Driving from Victoria to the Gorge should have only taken around eight hours including stops and grocery shopping. I wish I could say we did it in only eight hours. Instead it took us over 12, from leaving my house to plopping down in the tent. Excluding time on the ferry we clocked it at about 14 hours. Folks, that is a long time to be in a car as it is, but add in the obstacles we were met with and you have an explosion of rage waiting to happen.
First we hit Seattle traffic, which is bumper to bumper crawling while crazy drivers are creeping in and out of lanes as if they own the road. Driving in that area is a lesson in space management, people have no regard for other drivers and go where they please when they please! Basically it's a mess. On top of that, their signage is a little lacking (read: we got lost). A little detour and a lot of swearing from the boy later we were out of the muck.
Even though that sort of traffic was frustrating, I would have drove the entire trip in it if I had known what was coming next. Soon enough we were in the Snoqualmie pass. It's a beautiful stretch of road on the way out of the city that winds through the Cascade mountains, at least it should have been beautiful and I'm sure it is on any other day.
Turns out they were doing construction on the pass .... .... .... or were at some point, but had forgotten to take down the signs. We were at a standstill. No cars were moving and neither were any construction vehicles. They had gone home for the long weekend leaving behind all their signage. This is when the boy lost it. For the next, oh probably three hours, I had to listen to him lose his shit over the lazy workers and the mess all of us were in. I couldn't control the traffic or the construction workers so I was trying not get stressed about it, but the car was vibrating with travel rage coming from the driver's side. If there was any moment in the trip when either of us was ready to snap at the other, it was that moment. The windows started fogging up from all the steam blowing out his ears! I'm not kidding!
Those hours set the tone for the rest of the night so by the time we got to the campsite all we wanted to do was sleep.
I wish it had been that easy though.
Instead of rolling up to the campsite and finding a lovely staffer directing everyone to an appropriate place, we drove into this:
THE GATES OF HELL!!! I kid you not, what came next must have been fairly similar to purgatory or the 8the level of hell!
Keep in mind we had been traveling for over twelve hours at this point. Here we were in yet again, another line up of cars. On top of that, these cars were stuffed with rowdy campers who felt it necessary to honk incessantly. Plus there were thousands of people who had already set up camp that were now wandering around through the cars. The staff took our tickets and told us to follow the car in front of us.
The campsite, which was later to be dubbed "district hipster" looked something like an African refugee camp.
I swear I even saw that kid running around looking for PCP.
Following a line of cars we drove around that campsite looking for a place to park. We drove and drove. That's the wrong word, we weren't driving, driving requires the use of the gas pedal. Rather, we were jerking around the camp site almost literally attached to the car ahead of us. It was getting hopeless. We were exhausted, it was noisy, it was busy, people were EVERYWHERE and there was not a patch of grass, or dirt, or even a garbage heap, in sight where we could settle down.
At this point I had to drive because Blake had had enough. I don't blame him, it was one of the most infuriating trips I've ever made! Not a single staff member was to be seen directing traffic or even helping. Finally I drove past four of them standing around chit-chatting with each other.
"What the F.... are we supposed to do?!?!?!" I yelled at them.
If there had been room I may have ran the four of those shits over after their response, "Just keep driving until you find something."
Cue the red rage.
Fuming, I creeped through the camp until I saw a potential place. I tried to speed in, but there was a van of girls moving in as well. I don't quite remember what I yelled out the window at them, but it was a string of inappropriate things and lots of swearing. "This spot is reserved" a man said.
ARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
Tried for another spot.
"Um, that spot is taken"
ARRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
I was losing it! It was too much.
Just when I was ready to jump out of the car and start ripping down tents, a green, rather large, patch of grass was found. Going the fastest we'd gone in probably 5 hours I sped onto it and parked the car.
And with that I was back to my sweet little self.
We introduced ourselves to our neighbours, set up the tent, and passed out. Good riddance!
I still can't believe how unorganized the whole thing was. I hope that the organizers realize what a disaster it was and work towards a solution.
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