I return from vacation
July 16th, 2009 | 
Author: It’s taken nearly a week to recover from my week long vacation. It was certainly an eventful time to say the least. We went to Carolina Beach in Wilmington. Donna’s mom lives out there so it’s a way to see her, but also spend time at the beach. It works out quite well.
We stayed at the State Park and camped for the week. We popped up the tent, cooked over the campfire and loaded ourselves down with bug spray for the week. Camping always sounds fun; sleeping under the stars, being away from the bustle of hotels and the like, but there is a slightly different reality, and it went something a little like this.
Day 1
It was 90+ degrees when we got there after driving across one of the most boring stretches of road I have ever been on. The humidity was brutal, but we put up the tent and unloaded everything. Of course, it rained that night and we had to stand out there in it as we put the rain tarp over the seams of the tent. The rain wasn’t enough to actually cool anything, so it just got more humid. Tents don’t come with portable AC units so that was disappointing.
Day 2
We spent time at the beach with rough surf and some strong winds. But for the evening we decided burgers and hotdogs on the barbeque would be the way to go. And when there is a bbq and you are outdoors there needs to be S’mores. I don’t like them, but the kids had a good time making them.
Then the raccoons of unusual size showed up. I guess they wanted some hamburgers since they stole them out of the cooler. And then took the tub of butter, knocked over some cans of soda and licked the skillet and cooking utensils we apparently left out.
And then the rain came down. A huge downpour that flooded the tent. It had enough velocity to works it way through the other tarp so Donna and I went out and put the shade tarp we brought over the tent. We had to cut it down from where it was and then put it back up over the tent. Meanwhile the kids soaked up the water with towels and whatever else they could find.
I was soaked completely through and then had a hard time finding a dry towel to dry myself with. Then we listened to the crack of thunder and the pounding rain for the next few hours and wondered if the trees were going to come down on us. We could hear twigs and other things hitting the tarp all through the night.
Day 3
We decided to ride around town. Riding a bike there is so easy since everything is flat. That has to be some of the easiest bike riding I have ever done. We even got on the ferry and headed over to this private island by Bald Head Lighthouse. It was neat to see the lighthouse and I took plenty of pictures. Riding with a camera on your back isn’t as easy as it sounds since no one makes a secure bag for that sort of thing.
But tragedy struck when my Sony WC100 camera plummeted to the ground and broke the lens. Now it looks like a Lensbaby all slanted to one side, so that camera is a complete right off. I came down the stairs of the lighthouse and Donna was pure white. When I asked what was wrong she just held up the broken camera. Oh well, it was a good camera while it lasted …
We rode around the island some more and then took the first ferry back. It’s way over priced, just like everything else on that stupid island. This ferry got us back so we could take the second ferry back to the campground. However, due to a slight miscalculation in time we missed the final ferry.
And that’s when Donna turned white again.
So she called her mom who drove the 40 miles to come and get us. But, we had 3 kids and 5 bikes, clearly not going to fit in a Honda. So Donna goes back the 40 miles to get the minivan we brought. The kids and I ride off down the road 3 miles to a little town by the water – which happens to be the only beach town I have ever been in which closes at 7pm! The best we could do was get a hotdog and then sit on a park bench.
Donna then drives the 40 miles to come and pick us up. Since nothing is open we just sit there with the bugs are still out in full force and the bug spray wearing off.
At close to 10pm Donna makes her appearance and finds up sitting on park benches like hobos. We load up the bikes and take the return 40 miles back to the campground.
To further complicate matters the campground gates close at 10pm so we need to unload the bikes and walk the 1.5 miles to the campsite in the dark at 11pm.
It’s funny to look back at it now.
Day 4
The morning starts off with a flat tire on the minivan. Seems it’s paper thin, worn out tires just can’t take the heat and one of them popped. Donna, who got up early with the youngest, faced this problem alone and took the car to Wal-Mart to have it fixed. As we all know you can’t just replace one tire, you need two. So, two new tires on the front of the van.
Since there is no alarm clock and the tent is shaded it’s hard to tell the time. Donna finally returns at nearly noon to find us just starting to get ready to face the morning, which is now clearly mid-afternoon.
We head off to the beach, riding on our new van tires and find it a “red flag” sort of day, meaning the waves are too big and the current too strong to really be in the water. It was still warm, so we went down to the “unsupervised” area and went in anyway. It wasn’t bad and they finally put it back to yellow.
Dinner was at Donna’s mom’s house where we used her washing machine to clean the clothes and sit on something besides the picnic table. We made it a point to get back to the campground early and mocked the ferry system.
And then the raccoons showed up and rummaged through everything. I think they stole some soap.
Day 5
We again went to the beach, rode bikes, laid in the sand and had a fine day. However, we felt trouble was just around the corner, but nothing broke and no one got stung by a jellyfish.
And then the raccoons showed up and rummaged through everything. Stole an ear or corn and some orange juice.
Day 6
Kayaking! This was pretty cool! We rented some kayaks for a few hours and went out paddling. We were just down the road from the ferry and watched as it made multiple crossings on the water. I took pictures of the pelicans and egrets as they came swooping over. Very uneventful, which scared us. No one tipped out. Trouble brewing I could sense it. Too easy.
We headed down the road for lunch and finally ended up at a rather underwhelming seafood place. Seeing nothing spectacular with their seafood choices I got a burger as did everyone else. However, time was growing short and we needed to get the youngest one to the next beach over since that is where his dad was staying and he needed to be there by 6. The food was taking longer than expected so Donna left before it arrived since she needed to bike back to the campground to get the car so she could get to the ferry and make it across. That damnable ferry.
The food showed up 5 minutes later.
Donna called 30 minutes later saying she missed the ferry. Apparently it was packed and there was a huge line. She was going to try and get the next one. In her second attempt she lost her place to an RV that took up 4 spots. Giving up, she came back to the campsite in hopes that I had her burger and the decency to come with her as she now needed to drive that 40+ miles around since she couldn’t take the ferry.
So over to the next beach we went which seemed to take forever since you apparently need to go down all manner of winding and twisting roads to get there. Finally we make it, but about an hour late even though we had been attempting to get there for the past 4 hours.
Having learned from our previous mistakes we didn’t even try for the ferry on the way back and just went the whole distance around again. Seems that Saturday is the big switchover day and everyone is trying to get out and come in. Even the grocery store was packed and we couldn’t even get a bag of ice there.
Our plans for a big cookout for the final night didn’t quite come together. It was too late and there was no hope of buying anything with all the lines.
And then the raccoons showed up and rummaged through everything. They even tried to make off with my pancake mix! But this my friends was going too far! I chased that brimstone beast down and took it back! He can stare at me with those beady little eyes of disbelief all he wants, but no one steals my pancake mix! No one! You can steal my soap, and gnaw on some shoes and even go so far as to loot my stash of Mountain Dew, but this kind of behavior is going too far.
Day 7
We escape from Wilmington and took the most boring drive back home.
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