Yeah, I know, my attitude sucks a little. But, I will tell you a bit about our latest camping adventure. By "latest" I don't mean that we go camping a lot, or that we do that very often ( thank goodness!), but just that we've been camping lately.
So, there were a few factors that pushed me over the edge to set this up:
Our great neighbors have a "camper" or "trailer" . Its a small one with pop out sides for sleeping and a hard top center with a HEATER and electricity. Sounds lovely doesn't it? It wasn't their fault.
We had planned to go to the CLOSEST camping site. There is a new state park near Vernonia- a mere 20 miles from home. PERFECT if we forget something.
Thursday was a nice day, clear skies, looked great. We pulled in and discovered that we forgot a few things- PB & J, Ryan's running shoes, Flashlights. So Ryan set up camp while I drove home the 20 miles and made it back in no time.
The campsite is beautiful- lots of trees- just not near the campsites. They've cleared out the sites completely of trees and put down gravel- so there is no privacy. The kids loved it because we could see them from our site to the playground and there was a nice loop for them to ride bikes. Not bad. Friday morning started OK- but we did know that the rain was coming. So we head out to explore while its dry and find some trails- there are lots there, some for people, some for horses. My family chose the HORSE trails. Guess what comes with HORSE Trails? Horse droppings, and horse hooves digging up the trail to make it even MORE muddy! The picture illlustrates just a bit of the screaming inside my head. I hate to be muddy - especially when it wasnt' completely necessary.
We make it back to the campsite and drag along the afternoon. Now its time for thinking about dinner. The only problem is that the wood we have will honestly not light no matter what we do. We need a fire to cook our foil dinners. So, I proposed that we would go to Camp 18 for dinner. Its a place I've been dying to visit on the way to Seaside. Big lodge type restaurant. The food was great, the kids had ribs and it was lovely.
Then we headed back. It was raining pretty hard now. Our sleeping bags were not warm enough, even with the heater. It was cold and wet. Ryan went running in the morning along the lovely trails. The kids and I played video games, I read and we tried to keep warm in the space the size of my bathroom. When Ryan returned we said we were cold and really wanted to go home and could we just pack up! We were leaving that day anyway. Ryan took a cold shower and we packed up in the pouring rain. We left behind all the people who stayed in their giant motorhomes, 5th wheel trailers with flatscreens ( Why bother?).
When we asked the kids what their favorite part was - they said eating at Camp 18. They don't really get it I think... or maybe they do! I can do it if I have to.. but why when you don't have to. We also decided camping might just be about going with other people. I think that makes it more enjoyable as well.
So, there were a few factors that pushed me over the edge to set this up:
Our great neighbors have a "camper" or "trailer" . Its a small one with pop out sides for sleeping and a hard top center with a HEATER and electricity. Sounds lovely doesn't it? It wasn't their fault.
We had planned to go to the CLOSEST camping site. There is a new state park near Vernonia- a mere 20 miles from home. PERFECT if we forget something.
Thursday was a nice day, clear skies, looked great. We pulled in and discovered that we forgot a few things- PB & J, Ryan's running shoes, Flashlights. So Ryan set up camp while I drove home the 20 miles and made it back in no time.
The campsite is beautiful- lots of trees- just not near the campsites. They've cleared out the sites completely of trees and put down gravel- so there is no privacy. The kids loved it because we could see them from our site to the playground and there was a nice loop for them to ride bikes. Not bad. Friday morning started OK- but we did know that the rain was coming. So we head out to explore while its dry and find some trails- there are lots there, some for people, some for horses. My family chose the HORSE trails. Guess what comes with HORSE Trails? Horse droppings, and horse hooves digging up the trail to make it even MORE muddy! The picture illlustrates just a bit of the screaming inside my head. I hate to be muddy - especially when it wasnt' completely necessary.
We make it back to the campsite and drag along the afternoon. Now its time for thinking about dinner. The only problem is that the wood we have will honestly not light no matter what we do. We need a fire to cook our foil dinners. So, I proposed that we would go to Camp 18 for dinner. Its a place I've been dying to visit on the way to Seaside. Big lodge type restaurant. The food was great, the kids had ribs and it was lovely.
Then we headed back. It was raining pretty hard now. Our sleeping bags were not warm enough, even with the heater. It was cold and wet. Ryan went running in the morning along the lovely trails. The kids and I played video games, I read and we tried to keep warm in the space the size of my bathroom. When Ryan returned we said we were cold and really wanted to go home and could we just pack up! We were leaving that day anyway. Ryan took a cold shower and we packed up in the pouring rain. We left behind all the people who stayed in their giant motorhomes, 5th wheel trailers with flatscreens ( Why bother?).
When we asked the kids what their favorite part was - they said eating at Camp 18. They don't really get it I think... or maybe they do! I can do it if I have to.. but why when you don't have to. We also decided camping might just be about going with other people. I think that makes it more enjoyable as well.
Posts
1 comment:
Funny! I think it gets better as the kids get older. And it's never fun if you're cold
Post a Comment