a headache I had to pull over. This was, unfortunately, right before I had to drive over the dreaded Chesapeake Bay Bridge. For my next trip I threaded both roof straps through the back door opening and the buzzing was more tolerable.

The roof bag isn't easy to use. At 5'4" I have to climb on top of the car every time to zip it shut and secure the straps. The buckles for both compression straps have broken but I won't really be in trouble unless one of the buckles for the main straps break (the straps that hold the bag to the roof). The Sherpa roof bag works and it does give more space in my passenger compartment but it's not easy for me to use.

For Assateague Island in March 2016 I also had another untested item to try out. I brought a Kelty Cosmic Down 20 Women's Sleeping Bag from REI. The first night of our trip the temps were about 25 at night and I had to used another lightweight down sleeping bag as a liner before I was warm enough to sleep. Maybe if I had worn expedition weight long underwear with two pairs of wool socks I might have been warm enough with the Kelty Cosmic Down sleeping bag alone but I was freezing. My Kelty Cosmic Down is ideal about about 50 degrees.

I Hate Beach Camping #1 - Assateague Island

I thought camping at Maryland's Assateague Island National Seashore would be fun during spring break. The temps were cold enough that mosquitoes would not be a problem and the beach would not be crowded during the off season. I was right about the beach not being crowded and the lack of mosquitoes but oh, what a mistake I made going camping at Assateague in March!

From the park employees I met at check in, I learned that March is the windiest month at Assateague Island. Not that they needed to tell me about the wind. I experienced this first hand.

I was really glad I bought sand anchors for the tent. Metal tent stakes, even long ones, would have come out in the 30 mph winds. The sand anchors held fast, though. Sand anchors are a great product. I dug the sand anchors up to my elbows before I buried them. I dug with one of the plastic sand toys we brought to play in the sand. The 40 degree temps and the 30 mph wind froze my facial muscles and make talking difficult. I didn't want to wear my gloves because they would get wet and sandy.

We lasted one or two nights in the windy tent. Two, I think, before I tore the tent down to move to the bay side with less wind. Unfortunately, once I had the tent down I couldn't put it back up. The wind was too strong. My oldest child wasn't feeling well so I left our bikes, our cooler full of food (with bungees on it to keep the horses out), and our fire extinguisher on the site while we went to a hotel for the night with plans to return the next morning. That night my oldest developed a fever and I knew we needed to head home the next day. In the morning, we left the hotel and returned to our camp site to find that the bikes, cooler, and fire extinguisher had been stolen overnight! The law enforcement ranger said there were opportunistic locals who liked to cruise through the camps looking for unattended items to steal. What a bummer! My older was diagnosed with strep throat later that day and she took her first dose of amoxicillin before bed that night.

The trip was a disaster but the ponies roaming around was cool:

 

I Couldn't Start the Fire - Shenandoah River State Park

The survival book made it seem so easy. Crumpled paper. Twigs. Kindling. Dry wood. Light the fire. Done.

We did a fun hike with a shopping bag to collect twigs on the trail from Culler's Overlook to the RV campground.

We had our smore sticks, our marshmallows, chocolate, and our Graham cracker squares.

We put four $1 bills into the collection box and carried a bad of heavy wood back to our camp site.

I tried. And tried. And tried again.

I rearranged the paper, the kindling. I lit. I blew air on the little fire.

I blew so much breath I felt lightheaded. I thought about that guy from Survivor who passed out into his fire many years ago. Maybe he fainted because he was blowing his breath on to his fire.

After an hour of trying to start a fire, I have up and played Crazy 8's in the tent with the girls.

When I got home, I saw the large, unopened box of firestarters in the garage. Next time I will take one.

Ranger Bill and the Bear Song - Loft Mountain Shenandoah National

I remember Ranger Bill Jones from our camping trip last summer at Big Meadows. His genuine kindness and patience for children shined through immediately during his Junior Ranger program. 

So, I was happy to see Ranger Bill the first Friday we stayed at Loft Mountain.

I think the expression on his face while showing my 8 year old a bear foot print communicates how much he likes what he is doing.

Plus, Ranger Bill sang the "I Met a Bear" song. Once we got back to the car, I realized we had this song on one of our cds and we listened to it many times with new enthusiasm as we drove Skyline Drive.....but I still like Ranger Bill's rendition of the song better: