What I like about camping:
1. Getting away. It doesn’t have to be far, but it’s nice to just pack the truck and take off for a day or two.
2. Camp food (and drink). Everything tastes better cooked outdoors, and with an outdoor appetite.
3. Hanging out with family and friends (we usually camp with a group of people, except for this past weekend). I like the sounds of a slowly waking group of people starting breakfast and coffee on the stoves, and the sound of late night talking and laughing over a crackling fire.
4. Hiking.
5. Quiet beaches and sunny, dozy afternoons.
What I tolerate about camping:
1. Camp toilets.
2. Bugs.
3. Being the crazy tent police – shoes off in the screened “porch” of the tent, no dirt in the tent, unzip / rezip immediately to keep out the bugs.
4. The unpredictability: of weather and camping neighbors and the condition of the camp toilets.
What I don’t like about camping:
1. The fifteen minutes (give or take a few) that it takes F to resign herself to sleeping in the same space as other people. She’s a frantic, sloppy pile of frustrated angst between the first goodnight and the moment of surrender to the inevitable.
2. Temperature swings in a sleeping bag. Hot-cold-hot-cold-hot-cold. I think next time I might lobby for bringing blankets or spreading out open sleeping bags and sheets. Might mean less tossing and turning.
3. Packing up and putting everything away. I can’t really complain about this since I do about 5% of it. Still, it’s a lot of work.
We went to Blue Springs Ranch because we had a gift certificate for the zipline there. It was fun for the night, and the girls enjoyed the pool, and we drove over to the beach and ate a most delicious dinner and our family’s best s’mores ever. But the place was a little underwhelming compared to some of the other beautiful campgrounds we’ve stayed in before. We managed to dodge some good sized storms, and the brief rain shower around three a.m. sounded lovely on the top of the tent. Was that lovely enough to make up for the karaoke night in the pavilion next door? The jury’s still out on that one.
Some photos of what I like (and tolerate) about camping – I’m just kicking myself for not getting any karaoke shots:
Do you think it’s worth the drive just for the zipline? I think that might be the nearest one that I have heard of.
After a quick consult with the actual zipper, he says ‘no’ – not worth the drive just for that. But he and E enjoyed doing it while we were there.
Even in our limited camping experiences around here, there are far more beautiful spots to camp than this place.
Thanks much I trust the zipper’s opinion! 🙂 I’ll keep on searching…