Camping Disaster

Jason and I tried to camp this past weekend at Padre Island National Seashore.  I say try because it seemed we had one disaster happen after another.  The drive down to Corpus Christi was great...no problems and we found cheap gas and finally a salsa we love.  Once we got there, it was after dark, so we couldn't see the water or any of the surroundings.  We drove into the park and tried to figure out where to set up our campsite.  At Padre Island National Seashore, you can drive on the beach up to five miles with a two-wheel drive car and lot further with a four-wheel drive vehicle.  Big mistake.  We got stuck in the soft sand.  Tried to dig ourselves out (without a shovel) with no luck.  After quite a few tries, a ranger drove up, making his usual rounds.  Thank goodness!  He pulled us out and we went straight to the actual campground.  Not gonna bother with primitive camping at this point.  So we pull into a campsite and walk around.  The sites were a little bumpy, so I walked around to another one.  I had on water shoes that were now totally filled with sand after digging the car out of the beach and my feet were burning like crazy.  Then my arm pits started itching.  I just tried to ignore it as we were setting up the tent.  Just as we were putting the final touches on the sides of the tent, Jason realized he stepped in an ant hill and was getting bit!  Hence, why my feet burned.  We found more piles of ants and just got in the tent immediately to get away from them.  It was HOT in there and of course I started sweating immediately.  I felt miserable, but I thought, "I'm just going to lay down and try to relax."  WRONG!  As soon as I laid down, my top lip swelled.  If you haven't experienced this, it's a VERY odd feeling.  I'm like, "we gotta get out of here!"  Jason wasn't feeling too hot either.  So I just drove.  I drove all the way back to Corpus Christi and thought I'd go to Walmart or something and get some sort of medication.  I wasn't really thinking clearly and ended up checking into a Motel 6 and took a shower.  By then, I had hives all over my body, mostly in spots where I sweat the most: arm pits, scalp, inner thighs, etc.  Not fun!  After that, I was worn out and just fell asleep, hearing in the background that the Heat won the NBA finals (boo).

The next morning, my hives were pretty much gone and my upper lip was just a little bit swollen.  We went a couple places and then headed back to our campsite.  We checked out the area a little better this time and decided to move our tent onto the beach.  No ants on the beach!! Yay!  Now we were sittin' in butter.  Got everything good to go and had a pretty good day.  We boogie boarded (not sure that is the correct verb) and enjoyed the beach.  We cooked a yummy dinner and walked on the beach after 11 p.m.  I've never been on the beach that late and been able to sleep right there!  We didn't walk far though b/c all the crabs come out at night and they are kinda creepy in the dark.  What if they got our toes?!  I doubt they'd do anything and they were a lot of fun to watch.  Their little legs go SO fast!  Some are teeny tiny and some are huge!

Saturday was decent except for our picnic table being under water 95% of the day.  This weekend Padre Island had the highest tide it's had in years and our tent was just spared.  The day was relaxing and just hanging out by the water, walking on the beach and more boogie boarding.  We started making dinner and it got really windy.  So windy that our tent wouldn't stay down.  At this point, we gave up.  We had planned to stay another night, but the wind was just too much and what if the tide was even higher?  I guess it was remnants of a tropical storm brewing in the gulf.  We packed up and got the heck outta there!

Sunday, we stopped in San Antonio and ate a picnic lunch right outside the zoo and I even got to stop at the Vera Bradley store.  Too hot and not enough money for shopping!  Unfortunately, there's a lot of work when you return from camping.  We are doing a little bit each day to get everything cleaned up and I hope to get organized a little better with my storage.  All in all, it was great to get away and be by the water and hey, at least we tried.

I can now say that the swelling has gone down in my left foot (one with the most ant bites) and it might not hurt to wear a shoe tomorrow.  I just have to not scratch!