The Maven

Pre-Camping Blog Entry

For two reasons, I thought it would be a good idea to record some thoughts before our family’s upcoming first camping trip. Just in case I get eaten by a bear and don’t survive this experiment and because it’s always fun to compare what you think is going to happen to what actually did.

Can you tell yet that the Daclison Clan has never been camping? As “worldly” as we like to think we are, the great outdoors, sleeping under the stars in sleeping bags, sitting on the dirty ground around a campfire—-all are very alien and foreign concepts to us. Growing up with four older sisters, a motley collection of cousins, parents who had meager means but still believed in traveling for pleasure, our summer vacations were more like road trips to Disneyland or Universal Studios. Places where the kids could go off and the elders could find a diner or restaurant somewhere to sip on coffee all day long. Vacation meant going sonewhere to relax and have fun. A couple of times we ventured close to mother nature. Renting cabins in Tahoe for a week or two during the summer or winter. Driving up to Oroville for the weekend in the middle of a smoldering summer only to stay indoors because it was too hot. All close encounters involved fours safe walls surrounding us. Camping, in its true form, did not exist in the fun category according to my parents.

Twenty somewhat odd years later, I still don’t agree that it does. This trip is to prove me wrong.  I was the last to sign on to join the adventure brigade; with a mother, a sister and a husband still refusing to drink the kool aid. More than anything, and I probably am not the only one to feel this way, I am curious to see what everyone is raving about. After talking to several friends and looking on a couple of camping websites, I still think camping is more work than pleasure. I suppose if my expectation level is low, I might be pleasantly surprised.

So you may be asking whose brilliant idea this is anyway. Well not to throw her under the bus (which will only be the case if this ends badly) but my ever enthusiastic niece Carissa has been the mad scientist behind this mad plan. She convinced the majority of the family, in a moment of weakness, I think, that after she went camping with her co-workers during a teambuilding weekend outing, that we, too, would fall in love with the great outdoors. So much so that we would make this an annual event.

Like I said, she’s very enthusiastic…

In gathering all the necessary supplies and equipment, camping is also not cheap. Because I am still skeptical that we can crank out a National Lampoon experience year after year, I am “borrowing” everything for my first expedition. Thank God for my office mates Mario and Gayle. They’ve done this numerous times and have the necessary items to prevent me from having to check into a hotel —- or, my original plan, sleep in my roomy, CLEAN and warm truck. So because I am a good sport, grumbling just a little bit, I will “rough it” complete with tent, air mattress and sleeping bag.

With the majority of us being girls, of course there were certain criteria that needed to be met before we decided on where to go camping. In the end, Camp Lotus won out. With free WiFi, an onsite cafe, and bathrooms and showers that are cleaned three times a day, how “rough” can this really be? You must be laughing, rolling your eyes, wondering why we bother. Well, you can’t expect us to go hard core for our very first time. We are camping virgins and must be eased into this peculiar lifestyle.

I went to WalMart to take a look at their camping equipment. They have something for everything. A plastic case promises to keep your eggs from crackng before it’s time to cook them. Buuuutttt, if they survive the trek home from the grocery store, why couldn’t we keep it safe up to the campgrounds? They have a No See Mosquito Net Hat to wear while you’re hiking. (Insert punchline here.) Seeing these odd collection of “survival items” makes me even more determined to keep my dollars in my pocket.

In anticipation I am hesitantly excited about our camping trip. I love and know my family enough to know that every vacation together is a fun one because of what each of us brings to it. I’ve always considered my childhood a happy one because of the time that I spent with my family and that included the comedy-of-error vacations we had. At the end of our camping weekend, we’ll probably end up injured and exhausted and for the sake of entertaining you readers, here’s to hoping our inevitable follies get captured on film somehow.

Thanks for reading! Share your camping experience with us by leaving me a comment. We might be able to consolidate a list of what NOT to do!