the incredible non-camping camping trip

Oh dear. After years of wanting to go camping and having no one to go camping with I finally was packing up the cooler on thursday and digging out the dusty tent and sleeping bag. Busting out blankets and bug spray. And off we went, thursday around 3pm, headed to Anglin Lake and the trees and the campfires. Stopped in PA for dinner and groceries and booze and got back on the highway, tunes playing, sun streaming, feeling good. Get to the campground and after circling the place 3x we have to admit that it's just plain FULL. And not even full of people, but full of RV's that are parked there for the week taking up space that good folks with tents could use. Goddamn! So we go to the lakefront store and ask the lady there and she directs us to the overflow campground so we go check it out and it's sparsely treed and full of people and fully reserved starting on friday. It's getting late by this point so he suggests we just get a room at the store, there's a balcony and a fireplace and we can have a shower and spend the night in the "studio suite". Head back to the store to sign our names on the dotted lines and get told that we have to go over to the resort to check in, but it's a 2 minute walk. So we grab our wallets and start down the road... only to be EATEN ALIVE by mosquitos and horseflies and at one point we're just plain running trying to get ahead of the bugs. It was insane. Finally get there, ask for a room, but now she has to call back to the lady at the store to see if there is a room available and made up cuz we didn't have a reservation. Bum around while they figure it out. Finally get the all clear and RUN back to the truck to douse ourselves with bug spray and get our stuff. Get into the room and spend the night playing scrabble and loving the sound of the loons and putting that old creaky bed to good use :)

Friday we check out and ask around to try to find another campground that's not full. Spend a while on the back roads in PA National Park and stop for ice cream at Emma and finally find Murray Point where we're greeted by a "FIRE BAN IN EFFECT" sign at the kiosk. If I haven't mentioned the bugs at this point, let me just reiterate that the bugs were SO FUCKING BAD that the idea of spending the night without at least a fire going to ward them off is unthinkable. So we get back in the truck and drive around some more and start looking for a beach to spend some hours in the sun. End up at Waskesui where, for the 1st time in my life, I lay in the sun in a bikini top and enjoyed the air and sun on my pasty white middle section. Mmm. Walked around for a while and went to check out the campgrounds in Waskesui and although somehow the fireban was not in place there, it was $35 for a non-electric campground for the night. Got out of the truck for a while to see how bad the bugs were and they were still fucking nasty so we decided to hell with the nature trip let's go back to PA to get a cheap motel room for the night. Drive an hour back to town and find the cheapest looking motel we can find and it's $77 a night (which is ridiculous) but they don't even have any rooms cuz they're housing evacuees from the forest fires up north. FUCK IT! At this point we're tired and feeling kind of broke and we're an hour from home so we hop back in the truck and head back to Saskatoon and spent the night camped out on my living room floor for free. I am covered in bites from not even setting foot on a campsite. I can't imagine what it would be like if we had. And yes, I feel like quite a bit of a loser for not getting to unpack the tent after wanting to for years but it was still a lot of fun and quite lovely to be there with him. Fucking bugs. I'd really love nature if it weren't for you assholes.