I don't remember the first time I went to the campground, but I know Jason took me and it was on a day trip type short visit rather than to camp. I was overwhelmed at the time by the drive (many stories there) but absolutely blown away and moved by the stunning natural beauty of the place. It was gorgeous.
I seem to remember being exhausted and frightened from the drive, as well as likely car sick from the winding roads early on (motion sickness really does suck) and finally driving up to this place that I had no idea about. There was this epic beach, with waves an surfers and a background of a bay and I don't even know the words... tree... land.... beach, ocean, land, trees, surf, water, river, nature. Beautiful.
We have gone out a handful of times over the years but it wasn't until 2018 that we went out to the site to actually camp.
Some of that trip can be found in a few posts in the April 2018 archives, including a couple of posts specifically about the rain we dealt with and what was basically an epic failure of rain-protection and gear.
I'm sure there were good moments in that trip, but overwhelmingly it was difficult. The rain and the rain getting through all my clothes and then the tent was not ok. And packing up in the rain into my decidedly lacking in storage car (I love you girl but you're not built for stuff!) and bad moods and frustrations and cold and honestly the cost (camping seems like something that should be free but it kind of isn't) it wasn't... exactly something I wanted to rush back into doing.
Over the years, Jason talked about maybe another camping trip, maybe even "off grid" (to eliminate the costs of a campground/site) and I just kept feeling like I couldn't afford it. The gas, the food, the firewood, the incidentals. Money really has been tight for years now (being on medical will do that to you) and I'm never, or rarely under my planned budget and so throwing several hundred dollars at what was difficult and uncomfortable hasn't been a priority for me. Plus my car still doesn't have any more storage space!
After that trip though, I did spend time and money fixing my gear. I started with warm, water resistant pants and I got rid of my NOT AT ALL WATERPROOF jacket (it used to be, but it got old and I didn't notice until I did) and at the start of Covid (by co-incidence) I got a warm waterproof new long jacket from some money I was given for my birthday.
When Covid hit and lockdowns happened, I very much wanted to stay in my tiny little bubble. And then we were asked to do just that and so even going for a drive became a "not ok" thing to do. When we were allowed to leave our health authorities, I was still pretty gun shy about travelling far and so the next time Jason and I went for any length of drive it wasn't far and it wasn't to camp.
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