with the camping trip scheduled for departure this afternoon, i put on a work hiatus and went around town gathering up last minute supplies. the weather was a bit rainy and all i had was the motorcycle, but it wasn't too bad. i first went to market basket on somerville avenue, then the super 88 in allston. 30 minutes before my father came to get jawei and i at 3:30, that's when i finally decided to pack. we converged at the cafe, where i saw a car that looked suspiciously like renata's car but no renata (turns out she was just cleaning the inside, must've been bent over). we packed everything into the trunk of the camry, a strategic version of real-life tetris in the making. everyone piled into the car (my parents, jawei, renata, myself) and away we went, a 3 hours drive to woodford, vermont, to the woodford state park.

everything was going fine until we were caught in a speed trap (in our home state of massachusetts no less) and flagged down by a police officer to pull over. we ended up getting a speeding ticket, doing 72 mph in a 55 mph zone. once we were up in vermont, we took a bathroom break at the guilford rest stop (renata got some animal crackers that didn't really look like any animals we know), before driving west to woodford in southwestern vermont. the weather was a series of intermittent rain, and once we started driving through those famous green mountains with their elevations, it got really foggy. it didn't help that my father was driving the posted speed limit ever since the ticket, as i watched cars pass us by.

we didn't get to woodford state park until after 7:30. the ranger station was already closed, and we drove to our campsite, 66, with a creepy feeling like the place had been abandoned or something. once we found where we'd be camping, the first order of business was to set up the screen house, since it was still raining. with 5 people it was easy work. next we decided to build the fire; i went with my father by car with renata tagging along. there was a mound of logs underneath a tarp back near the ranger station. with nobody around, we just took the firewood, filling the now empty trunk with logs. back at the campsite, my father started the fire but it took several tries before we had a successful self-sustaining burn (the drizzle didn't help, but it'd eventually stop raining). instead of pitching the remaining tents, we decided to have dinner first, where we had rice noodles.

the tent i'd be sharing with jawei was the first to go up, your basic dome-shaped tent. next came renata's tent, a cocoon-shaped one. finally, my parents' tent, an all-season tent that was like a tent within a tent. with that all set, it was time to finally relax and sit by the fire. by then the rain had stopped. we roasted marshmellows. i tried walking into the forest with my head lamp but it was just too dark and i didn't want to get lost. off in the distance i could see the faint shimmering of the nearby reservoir. around 11pm, everyone went to bed. i went to sleep dreaming about all the efts i'd find tomorrow morning.