The Wedding Crashers

A few weeks ago we squeezed in one last camping trip of the summer before school started. We went to a campground in Preston where we met my brother and his family there. It had two lodges there that you could rent out and one even came with a really nice pool that had beautiful mountain views from it. It also had tent and RV spots. So we checked in for a two night stay. The place was full with lots of really nice RV's with plates out of California. Both of the lodges were rented out too. But there were no kids in sight except for ours and my brothers. That was kind of unusual living where we do, kids are everywhere! Well the owner of the place was a single lady that was really nice. She saw that we had kids and invited us to swim in the pool for the rest of the night if we wanted to. She said it was only for those who rented the lodge but that they had all went into town for something and so the place was quiet and that we could use it until they got back. She told us that the entire place was booked out six months ago for a wedding that would be taking place here by the pool with majestic views on Sunday. We were the only ones staying here that were not involved with the wedding party. So we took her up on her generous offer and let the kids swim. We all had a great time. Soon the caravan of people started coming back for the night, so we got out of the pool and headed back to our camp site. We saw a guy come into the pool area and was checking the water level. He wanted to make sure we didn't splash a lot out because he wanted the pool filled to the brim so you could see the beautiful water in the wedding pictures as a backdrop.

The next day, Saturday, the entire wedding party left again to go into town for a rodeo and parade that was an all day event (something like the 4th of July). So the place was quiet again and we had it all to ourselves. So we thought they wouldn't mind if we went swimming again while they were gone and we would leave as soon as they got back so we wouldn't invade on their space. By the way, they never once used the pool the whole weekend they were there. They only reserved it for the wedding as a backdrop. Well technically we didn't have permission but thought it would be fine since the owner allowed us to the night before and no one was using it or was even there and we would be out before they got back. So we had fun swimming again another day. My boys are great swimmers and love to dive. So they brought weights to throw in the water and dive down and get at the deepest end. Well after a while I guess that wasn't challenging enough for Tyler so I don't know what possessed him to do such a thing but he dove down and pulled the plug to the pool! Now this pool had no filtration system it just filled up like a bathtub and had a big 6inch drain on the bottom. The water wasn't even chlorinated but was extremely clean. We found out later that it was filled by a natural spring of water up the mountain edge. This pool was about the size of the Ammon pool. So when Tyler pulled the plug you can imagine the force of pressure of all those pounds of water trying to get down that drain. Especially considering a gallon of water weighs over 8lbs! We are actually surprised the force didn't rip off Tyler's arm and suck it down that 6inch drain! He came up to the top of the water hyperventilating while the rest of us stood by completely oblivious to what he had done. We calmed him down enough to ask him what was the matter and he said he pulled the plug. Immediately we started to see the water draining out of the pool at a very fast rate. Without even thinking, Ron dives in and tries to put the plug back in to stop the water from draining. Well he assumed the drain went on like a bathtub drain but turns out it was opposite. But he was out of air and had to come up and couldn't go back down to fix it because the suction pulled the plug towards the drain so fast and there was a sharp metal edge on the plug that sliced Ron's finger really bad and he barley got it out of there before it snapped down. He came up out of the water bleeding and the tip of his finger cut clear to the bone! The pool had drained a foot by now and at this point Ron was in so much pain, there was nothing we could do about it. So we got out of the pool and went back to our camp trailer to bandage his wound. But not before someone came back from the wedding party and saw us getting out. Tyler was still crying hysterically and was telling me that even after Dad put the plug back in, he could still hear the water draining. So about an hour later, after Ron's wound was taken care of and everyone had calmed down a bit, I told him that he should take Tyler and walk back down there and see if the water was still draining. So they got dressed and went back down there. The pool had lost about 3 feet of water by now and was still draining because the plug was on upside down. A few minutes later the owner of the campground came to check on the pool because obviously the person who had saw us noticed the water level going down and called her. Remember they didn't even want two inches of water out of the pool for the wedding. Well she was super nice (thank goodness for nice people in this world) and Ron explained to her what happened and she said not to worry about it. Well Ron felt so bad and decided to try to fix the plug so it wouldn't drain anymore so he took of his shirt and shoes and dived in again in his Levi's. He was unable to fix it because there was nothing to pry it up with now. So it was slowly draining and she said she would just keep the water on filling it up continually and hoped it would stay full for the wedding the next morning.

The wedding was at 9am and we watched all the wedding goers go over there but didn't dare go look if the pool was full. After the wedding the owner came and knocked on our trailer door and asked Ron if he would go fix the drain now and start filling up the pool with the spring water. She was all dressed for church and obviously didn't have a husband to help her. She had told us the pool had completely drained overnight despite our efforts. She talked so nice to Tyler and told him to please not let this bother him anymore. So Ron and I walked down to the pool after we saw the wedding guest leaving and the pool was bone dry! We couldn't believe it. These people booked this wedding spot six months in advance and didn't get what they paid for. We were thankful to find out the pool water came from a natural spring so we didn't cost the owner the expense of water too. I 'm sure those people asked for a partial refund for renting the place. We felt terrible but also so blessed that Tyler was protected and Ron's finger turned out okay. He seriously could have lost the top of his finger totally. We said many prayers of thanks for safety and good people in this world.

I should have taken a picture of the drained pool but I was so distraught I wasn't thinking about preserving memories of this event.