Sunday, July 24, 2011

The Family That Camps Together...

We've been busy getting ready to go camping for a few days.  Yup - you know me, Miss Outdoorsy, I yearn to sleep on the ground and eat baked beans from a can and be bitten by mosquitoes non-stop.  Doesn't all that just scream "vacation" to you?

I blame the economy.  And bedbugs...and the humidity...we're heading for higher elevations where (so the website claims) the climate is more like Canada's.  Dear Lord, let that be true.

This picture is a lie.  The mom is smiling.  Larry does not know how to play guitar.  And the children aren't fighting.

I keep repeating to myself, "This will be fun.  This WILL be fun.  This will be FUN."  But I'm no fool.  I'm thinking the only benefit to this type of family getaway will be my happiness upon returning to my air-conditioned  home.  It's like banging your head against the wall - it feels so good when you stop.  Not that I know anything about that...

Again, why is this woman smiling?
In the meantime, it took Larry and I several hours to figure out that - considering our minivan is packed to the gills for a non-camping vacation - it stands to reason that we cannot possibly add 2 tents, 8 sleeping bags, and assorted other wilderness paraphernalia to the vehicle without violating the laws of our physical universe.  Meaning?  We have to drive both minivans and spend twice as much on gas.  And here I thought camping was supposed to SAVE us money.  What's up with that? 

Also, if I have to drive, I can't knit.  So there goes the relaxation part of my trip.  Not to mention the lack of Internet (fare thee well, all my Words with Friends compatriots!) and cellphone coverage... I swear, it's as if we're pretending to be the Flintstones. 


And now there's a mouse scratching in the ceiling above my head here in the den of my blessedly modern abode.  Are there mice at campsites?  I think I might have just found my silver lining.


[Outdoors Woman image: Texas Parks and Wildlife]
[Family picture: Go Camping America]
[Minivan image: My Summer Vacation]

9 comments:

  1. Once, when my children were young and we were headed off to the north woods to camp, I found myself extolling the virtues of heading to a laundromat without kids to a friend. I knew then that I needed to re-think what my version of relaxing was!

    Still, hope you have a wonderful time, though I hate to tell you, mice may be the least of your worries. :-)

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  2. Um, hate to say it, but yes, there are mice in the wilderness :)
    BUT a bottle of wine brings a LOT of happiness to a camping trip, mind you.
    Have fun, take your knitting, and think of it as research for your blog.

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  3. My only camping has been on mission trips to Mexico. I'm good with that as the total of my experience...

    But you'll make memories, and that's what matters. (Keep telling yourself that.)

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  4. AnonymousJuly 25, 2011

    We went camping and I had plenty of bars even out in the middle of nowhere and got to continue to play Words with Friends! I wish the same for you.

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  5. When I was a kid I loved to go camping and I could never understand why my mom disliked it so much. Now I get it, when you're a kid you don't need to do any of the work, when you're a mom, you get to do it all.....
    Now I just send my boys to scout camp and my daughter to girls camp with our church. My daughter came home from her last camping experience with a new found appreciation for flushing toilets.

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  6. Well at least now I know why you haven't started a new game with me!

    Look on the bright side--no laundry . . . until you get home!

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  7. My son says that the best part of his Boy Scout camping trips are the bragging rights afterwards. I hope that you actually enjoy yourself (may the mountainous climes live up to your expectation for cooler weather). But if not, claim your bragging rights. How big were the mosquitoes? - Bigger than a horse. How burned were the baked beans? - I could have carbon-dated them,they were so burned.

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  8. I thought I had it bad, what with the basement flooding while the house was full of painters and my daughter was coming down with pneumonia.

    But look at the bright side. There will be kids, and possibly mice--but maybe there won't be vomit.

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  9. we camped this weekend too. sorta. in the yard. the climate was very Canadian, as we're IN Canada. the mosquitos, alas, were too. :)

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