I Believe in Miracles...

We went camping! Success! Well… almost. As reported before… it always seems to rain the weekends we plan to camp. So this time we didn’t really want “plan” it just so we didn’t jinx ourselves. Our friend Jared told us about this convenient campground that he and his family always go to, so we thought we’d give it a try. It wasn’t a far drive, it was on Lake Lanier, and it just sounded nice. We also decided to make it just a trip for the 3 of us (and our dog Ally) so we could test out our new [HUGE] tent. So Saturday morning, Ryan declared that he wanted a clean house when we got home so we cleaned and cleaned and packed up the car. Ben kept asking us ALLLLLLLL morning long… “Are we going camping?” Right before we were to leave, Ryan got on the website for the campground and it said that all sites were full. Of course, we were pretty bummed. But I didn’t want to give up! I thought that we could drive somewhere… ANYWHERE and surely there would be a campsite open for us to use for just ONE STINKIN’ NIGHT! So even though Ryan was a bit of a grumpy bear, we jumped in the car and drove up to the campground we were recommended to just to see… maybe, just maybe if there was someone who cancelled or something. So we got there, and luckily the website was TOTALLY wrong and there were plenty of sites available. This made Ryan VERY happy. We picked ours out, paid the nice young men (wow I just sounded so old-ladyish) for the site and went to go get our food for the evening and breakfast. We got back to the site about 3:30-4pm and set up the tent and got settled in. Decided around 5pm to start making our chili dogs and well… our quiet time in nature ended. Nearby… not far away, a live cover band started playing at a house or a party or something. It was loud enough, that we could sing along with the songs. They proceeded to play for a couple hours… and then we thought they were done. Nope… they started up again and played until 11PM! They stopped and started so many times we thought “surely this must be it…” several times, and there were even fireworks involved a few of those times too… it was a little ridiculous when they started singing the same songs they’d already sung again towards the end. Also, since we were by the lake, there were several boats, several times that would play their choice of music quite loudly as they drove by. Around 8:30 Ben had had it, he was tired and being a booger head so I took him in to the tent and got him his jammies on and all settled in- and to my dismay and disgust heard unmentionable noises coming from our neighbor’s tent! I had to put my hands over Ben’s ear at one point! And it didn’t just happen once; it was two times… the second time with more graphic “instruction”. Yuck!!! (Ben was asleep for that one though, thankfully!) It was a strange feeling sitting in our camp chairs by the fire looking out at such beautiful scenery but feeling like we were sitting in the middle of the city with all the noise around us. It was actually more annoying than strange really. Ryan and I got tired, so we decided despite all the noise we’d go to bed- this was around 10:30, finally the music stopped at 11pm and we were finally able to go to sleep. However, we were woken up at 1am to the sound of fireworks somewhere also close by. Those were being lit on and off for about an hour, woke Ben up and everything. Then at 2am… I had to pee. And so did Ryan. So after we went, we sat up and talked and laughed for a little while. At 4am I heard the previously mentioned neighbor shout out “GET YOUR OWN SLEEPING BAG!” then quiet, then “Get off your butt and get your own *bleeping* sleeping bag”. SERIOUSLY?  (Quite a different sentiment than what was being expressed earlier in the evening!) Mister Yelly-Pants finally settled down, and I went back to sleep. But then moments later, heard their van doors shutting and then said van driving off. Went back to sleep. At 6am… heard a loud airplane and a boat (probably someone going early morning fishing). Then by 7 both Ben and I were awake. Weirdly… the neighbors were still there… We got up, and went to the restroom. We made breakfast (Ryan's favorite part and requirement) and cleaned up and went home! It was pretty chilly and windy anyway so playing at all was not particularly an option… plus our dog just isn’t a camping/outdoor dog and she was driving us crazy. So we camped! We didn’t really sleep… but we camped! Luckily Ben’s a trooper and all except for the fireworks he slept through most/all of it. He had a horrid sounding little cough though I worried about, but he seems to be fine. We are hoping to go again with some friends this weekend, but we shall see! Not sure if I want to go back to that campground but besides the noise it was a nice place and not far from home. I leave you with photos.