More thunderstorms ... are campers staying dry in Shenandoah NP?

More thunderstorms are rolling into the Central Shenandoah Valley for the third day in a row ... the sky is darkening at mid-afternoon, thunder is rolling, huge clouds are over us as we wait for the rain to begin.

It's Day 3 of storms coming through the area which makes me think of all the campers in Shenandoah National Park and west of here in the Appalachians. Are they staying dry?

We've ridden out some horrible thunderstorms in a tent over the years and it can be a little scary. Only once was it wet and that was in the Adirondacks of upstate New York when the rain came down so hard that it puddled around our tent and started soaking the floor. We ended up in the car but not just because of soaked sleeping bags. We were camping in the midst of huge tall trees -- cannot remember what kind they were -- and the storm was so fierce there was concern a tree could snap and crush tents in the campground. I gladly slept in the car that night.

In a tent you get a light show during a thunderstorm ... flashes of lightning with silouettes of trees dancing across the roof and sides of the tent. It's definitely a different experience than watching from the safety of your house. Luckily, we have never lost a tent or rain fly or anything else in the high winds that accompany something like that.

Our family stayed home this Memorial Day weekend, catching up with yard work after being at the Outer Banks last week. SWAC Husband, SWAC Daughter, and I have spent today outside mowing, trimming, and cutting branches to be hauled to the fire pit. A rose bush injury drove me inside to stop a thorn-induced bleeder ... the other two followed a short while later, driven inside by the storm.

Summer is definitely on its way....