Camping Trip

Dear Judith,

I just got back from camping at Managaha with Angie, Amy, and Amy's parents. I think that the next time I feel the urge to go camping, I'll just throw some rocks on the floor and lay down on them. Then, to make it even more realistic, I'll alternate between full blast and no AirCon. I'll throw sand in all of my bags and I'll go a couple days without showering until I'm good and stinky.

I try to like camping, but I just can't do it. I don't see the appeal of sleeping on hard ground and not showering. Everytime I go, I think that maybe this will be the time that I enjoy it, but it just hasn't happened yet.

We got to Managaha on Friday afternoon and set up camp. It was still light out, so we snorkeled for a little bit. I must admit, I did have fun at this point. Snorkeling at Managaha is so unreal. I've never seen so many fish in my entire life. I even saw my first octopus!

Dinner was veggie burgers, which were, of course, fantastic. I still had high hopes for the trip. Darkness descended and we laid on the sand, looking up at the stars. Occasionally we would have bursts of energy which would result in cartwheels, handstands, and spinning around in circles until, giggling, we collapsed on the ground. Amy's dad told us about the stars, and Angie made up constellation names.

We eventually went to our tents, and though the ground was hard, I thought I would be fine. I fell asleep for about an hour, and woke up because it was so hot. There was absolutely no wind at all and I felt suffocated. I laid there for a few hours, drifting in and out of consciousness. I was awake when Amy got up to remove the tarp that was covering our tent. Angie showed me her watch and said, "Don't you just want to jump off a cliff?" It was 12:52, and I already felt like I had been laying there forever. The rest of the night continued in a similar fashion. I think I got about 4 hours of sleep total.

Sabbath was spent snorkeling, relaxing, and reading. We vowed to go to bed later than the previous night, but after playing about 10 hands of Uno, we were bored, and we settled in for the night.

There was so much wind that we thought our tarp was going to rip. It sounded like the world was crashing in on itself and it was impossible to sleep, for me at least. Angie seemed to have no problem at all. Amy took the tarp down at about midnight, but it started raining at about 2, so it had to go back up. I eventually got a little bit of sleep, maybe 2 hours total. Every time I looked at Angie, she looked so peaceful--I just wanted to kick her!

The wind continued all night and into the morning, and made it a little bit difficult to take down camp, but we finally succeded, and loaded everything onto the Coral Queen. I'm home and clean and happy, despite my lack of sleep. I think my favorite part of camping is getting home.

I miss you. Like a lot. And I need to talk to you. Just you. Not everyone else who reads my blog. I love you Jude!

Jaimie