The Camping Trip That Wasn't

Stopping for lunch in Federal Way on the way to the Camping Trip That Wasn't. Little did we know...

Sit back, kids, and I'll tell you a little story about a camping trip that went awry.

Liz and I made campground reservations every month from last summer through late Spring of 2018. We figure that because it rains up here...a LOT...we'd follow through on reservations, rather than skip a weekend if the weather looked sketch. So...this month (December) it was Dash Point State Park. Raining like crazy, but hey...

Just before heading out of Seattle to go there, I checked once again from a confirmation email what our site number was. It was #66. Easy to remember.

Got it.

We loaded up the teardrop, said goodbye to our house-sitting son, daughter in law, and granddaughter, and headed off to our weekend away.

We pulled into the campground a little after lunch, self-registered (you have to do this off-season, even with reservations), and looked for #66.

As it turns out, an entire loop of the campground (which included #66) was closed for the season. The only sites open were 1-55.

"What the heck, man?!" I thought to myself, but also said to Liz.

No one was running the kiosk, nor was there a campground host on site, nor were there any other sites available for the whole weekend. Washington State Parks was clearly letting us down, and we were not stoked about being thwarted by Dash Point.

"How could a website let us pay for reservations we couldn't use?" we asked each other, incredulously. "I'm really disappointed with WA State Parks," we each told each other in our own self-righteously indignant ways. "This just isn't like them at all..." We both shuddered to think about what it would be like to receive our call of disgruntlement, in addition to our insistence for a refund post haste, ipso facto, lickety split, or...whatever other Latin phrase works best here.

Before we left the campground, I felt the need to use the restroom, after having already had roughly 18 cups of coffee. We pulled into an unoccupied site (#44) to park for a sec--a site that looked remarkably like the one I'd reserved (#66 - and I almost made that comment to Liz), and made a mad dash to the restroom. We then pulled out of that really nice spot (wouldn't THAT one have been a great campsite?!), and left Dash Point State Park Campground.

We texted our house-sitters, and maybe a friend or two, that we were on our way back. We decided that, dang it, we were still going to camp--just in our own yard. We've done it before...we'll do it again.

We put the trailer in place, put up the side rain-proof awnings, and set up for the weekend (again...in our yard). I went into the house to get on my desktop computer to see if there was a number I could call to register the aforementioned righteous indignation, and realized I'd looked at our April 2018 reservation confirmation for Fort Flagler, rather than Dash Point.

FYI - our site for Fort Flagler is #66. I feel like I'm not going to forget that.

I couldn't believe it. First off...what was I going to do with all my righteous indignation energy? (Still not sure...). Second, I felt like a total dipstick for having looked at the wrong reservation confirmation.

As it turns out, the site for Dash Point was #44 (the one we pulled into for a quick sec, and both thought would've been a great spot to camp...if only...).

So...we're back in Seattle...we're all set up out back, and we're camping here for the weekend. I'm no longer angry/disappointed with WA State Parks. I've decided not to call them and ask them to reimburse me.

Isn't that magnanimous of me?

After returning to Seattle, I got a call from "Ranger Jeremy," asking whether or not we were planning on showing up (and probably wondering why we'd self-registered for a closed spot). I sheepishly told him the whole story, and after laughing out loud, pretty loudly, he told me he needed the last four digits of the card we'd used to secure the reservation in order to reimburse us. 

Righteous indignation evaporated. THIS was how we'd always experienced WA State Parks. :-)