Not a Happy Camper

A few months ago, a couple that we know well suggested that one day we take our two families and go camping together. Hubba-hubba has let slip that he intends to one day take Mr. Personality camping.

Let it be known that I am not a camper. While I love nature and the outdoors, my preference is to view them from a balcony while sipping the tea that room service has delivered, not shivering in a sleeping bag in a tent with a "bathroom" addition. (I know they make these, I have been told by quite a few people!)

Actually, I have never been camping. The closest I ever got was taking a vacation with my parents in Lake Tahoe. It was a privately owned cabin that was mostly used as a ski-lodge, and it was wooden and short on amenities. I remember being highly disappointed by the room that had five cots on creaky wire frames, and little else. It just didn't fit my idea of "vacation."

So, all I can say is that I have heard about camping, and what I have heard doesn't really interest me. I know that there are "levels" of camping. Is it considered true camping when you have access to a hot shower? I'm not sure, but that is the type of camping that Hubba-hubba's family did. Plug in your RV or whatever and play at the playground, then take your shower in the community building. Then there is the "real" camping where you wipe your butt with a leaf and brush your teeth with twigs.

To be honest, neither one is for me. I prefer my hotels to have fluffy pillows and comforters. I expect absolutely no noise from the elevator and no noise from my fellow hotel-mates. Fireplaces are excellent, as are spa tubs that can fit more than one person. 24 hour room service is nice, and a room high up with a great view is very pleasant.

Am I spoiled? Possibly. Am I ignorant of nature's glory and beauty? Absolutely not. I just like nature to be viewed from a vantage of the time and place of my choosing, where I can relax and read a magazine afterwards on a comfy bed. Is that so wrong?

Comments

Suzanne said…
No no and no. It's not wrong at all. I have never understood why anyone would leave a perfectly good house with indoor plumbing, a soft bed and relatively few insects to go sleep on the ground.

Although of late I must admit a longing to do just that. Perhaps senility is kicking in early?

Suzanne
11:26 AM
Anvilcloud said…
We have camped a little. It's mostly been a way of travelling cheap when we needed to travel a long way for a long time on low funds. I don't mind sleeping in a tent at all. When we go to the family cottage in the right weather, we'll sometimes sleep in our tent by the river. And I would just as soon sleep in a tent in a wonderful natural setting than in a typical motel room. Let's face it, if you've seen one, you've seen them all. OTOH, I just said sleep. It's nice to have a house to hang about in during the day, or a car to get back into and travel some more. Just camping -- pitching a tent and staying rooted -- doesn't seem like my cuppa. And when it's raining, it's not nice. In summer 2003, we ended up camping far from civilzation (again, mostly within the context of a trip) when it decided to pour for a few days while we were not moving but staying oin one spot. Because there was nothing else to do one day, we decided to drive to Rainy River on the Ontario-Minnesota border. It took two hours or more with nothing to speak of in between Sioux Narrows and Rainy River. When we got there, it was a town of a few thousand people with nothing really to see and do (although we were told that there was a church social that we could drop in on).

Anyway, I guess I'm saying that I like to sleep in a tent in ideal circumstances but that I'm not that fond of traditional camping either.
7:04 AM
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