Camping

My husband proposed a camping weekend.

We used to camp when our children were young. They have many happy memories of that time. I am glad they do. My memories are a bit…dusty…messy…lumpy.

We dragged a carload of equipment and provisions out to a campsite, set up tents on bumpy, uneven ground and cooked on a tiny, little camp stove and then tried to clean up without leaving a mark upon nature.

Speaking of nature – we’ve always tried to respect nature. But nature hasn’t always answer in kind.  We’ve had wind blow over our tent. We’ve had rain drench us.

I remember lying in my sleeping bag, trying to sleep on the rocky ground, and hearing the rain on the tent. I knew that in the morning I would be exhausted, wet and in need of a shower that would not exist.

So at sixty years old, we decided to try again. I have my limits. I agree to camp if: (1) we invest in new air mattresses, (2) I can have my tea and dark chocolate, and (3) we go to a cushy campground with showers.

It wasn’t so bad. We went to a KOA campground and set up our tent on a seemingly flat surface with our new, air mattresses inside.

We have some camping equipment. My husband has camped many times. I noticed though, that the people at the site next to us had first class camping equipment. They seemed to be very relaxed as that sat in comfy chairs next to a huge tent enjoying a gourmet meal and a glass of wine. Where did they get all that stuff? How exactly did they pull that off?

My first night of sleep was not my best. I realized that although my new air mattress is very comfortable, I sleep better on a horizontal surface. Apparently the seemingly flat ground on which we had set our tent was really at an angle. I did not notice this angle until after midnight.

I kept waking up to find my body on the very edge of my new air mattress. I felt like I might roll off. I was not sure whether to sleep turned uphill or downhill. I woke periodically in the night. Every time I awoke I thought, “Oh, yes, we’re camping. Oh, yes, I’m in a tent. Please, God, can I have just a few hours of sleep?”

Morning came. This we knew because suddenly the tent became roasting hot. We got up and made our breakfast. I had my tea and dark chocolate.

We hiked that day to a beautiful Alpine lake. Then we took showers and met some friends in the nearby mountain town. We watched a storm approach. The wind was incredible. I kept looking toward our campground in case I saw a blue tent sailing across the horizon. I did not.

The second night we turned our new air mattresses and sleeping bags around so that our heads were uphill and our feet were downhill. This was much better. I actually slept through the night (not counting the call of some buzzard in the wee hours).

That day we hiked and fished. We saw a beaver and a herd of antelope. Heading back home we talked about how much we had enjoyed our weekend away.

Will I camp again? Possibly. But I sure would like talk to those campers next to us and get an idea of that first class camping equipment they had. I like the idea of semi-roughing it.