Sleeping under the stars; it's not for the weak

Ever since we first laid eyes on Dabob Bay, I've fantasized about sleeping under the stars there. Think of it. Eagles soar over these waters. Sea otters hunt and play here. Oysters willingly offer themselves up for your feasting. Deer wander fearlessly. In a word:  idyllic.

So it was with great anticipation that my family set off to take on this new challenge.

What we pictured in our heads:

Camp fire to keep us warm through the night.
Soft forgiving sand to lie upon.
Moon and stars brilliant in the sky.
Sounds of the water lapping up on the beach.
Soothing sounds of crickets, hoots of owls, perhaps even frogs as they lulled us to sleep.
Good dog keeping watch.
Teaching the kids the constellations with the help of our iPad.
Telling ghost stories (not too scary) and singing the kids to sleep.


What really happened:

Fire dead before we even fell asleep, so out of the sleeping bag to restart the blaze.
Sand is hard and cold. And filled with pokey things. It also slants quite a bit so you're always a little off kilter when you're lying down.
The sounds of the water were actually pretty soothing so that was okay.
The sounds of Lord-knows-what-animal sniffing around the campsite was not quite so soothing. Hubby's convinced that something sniffed his head. But the Chupacabra did not eat any of us. Not even the dog.
Speaking of the dog, she was balled up at my feet in my sleeping bag keeping watch of nothing. She remained serious about her job as family protector because she woke up and barked/growled a couple of times during the night. She never left her spot at the foot of my sleeping bag however. She did leave me to try to fall asleep again. Great.
iPad had no signal out on the beach. Not like I expected to have any bars out there, but you'd think it could at least get something.
Mosquitoes. ugh.
At least the kids slept.

So maybe it wasn't idyllic. But we did learn a couple of things. Bring a good rake and prep your sand before dark. Stack up extra wood so that when the dog does wake you, you can just reach over and feed the fire.  Study constellations in a book first so you don't look like an idiot to the kids. The iPad was not reliable. Borrow a couple of bigger dogs because the little one only kept my feet warm. A big dog would have been nice to cuddle.

Waking up to everything covered in a little bit of dew was kind of cool. Well, cold. But seeing the otters playing just off shore first thing in the morning was pretty darned awesome.