Real Life Elemental Shaman Rite of Passage

In WoW, a leveling toon is wise to sleep at an Inn. Nothing beats the bonus XP you get while rested. Well, used to be that nothing beats it, however the new recruit-a-friend program gives even more, but forget that for the moment.

Once you hit 70, not quite as important to sleep at an Inn, but my experience this weekend pretty much convinced me that Blizzard needs to give some boost for a good night's sleep, regardless of level.

Went camping IRL.

Only one night. This should be easy.

Coupla fishing poles, a bag of marshmallows, some steaks to char on a stick.

Four kids between 3 yrs and 9 yrs old.

Two dogs between 1 yrs and 5 yrs old.

Two adults between 32 yrs and 39 yrs old.

Good times ahead. This should be easy.

One thunderstorm between 36 hrs and 48 hrs long.

To be fair, it was more of a teasing thunderstorm than a sustained one.

See, the sun would shine brightly, blue skies, birds chirping, kids laughing, tails wagging.

Seconds later, the darkest of dark clouds would roll in, the winds would kick up, and rain drops the size of grapefruits started falling. Kids definitely not laughing. Tails tucked way down between drenched, furry legs.

20 minutes later, the sun shining, blue skies, birds chirping, kids laughing, tails wagging.

Repeat this hourly for two days. Anytime we got the fire going again, enough to dry out the surrounding fire pit and allow the fire to get big enough to cook on or dry out clothes, then wham-o, down she pours.

'Cept for night time.

Then the sustained rolling thunder was simply unreal. The ground was shaking.

The lightning bolts were visibly hitting the ground and the lake 200 feet away.

Both incredibly spectacular and utterly terrifying at the same time.

I kept telling myself that an Elemental Shaman was undergoing some rite of passage, and the heavens were opening up to celebrate.

Soaked to the bone, trying to keep the kids and dogs something close to calm. Maybe 2 hours sleep total, scattered here and there in 15 minute increments.

Bottom line:

(A) we ultimately were able to cook the steaks. outrageous.

(B) at the end of the trip, my daughter's first camping experience ever, which at moments was a huge nightmare, she says...

"Daddy, I like camping, can we do it again?"

Sure thing, peanut, anything for you :-)