Alas, My Camping Days Are Over--But My Memories Are Still Fresh

What brought on this topic, you ask?

This past week our church family, which includes several of my relatives, camped out in the mountains. There are several wonderful campgrounds not too far from where we live--once you've driven the winding road to get there. I know they had a wonderful time.

Was I envious? Of the fellowship and the good food, yes. Of sleeping on the ground in a tent with no shower or real bathroom, absolutely not. No, I'm not above all that--did it plenty years ago. My old bones would rebel--and making numerous trips to an outhouse in the dark in a place inhabited by bears no longer appeals.

Over the years, I've done all sorts of camping.

As a kid, I tent camped with my family three weeks at a time at Bass Lake. The food wasn't wonderful--my dad cooked and he liked to throw everything together in the frying pan. Sometimes it was edible, at others, not so much.

When I was a Camp Fire Girls leader, we tent camped a lot--in the mountains, at the beach, and once I went with another group and camped on Anacapa Island. We had to haul in all of our water. I back packed with my girls through the wilderness of the Sespe. Slept on the ground with no tent. Together we cooked great meals.

As a family, we tent camped a lot. With five kids, that was the only kind of vacation we could afford.

Our biggest adventure was tent camping all the way across the United States and back with three of the five kids. What an experience! And it was a lot of work. We did it in three weeks on $500. (That'll give you an idea of how long ago that was.)

After that, we decided to upgrade and bought a camper. By this time, we only had two kids to take along with us. (The others had grown up and left home.) We traveled along the coast of California and Oregon. Much easier than having to put up a tent every night.

With only one son, we went to Yellowstone and camped in many great spots long the way and back. Again the camper was a lot better than a tent.

Time passed and we sold the camper. We ventured out to other places by plane and stayed in hotels.

When our daughter and son-in-law bought their first motor home--we went with them to Disneyland. They upgraded and bought a snazzier motor home and we traveled with them from Omaha (we'd flown there for a conference) back home. We also went with them to Sedona AZ. And believe me, camping in a motor home is the easiest way to camp.

They've now downgraded a bit to hauling a trailer and they're off on a 7 week trip. (That's something that doesn't appeal to me at all.) I'll be anxious to hear all that transpires and see photos of the places they'll be.

We are still traveling, but mostly fairly close to home and by car. Staying in a nice hotel with a real bed and bathroom with shower is all the camping I want to do these day. 

As time passes, many things change--and this is just one of many.

Marilyn aka F. M. Meredith