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<\/a><\/p>\nWe didn’t have any kids as of yet so that was pretty low on the list of the things I was worried about.\u00a0 Still, it was a great story of how camping had been just a few years earlier.<\/p>\n
We bought a cute, two person dome tent.\u00a0 I loved that little tent!\u00a0 It was easy to put up and comfy.\u00a0 I couldn’t find any pics of the tent but I did find a pic of #1 Daughter as a elementary aged girl sitting in the doorway of that tent.<\/p>\n
We bought thin pads to go under the sleeping bags to cushion the hard ground…we still use those pads!\u00a0 We. Were. Ready.<\/p>\n With a lot of enthusiasm we headed out towards the mountains and to make a long story short, it poured our first night of camping and we found out we’d done a great job of waterproofing the tent.\u00a0 It was like sleeping on a water bed and the tent almost floated away.\u00a0 Then we got snowed on in the mountains and we about froze.\u00a0 Because it was so cold, we ended up cutting that camping trip short a few days and found ourselves a hotel in which to warm up.<\/p>\n The kids came along and we took them with us and that little tent.\u00a0 My in-laws had a little pop up camper.\u00a0 We’d tow the camper and bring that tent.\u00a0 MFH and I would sleep in the camper and the kids would share that little tent.\u00a0 It was great!<\/p>\n Just one more pic…just because I love this pic of the two kids.\u00a0 No tents or campers but what we loved to do while camping.\u00a0 Hiking!\u00a0 We saw such beautiful places!!!\u00a0 I hope the kids have fun memories of those years.<\/p>\n Now, here’s the story I was going to tell you:<\/p>\n The kids were old enough, teens, that we could leave them alone while we did a back country hiking weekend together.\u00a0 We STILL had that cute little dome tent!\u00a0 Holy cow, the trips that tent had been on!<\/p>\n Like for our very first camping trip, we started shopping.\u00a0 Not for a new tent this time but for backpacks, water purification things, instant coffee (if you think I’m going camping without my coffee you are sadly mistaken!) a light weight and tiny\/collapsible stove, dehydrated food…that kind of stuff.<\/p>\n We were so excited for this trip!<\/p>\n MFH had obtained all the required permits.\u00a0 We had assigned places to camp.\u00a0 Friday came, work was over and our packs were ready.\u00a0 MFH drove us to the parking spot and we strapped on our packs and started hiking to our camping spot for the night.<\/p>\n It started raining.<\/p>\n No big deal, right?<\/p>\n It started raining.\u00a0 Hard.<\/p>\n We kept hiking until we reached our camping spot for the night.\u00a0 It was almost dark.<\/p>\n Now, we had packed a little bit of lighting but not tons.\u00a0 We had enough to see to put up the tent…in the rain.\u00a0 Things were fine.<\/p>\n The tent was up.\u00a0 We were soaked but in good spirits!<\/p>\n I went into that faithful little tent first.\u00a0 I put my backpack on the floor of the tent.\u00a0 MFH came in after me and leaned his pack up against the side of the tent.<\/p>\n That’s when it happened.<\/p>\n That poor tent.\u00a0 It had been through soooo much!!!\u00a0 It had held up during the flooding on our first ever night in the tent.\u00a0 It had held up in an incredible wind storm in Rocky Mountain National Park~a windstorm that literally ripped apart other tents. It had held up during overnight camp outs in the yard. This backpack and rain?\u00a0 It was just too much for our tired little tent.<\/p>\n RIIIIIIIPPP!!!<\/p>\n The entire wall of the tent gave up.\u00a0 I mean, the seams let go and that entire side panel of the tent was laying on the ground!<\/p>\n By now it was pouring rain and dark.<\/p>\n MFH was sitting in the tent, his mouth hanging open in disbelief.<\/p>\n I was laughing like crazy.<\/p>\n It was just too funny!!!<\/p>\n MFH somehow managed to rig up a tarp to keep the rain out and we tried to sleep.\u00a0 We didn’t sleep well.\u00a0 It was wet!<\/p>\n As soon as it was dawn, we packed up our packs, tried to take down that poor tent and trudged back to the car.\u00a0 Our little weekend getaway was over a few days earlier than planned.<\/p>\n That Christmas, MFH surprised me with a new tent!\u00a0 It was nice!!!<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/w0ep.us\/TM\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/36583099_1743214452465350_6008405886983208960_n.jpg\")
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