I’m not sure when my mindset changed about making the best of a situation I perceive as undesirable (or actually bad), but I’m pretty sure it was post Mario, but I’m not sure exactly why. Maybe it’s one of those, “don’t sweat the small stuff” type of things kicking in since I’ve already been through one of the “big stuff” type of things in life with losing a spouse?
Either way, I’m a lot better, mentally, about handling unexpected things.
Case in point, yesterday I had set off on a planned mini “rest and recharge” escape to the coast. I had been looking forward to this since I booked it over a month ago. It’s the first camping of the season, which I especially look forward to because it means I haven’t been camping since September.
I went a different route than normal since I had to return something to a sporting goods store an hour north of me. On the drive there I’d realized I forgot to throw my pillow into the Jeep. Honestly, I usually do forget something. I’ve kind of made a big joke about it now. The joke started years ago when Mario and I went out camping once and actually forgot to put the sleeping bags in the car! So now I just kind of chuckle about whatever it is and remember all the other forgotten items over the years. I was able to pick up a camping pillow at the sporting goods store too, so that helped in this case.
However, on the 60 minute drive out to the coast, something set off my allergies.
I get the typical hay fever allergies–runny and/or stuffy nose, watery eyes, sneezing. It’s usually the grasses that do me in, but occasionaly I’ll have reactions like that to certain foods too. I’m sure it didn’t help that my central air conditioner decided to die 4 days ago (that’s a whole other story and something else I would have totally freaked out about years ago) and I’ve had to have the windows in my house open more, so I know I’ve been exposed to more allergens before even setting off, but I was okay before I left.
You may ask, why not just take something for the allergies? Well, I’m one of those folks who just really can’t tolerate any allergy medication. It actually makes me feel far worse from the side effects of the meds.
So here I am, driving for at least 3/4 of the trip, blowing my nose and sneezing (always fun while driving… I’m just lucky these are roads that aren’t high speed and highly traveled around this time). I finally get to the campground, later than I expected, and find that the camp spot I chose is kinda lame. It’s not “protected” in any way from wind, no trees, and right next to the restrooms (not necessarily bad, but does mean there is bight light all night long). Also, the cool beach to the lake was completely submerged in water. I had no idea that it had rained that much this season. Last year I was there at the same time and there was a good 40 feet of beach.
Instead of having some angry, internal, mental meltdown about the way things were going…
I got out of the Jeep and decided to walk a little bit on the dune trail that’s behind the campground to see if a little bit of exercise would help with the allergies (sometimes it does). It did not, but at the top of the dune I noticed I had a few bars of cell reception (which I didn’t down at the camp spot).
It popped into my head to get on the reservation website for another campground that I really like about 4 miles further up the coast and see if they had spots. By this point in the day it was getting close to 4pm, but there were plenty of spots showing as reservable online. So I go back down the trail. I just got in the Jeep and headed to the next campground.
I rolled in and basically checked out all the spots until I found the perfect one.
I had good reception there so I was able to book the new camp spot while sitting in it! The allergies were not getting any better and actually getting worse since the walk on the dunes. Sill, I kept telling myself that I was at least out camping. I made some dinner and some hot tea. I had to have sneezed at least 20 times just since I’d gotten to the new spot. Managed to finish dinner then decided I would try a hot shower to “steam” my sinuses. That was another bonus with this campground, they had hot showers!
It’s probably good that there were very few campers there last night because I definitely used more than my fair share of hot water. It did help a little bit though. By this point it was starting to get dark. This is usually when I start my camp fire. I wasn’t really in the mood to deal with the camp fire smoke though, but the fire pit was not too far away from my Jeep and I figured, I would start it anyway, then get cozy with sleeping bag and box of Kleenex and just watch the fire from my window. I was determined to make the best of the situation, given the circumstances and that this was just going to be a short trip. I had to make the most out of it.
The back of the Jeep is rather comfortable with the special air mattress I have and sleeping bags (I usually do bring 2 just because it makes it that much more comfortable). My original plan was I was going to write this blog post on my iPad while relaxing that evening, but since I couldn’t stop my nose from running (and was still sneezing here or there), I figured I’d just watch the fire and try and get sleepy.
Of course the thought did cross my mind that, “this sucks”, but seriously, what was I going to do about it?
Getting upset was not going to help anything. And it did feel nice just to not have any responsibilities other than just laying there, otherwise relaxing and being cozy. It took until midnight, but I finally dozed off.
By morning, I only had a few sniffles, so whatever set me off seemed to have run its course. I enjoyed breakfast way more than dinner the previous night!
I was going to make the most of the next 10 hours.
I decided to go back to the other campground with the small lake and do some kayaking since I’d gone to the trouble to bring my kayak.
The lake came all the way up into the parking lot for what used to be the beach. Not really a bad thing as it meant I didn’t have to drag the kayak over 40 feet of beach. So I had an enjoyable time paddling around the little lake for about an hour. I made some lunch at the picnic bench, which was now literally 2 feet from the water! It was nice and sunny and breezy, but not full on windy like the previous afternoon.
I also had a nice conversation with the camp host (who hadn’t been there when I rolled in the previous afternoon). He ended up telling me that he had a heck of time not too long after I left the previous day with an unruly family that had showed up and was refusing to pay for a spot! So it was rather a good thing that I did go to the other campground.
After kayaking, I ended up going to another spot a mile south where you could take a mile long trail out to the beach. About half a mile in, the trail was completely submerged with rather yucky standing water. I was a little disappointed, but figured, well, if I turn around now, I’ll at least have walked a mile all together! There was definitely a point in time where I would have been pretty peeved at trudging through a half mile if sand to not get to the beach. When I got back to the Jeep, I realized I could just see the ocean from my parking spot, which was nice. I ended up taking a nap for a little bit, because why not? I wasn’t in a rush to head home as I wanted to make the most of my day since I really didn’t get a chance to the previous day.
When I got up, I decided I wanted to go to one of my fav restaurants about 10 miles north. So off I went. The restaurant had moved a few doors down from their previous location and I learned they just reopened last week. I was a little disappointed that my favorite thing was no longer on the menu, but I tried something new and it was good. On my way back south, I stopped at one of my favorite spots to actually walk along the beach for a little bit before going home. The Pacific Ocean is magical, especially along the vast empty beaches of the Oregon coast and it was just the recharge I needed before heading back.
So to say this trip didn’t go as planned and didn’t have some unexpected things happen was an understatement, but I’m still happy and very glad I got to go. Everything worked out in the end and I didn’t let any of the unexpected stress me out.
