Is Camping Worth It

Discussions of the first camping trip of the year were being had by my friends as Victoria Day approached. It all sounded pretty exciting and I considered tagging along until I recalled a promise that I made myself awhile back: “No more camping trips for Victoria Day weekend.”

The reason behind this vow was, as you may guess, a bad camping experience. The entire trip wasn’t bad I suppose but one of the nights the temperature dropped to darn near polar and I thought I wouldn’t make it through the night. My jaw ached from the chattering of my teeth, I thought that I would never be able to straighten my hunchback of tightly clenched muscles from sleeping in the fetal position all night. The day being sunny and warm certainly didn’t prepare me for the night of cold that snuck out of nowhere. We were of course camping just far enough from home to make it unreasonable to drive back just for an extra blanket, or jacket, or in my case, SNOWSUIT!!

Truth be told, I lived for camping in my younger years. I enjoyed sleeping under the stars and never thought much about the bugs and the weather. I couldn’t get enough of watching the fire, subsisting on nothing but hot dogs and marshmallows for days on end, cause that’s what you could stick on a stick.

Nowadays, I don’t feel that blissful harmony anymore. If I didn’t have children, all the fuss of packing, unpacking and setting up really wouldn’t be worth it. You know though, we really don’t have to travel too far from home and sleep in a tent to hunt for frogs and catch butterflies. They must miss the tv at least as much as I do.

Camping is fun for about as long as it takes me to drink my first Mike’s Hard Lemonade after setting up the tent. Then it’s just really incredibly boring for hours until my husband starts the fire. And forget about going fishing. Fishing has to be the most boring thing to do on the planet. After the second roasted hot dog on the first night I’ve just about had it. Staring at the fire dreading the next trip in the darkness to go to the washroom full of bugs, I wonder what excited me so much about camping as a kid.

And that’s on a good trip, WITHOUT the subzero slumber. So that trip was particularly unbearable. If I remember correctly, I believe we also had to pack up in a rainstorm that weekend.

Isn’t nature wonderful… “Behold nature, children!” I shouted as I wiped off my glasses under the tailgate of the van.So, did I go camping the holiday weekend? Not a chance. Will I be going camping this year? It’s a possibility.

If – and only if – when my husband asks, he’s holding a portable dvd player under one arm and sleeping bags stuffed with down under the other. Or better yet, the keys to an RV.

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