The Shower

#deardiary #shortstory #adventure #comedy

Dear Diary,

Camping season is finally open! Every year I love taking trips out to the provincial parks and spend time with mother nature. To kick off the season, I chose to make a reservation at Moose Lake. This park was 4 hrs away, it had cabins you can rent, lake side views, a hiking trail to Moose Lake cliff and on Fridays, they have an outdoor movie event you can watch with other campers under the stars.

I booked a camping spot for 4 days, Saturday morning I packed up the car with everything I needed and started to make way over to the campsite. I find road trips to be a lot of fun, it's a chance to explore places you have not yet been to. Along the way, I came across a farmers market, this market was unique because it was a large building in the shape of an apple-an Apple! With beady eyes and a smile painted on the side of it. This farmers market sold all kinds of home made pie, bread, sandwiches, and your choice of tea, coffee, or hot chocolate.

I decided to buy an apple pie, the size that it was, it sure to last me my entire trip. The rest of the day went by pretty quickly. I checked in at the park administrations office, unpacked my camping supplies, set up my tent, and prepped the fire pit to use later. Unpacking the gear, and wrestling with the tent set-up did pick up some dirt through out the process, making me a little dirty by the end of it. Wanting to save my drinking water I stopped by the washroom facilities to cleaned up, only to realize a sign hanging on the closed door that read, "Out of Service."

I couldn't find any other washroom near my camp site so I decided to wait it out, I'm sure they would open it back up soon. To pass some time, I took a tour of the park. There were many trails you could take but if you weren't paying attention, you could easily get lost. There were signs for each trail but where the posts were placed, they could easily be missed by the surrounding bush leaves, and tree branches hanging over them. Walking around I noticed there were still many camp spots empty. Of those that were occupied they were taken up by families with children ranging between pre-school and middle school. Some were excited for what adventures this place could bring, others were to busy looking at their cell phones trying to get at least a bar of service.

At the other side of the park was the lodge where they served breakfast, lunch and dinner, and beside the lodge was a jungle gym that was currently being used by the younger kids visiting the grounds. As more families arrived to the park, the space slowly got busier, so much so that more of that dry dirt was airborne sticking onto anything or anyone passing through. By the time I finished exploring the park grounds, at least some of the trails, I was ready to head back. Feeling dusty I was so ready to get cleaned up.

The sun was starting to set over the trees, and the grounds underneath the trees shade were slowly getting darker, and cooler. The breeze started to pick up not long after as the air cooled down for the night, it felt amazing, and with it came the smell of burning firewood. I think that might be my favourite smell of all time. Reaching my camp I pick up a change of clothes, my tooth brush, and my jacket and start walking over to the washrooms. Excited to wash off the dirt and thinking about the food I was going to make, I didn't notice at first the set of rain drops falling from the sky. It was only when it started to rain like cats and dogs did I understand what was actually happening. I look up to the sky and I thought welp.....I guess I won't be needing a second shower tonight. Standing under the torrential rain, I let myself get wet while watching the tree leaves dance in the pouring sky.