We took a mini trip (with a lot of driving) to the east coast this past weekend for my college roommate’s wedding. It all got started on Friday morning when we hit the road. What should have been a five hour trip ended up taking eight. This was slightly due to a navigational error on my part, but mostly due to traffic (Barry would probably say it was more of a 50/50 split, but he’s not the one writing this). We had the camper and dogs in tow, as usual.

We were able to meet up with my dad for lunch on the way down. He was also headed out of town for the weekend. Although he was headed to a different destination, our paths crossed partway through. It’s always great to spend time with my dad, and it was a nice break before tackling the rest of the trip. Finally, we arrived at our campground.

On Friday evening we went over to my college friend/now coworker’s house for dinner. It was cool to hang out and meet some new people. I also got introduced to a new card game called Dutch Blitz. It was a really fun, fast-paced game and I have since purchased my own set for future use!

On Saturday morning I slept in a bit after a late night Friday night. I went for a late morning run, which also doubled as a self-guided running tour of the peninsula. We camped at a really neat place, and I’m going to dedicate a whole post to it later this week.

Saturday afternoon was the main event: the wedding. Barry and I had a great time, and we got to catch up with some friends we hadn’t seen in awhile, as well as make some new friends. It was also fun to dance the night away (although my feet are still feeling the effects of that…).

This was also my first wedding reception that had a photo booth. Definitely made a few trips to that thing throughout the night 😉

Yesterday morning started with a walk on the beach with Barry. Our campground had 500 feet of private beach, which was really nice. I also got started on my very own beach glass collection.

Before we hit the road, Barry and I went to check out Fort Monroe and the Casemate Museum. There was a lot of history to see and read about there. The fort itself is surrounded by a moat, which is really cool. More details later this week.

After that, it was time to load up the dogs and travel home. The dogs had a wonderful weekend. They are pro’s at relaxing in the camper.

Unfortunately, the drive home took nearly as long as the drive to get there. At first it was traffic that held us up – to be expected for a Sunday afternoon in the area we were traveling from. Then there was the terrifying event with the left front tire of our truck, which happened to take place at 65 mph as we made our way down a mountain.

This may not make a lot of sense, but basically what happened was the bands inside the tire had busted and we were really lucky the entire tire didn’t blow. The entire front of the truck started bouncing around like crazy, as if we had blown a tire. Barry safely got us to the shoulder, and then we made it down to the next exit to put the spare tire on. From there it was mostly smooth sailing the rest of the way home. Anyone who camps will attest to the fact that there’s always something that goes awry when you take a trip. Sometimes it’s minor and sometimes it’s more on the major side. But we certainly learn something each time!

Have you ever played Dutch Blitz?
If you camp, what crazy things have happened to you? There was the time a tire on our trailer blew while we were going 65-70 mph on the interstate; Also that time it snowed nearly 6 inches overnight and weighed down the awning so much we couldn’t get the camper door open in the morning. I could go on, but I’ll leave it at that 🙂
Ever been to a wedding with a photo booth?