Tornado Warnings And The Perfect Rainbow

Marten River Provincial Park is a beauty!  Despite it being only about a half an hour away from my home, I have only been here just a few times before this trip. I had been saving a trip to this park for a time when I wanted a great park to stay in, but needed to be close to home for family reasons, and the time had come. 

I would be spending the night by myself the first night but would be joined by my nephew, his 2 daughters, and his girlfriend the next day. 

I was informed by my mom before I left that there were tornado warnings in effect for our area. I only paused to think about it for maybe half a minute. The sky was clear and sunny and there was no wind. I really wasn't too concerned. Tornados are not that common in our area. So, I finished packing up the rest of my stuff and I headed out. 

Since I wasn't that far away, I left late in the afternoon and arrived at the park at about 5 p.m.  I entered the office, where they also sell souvenirs, ice, and wood,  and I checked into the site that I had reserved. I was disappointed to find out that they were all sold out of both the stickers and the crests with the park emblem on them. I guess I will have to stop in another time next summer to try to get those. The staff here were polite enough but they seemed a little reserved. 

The site I had reserved was site # 147. I chose it because I knew I would have the kids with me and this site was almost directly across from the beach. When I reserved it, I actually couldn't believe it was still available and that no one had snatched it up yet. 

The site itself was quite large. I had been worried that since it was right across from the beach, that it wouldn't have enough privacy. But it actually wasn't too bad. 

I went about setting up my big red tent for sleeping and my screen dining tent. I chose the big tent because although it was going to be just me the first night, I figured that I would have the kids with me the next night. And even though there were no mosquitoes, the dining tent afforded some shelter from the rain and the sun.

It really was the perfect site if you have kids with you. I could literally sit at the picnic table and see the beach. That meant that we could see the kids from the campsite when they were at the beach.  As I was setting up, a lady came walking down the road with her dog named Prince. She said to me "Oh you have the perfect site!"

And I had to agree with her. It even had a set of swings directly across from us. 

At the back of the site there were two paths leading up a hill. The hill was a bit steep but not too bad.

And the climb was worth it because at the top of the hill was a small bathroom with flush toilets and showers!

The hand dryer in the bathroom looked like it had seen better days. But it worked and everything else in the bathroom was pretty decent and pretty clean too. 

By the time 7 o'clock rolled around the sunny skies started turning cloudy, and then the clouds to rain. The rain came down hard and I tucked myself away in the dining tent and ate my supper while I watched the water trickle down the screen. But I stayed dry.  I thought about the tornado warning and I realized that there were still no high winds. Just a lot of rain. All the same I thought about a safety plan just in case. I decided that worst case scenario, I could always seek shelter in the washroom at the top of the hill since it was made of cement and would be the strongest thing around against high winds. But in the end, it never came to that. 

The sky did take on a faint green tint to it, which is a sign of a tornado. But it was only ever so slight. Within about a half an hour, the rain slowed down to a dribble and the sun actually came out while it was still raining. 

And you know what that means....a rainbow!  And this rainbow was not just any rainbow, it was a perfect rainbow!  Put a unicorn near it and it would look like something straight out of a poster that I had in my room when I was 9. It was bold, and bright and there were fluffy clouds floating around at the bottom of it. 

The rain stopped and the sun started to shine brighter. I walked to the beach where I could see the rainbow even better. That's when I noticed that it wasn't just one rainbow... it was two! The second one was fainter, but it was definitely there. 

I  stood alone on the beach and just marveled at the beauty that God created and shared with me. 
He never ceases to amaze me and I was looking forward to what He would show me tomorrow. 

Genesis 9:13
"I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth."
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