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
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fallen Between the Cracks

Why did I stop writing here? With the grace of 20/20 hindsight, there were a LOT of reasons. My daughter's journey would get tougher and tougher, and as I added work into the mix of raising two kids, it was one more thing I just didn't have time for. And well, that work thing.  It sure does suck a lot of free time away, doesn't it?  Even though I am still only part time. I will be honest, as much as I adored all the people on the blogosphere that were kind enough to grace me with their wit and time, I just could not keep up with the constant commenting that I felt was only fair to these wonderful people.   So instead, what did I do? I did what any self respecting coward would do. I ghosted, of course. Not that I think my absence was enough to cause people to be distressed, but I feel badly if anyone felt slighted. Even as I write this, I feel like I am being waaaay too self important.  Isn't that the whole point of a blog, though?  Nobody writes a blog that doesn't
Read more

Onward

The end of the school year, finally! Did I tell you that my son went to public school this past year? Did I tell you that my daughter was in a regular Kinder classroom this year? Although it was nice to have them both in school, there were definitely things I was not so hip on, such as having to wake up at 5:20 every morning just to get everyone out the door on time.  And then after all the driving and dropping off, going to work. Such fun! I had forgotten the dreariness of having to complete mounds and mounds of homework (even though new research has shown that homework, especially for Kinder, is for shit).  Of constant deadlines and fundraisers and things I am supposed to volunteer for. My daughter had a good year, but was definitely not without its bumps. Her teacher, an older, highly experienced, practical woman with a Master's in Education, kept referring to my daughter as an "inclusion student."  It wasn't her name or just "student" but was
Read more

Friday Poll

Because Friday night is our "movie night" at home and we order pizza and eat it on the couch whilst watching G-rated fare with Mr. P, I have to ask: What is your must-have pizza topping? What is one topping you would never eat?
Read more