Ah, camping. Dozing in the shade, relaxing with your family, sitting around the campfire, making s’mores. It all sounds so laid-back and leisurely.
It is, I suppose. After you’ve done all the work to get ready for it. Digging out the tent. Finding the tarp and the tent stakes and the sleeping bags. Finding room for the lawn chairs. Remembering to pack all the camping stuff that isn’t only camping stuff—like towels, sunscreen, bug spray, and a clothesline. Oh, and don’t forget a flashlight. And soap. All of that is before you even start thinking about food.
While the idea of camping is about leisure and relaxing, the reality is that making it happen takes a lot of effort. Camping isn’t for the lazy.
I seldom go camping myself.
(If any conclusions are drawn from the two previous statements, I really don’t want to hear about them.)
Then, of course, when you get home, you just have to unpack all that stuff and put it away. I did that part this week, after my extended family’s annual reunion last weekend. As I was draping the tent and the sleeping bags over the railing of the deck to air them out, a whiny little voice in my head popped up for just a millisecond. It said, “But I’m doing all this work, and I didn’t even use this stuff.”
It’s true; I didn’t. My son and his wife, who flew in for the reunion with their two little kids, slept in my tent. So I hauled a carload of stuff across the state, but I missed the actual camping.
I wasn’t there for the first night’s thunder, lightning, and heavy rain. I didn’t get to experience the second night’s rain, high wind, and broken tree branches. Instead, I was a few miles away, all by myself. In my motel room, with its hot shower, its dry bed, and its nice solid walls.
Alas. Oh, dear. Poor, poor me.
Does anyone need to borrow a tent for next year? Just call me.
Practical Prairie Woman 
Thank you for putting a smile on my face and reminding me why I don’t go camping anymore. Ireland and camping don’t mix.
Nice post on camping, I am sharing it in my travel page in FB http://www.facebook.com/journeyaroundtheglobe … hope you don’t mind. Thanks
Camping can be hard work but once you’ve got it all set up its well worth it and can be very rewarding (as well as saving on hotel costs!)
And your motel neighbors weren’t even that loud! It was great seeing you…and I agree about the tent part. Not likely happening with this girl again soon!
If you want to know when it is going to rain; I’ll give you my camping schedule. 🙂
After dragging hot meals, washpan,hot water to wash,towels,etc to the fields in summers for more years than the ages most young folks I meet on the street, the idea of camping leaves me cold. Give me a motel room with a near-by cafe any day!! Ginny
I would really have to be a desparate situation to get Ginny to spend any time camping as she got enough of dragging meals and stuff out to dirty, dusty fields to feed meals for me and my hired help and then going home and clean up the mess. Eating out is her idea of a nice time.
I enjoyed all the comments–and it’s nice to know I’m not the only one too lazy to want to go camping. To make things even worse, I have to admit that even as a kid I never really did like s’mores. Way too gooey.