Camping

Building a campfire

My wonderful honey and I rarely get time off together, but when we do, camping is one of our favorite activities. Especially considering that, when we first started out together, we lived in a tent for about 2 months (it's a long story), camping has always been one of our favorite activities.

Setting up the tent while
#3 supervises

It started with tent camping. We have this lovely tent, about the size of our apartment living room - big enough to fit a queen size air mattress in one half and still have plenty of room for everything else. It's relatively easy to put up, and goes up in a few minutes with teamwork.

#3 likes camping as long as she gets to run around and enjoy the scenery. She doesn't have the endurance for long hikes but she enjoys walks in the woods. However, she hates being left alone. We tried to leave her alone in the tent once - she tore a hole through the screening over a window opening.

#3 enjoying camping

We used to use a smaller tent to store food and essentials, but had to learn the hard way to keep them out of reach of animals when a raccoon chewed a hole in the tent to get to our food. Now we use hard-sided coolers and boxes to store food away from any nibbling guests! We try to get spaces close to water sources and, when possible, electrical sources, but we don't mind roughing it now and then.

The main problem with tents, however (besides the ability for uninvited woodland critters to get in and #3's ability to get out), is the susceptibility to the elements. Tents are cold at night and tend to get uncomfortably hot in the daytime. Once we woke up in the middle of a storm to find that the tent had fallen on top of us while we were sleeping! Tents also give you no privacy from loud neighbors at the campground, and when people around us are causing noise and ruckus, we don't get much sleep.

Grilling under the awning

With all this in mind, after much consideration, my sweet hubby and I decided to get a travel trailer! It's a big investment, and it's actually the first home we've owned together. It's hard-sided, providing protection from the temperature, wind, storms, and loud noises. The trailer has air conditioning and heat, so it is comfortable in any weather; it has a bed, an eating area, a tiny bathroom and a full kitchenette, making camping so much easier than anything a tent can provide. We can choose to cook over the campfire or use a small stove, oven, or microwave. We can leave #3 in it safely when we need to go into town, too.

Enjoying the camper

For us, the point of camping is relaxation, a time to get from everything and just enjoy spending time together. There's nothing like brats and smores cooked on the campfire, sitting with the one you love, listening to the noises of the woods, with no rush and no place to be. We may still camp in tents sometimes just for the fun of it, but the trailer makes it so much easier that we have that much more time for relaxing and simply enjoying the time away.

It's the value of these times together that make life sweeter. Isn't that what a vacation should be?