Minimalist Camping

With TomTom leading the way, my brother and I drove to Hammonasset Beach State Park in Connecticut to camp for a few days before the fourth of July. Upon arriving at our campsite we were greeted by a nicely mowed, large campsite right across from the bathrooms. Not exactly roughing it, as the light from the Coke machine shown through our tent each night. Anyways...the one strange thing was that there was no spot for a fire and no remnants of a campfire. Turns out people either bring in their own fire pit or rent one. We were rather surprised as this is quite different from the normal practice in our neck of the woods. Being the flexible sort of folks that we are, we made due with what we had: an electric Coleman lantern, complete with a yellow night light setting. It was perfect--no mess, no smoke, no fighting over who would put out the fire--quite enjoyable in many ways. This wasn't a planned part of our minimalist camping experience, but it worked out well as we weren't planning on cooking. We decided to eat breakfast and lunch out of the cooler and then go out for dinner. I certainly had no intention of working my first week of vacation.

So we settled right down our first night there and were sleeping peacefully until we were both heard squeaking and scratching above our heads at 3:00 in the morning. Thinking it was a pair of squirrels my brother offered to go take a look (good thing because I had no intention of getting up). A moment later I hear, "you better stay there." It was three large skunks scratching at our heads. Not what I wanted to hear. Skunks that didn't smell or spray thankfully, as we would've been in trouble.
They did eventually go away after my brother worried them with the flashlight. Needless to say, the next day I indulged in an afternoon nap.