A Camping We Will Go
Well no, we won't. More specifically, I won't. At least not without a very good reason. And possibly a gun to my head.
I'm not sure when my attitude toward camping changed. As a Girl Scout I loved it. I was very good at all the skills we'd practiced before our first trip. I could lash together sticks to make a small shelf lashed to a tree, with a separate stick hanging under it for a towel--a wash station.
I was a whiz at making a fire. (Still am, as a matter of fact. All my skills came back when we had a wood-burning stove in the family room.) And, although I hadn't done a lot of cooking at home, I was the only one in my group not afraid to cook over the campfire. I didn't know what I was doing, but I just jumped in and did it.
Years went by before an opportunity to go camping came up again. I went because we went with friends, but I did not have fun. In the first place there were bugs. I don't remember being under attack by a million insects, most of which were mosquitoes, when I was a Scout.
I wasn't able to show off my cooking skills. There were too many cooks and a lot of what we brought was ready-to-heat.
Then there was sleeping. Or trying to. And this was before my sleeping was an issue. The ground was hilly and even when I found a fairly flat area it still had lumps. No matter how many rocks I moved, there were always more. I kept thinking about an essay I had read ages before, by a woman who was swearing off family camping trips. She said that "camping" was from an Old English word that meant "sleeping on a slant." And on various other things.
Plus, I couldn't get warm. Maybe I hadn't packed enough layers since this has never a problem for me, but I spent so long sitting as close to the camp fire as I dared with my shoes resting on the rocks in the circle around it, that the soles of my sneakers melted.
One fun memory after another.
And since we're talking basic, in the woods camping, no cabins, no campers, nada, I'll add that I have to have a hot shower in the morning. I can face just about anything that the day can throw at me if I've had a hot shower. It's a lot like the way many people feel about their morning coffee.
Don't talk to me, expect anything from me, DON'T LOOK AT ME. Until I've had my shower.