Tsunami Warning

We were totally dialed into our campsite on the Oregon coast. The fire was blazing. The tent trailer (rental) was all set up and looking spiffy. And the wife and kids and I had just busted out a bag of marshmallows when I got a call on my cell phone. It was my sister in law.

"Hey, you guys are on the Oregon Coast, right?"

"Yeah," I said, feeling pretty smug about the whole scene, like Mr. Hot-Shot, Eagle-Scout-Wannabe camping dad.

"I'm watching the news and there was an earthquake off the coast of California. There's a tsunami warning for the Oregon coast."

My initial reaction to this type of news is always a bit curious. On the inside I play it cool, but on the outside I talk a lot. I seriously can't shut up. So I told my wife what was going on and she immediately started putting the kids' coats on. I went looking for a ranger, and sure enough, she had already begun the process of evacuating the camp. After talking her ear off, I zoomed back to the site and loaded the kids in the van.

As we headed for high ground, I couldn't keep from wondering if my insurance covered tsunami damage, as I fully expected to return to find the tent trailer lying upside down, covered in seaweed like some scene from The Perfect Storm. I also worried momentarily about the campfire we'd left going, but figured that large a wave would probably pretty much take care of it.

So we sat up on the hill for a half hour or so, listening to the radio. When we got word that the warning was cancelled, we headed back down to our campsite and went to bed, happy to be alive, but kind of bummed that our fire had fizzled out.

Gotta love a tsunami warning.