I'll never forget taking my daughter and her girlfriend on a camping trip in Tennessee. It was a campground recommended to me by a co-worker. The one hour drive had turned out to be a three hour drive. We were excited, all having had a long work week. This was a new adventure. It was located at a state park. When we arrived, there were signs about not feeding the bears everywhere! My daughter's friend looked alarmed as she read the signs". Bears? "She said, like she had never imagined bears may be in the mountains.We set up the Tent, and I decided to take a nap. When I woke up, the girls had built a fire and were roasting hot dogs. We all had hot dogs and chips and finished getting things placed where we wanted at our site. As the girls went in the tent, I walked a few feet to the car to get our weather radio. I heard the girls scream and turned to see them fly out of the tent in extreme horror. Before I could even ask what happened ," Brianna started screaming that there was a bear behind the tent and it had touched her through the back wall! I walked over to take a look and saw nothing. Feeling annoyed, I just looked at her and said "Brianna", "There is nothing back there honey! "She was adamant that something had touched her and it was big,. "like a human," she squealed. I just shook my head. That's all I need, I thought to myself.
A bear scare!!!. I thought about the signs, wishing Brianna could not read for a minute. I started getting a headache, I was tired. The girls finally calmed down to my relief.
  We sat around the campfire and discussed our plans for the weekend, places we had driven by on our way to this campground to go back and visit. The girls went to shower and I just relaxed, my headache subsiding.
I finally decided to go shower. I was relieved the bathrooms/showers were so close to our campsite. After roasting marshmallows, I said we better get to bed so we don't sleep all day tomorrow. I should have known,
Brianna refused to sleep in the tent."I'm sleeping in the car, she said". I just looked at her in disbelief." Then my daughter who has been on twenty camping trips opted to do the same thing. I can't believe this! I thought. "Okay, whatever, I said." They both looked at me and asked if I was going to sleep in the tent. Yes, I am I said. I was really tired and by this time, I'd had enough. The girls headed to the car with pillows. Feeling irritated and disappointed, I went inside the tent and laid down. I was asleep in minutes. Several hours later,
I awoke. It was around three am, I think. Realizing I needed to go to the restroom, I grabbed a flashlight and emerged from the tent. It was pitch dark. I headed for the restroom after looking at the car and seeing the girls were in it sleeping sitting up." Good grief! I thought to myself."
Arriving back at the tent site, I realized I was wide awake and built another fire, grabbing some chips. I had a small snack and laid the chips on the table. I went inside the tent to lay back down. Suddenly, I heard  a noise outside the tent. I was a little nervous. I wasn't sure what it was. I kept listening, trying to pinpoint the direction. It got louder. After a few minutes, it sounded like something hit the ground. I just froze for a minute.
"Someone is out there" I thought. Now I was real nervous, the possibilities running through my mind. A serial killer could be out there. I felt my heart rate pick up. I decided to peek out to investigate. I saw the bag of chips laying on the ground. My nervousness subsided a little bit. Then I got brave and decided to sit by the smoldered campfire pointing the flashlight toward the woods behind our tent. I saw something move. Waiting on a bear or serial killer to attack at any minute, I took a deep breath. Then, the shape finally came out of the darkness.

It was the biggest raccoon I have ever seen! About the size of a mid-size dog. Feeling relieved, I just sat there as it stared at me while inching close to the chip bag. By now I was amused. This was what Brianna felt touch her through the tent earlier. I watched as the raccoon grabbed a chip and ran off, came back for another several times. Then it just picked the bag up with one hand and began eating the chips with the other in a sitting position. I can't wait to tell the girls in the morning, I thought.
The rest of the weekend was great, we went to a big lake nearby and some other nice attractions. Tennessee is really beautiful and the state parks are a great place to camp.