Camping

or how I was tortured this weekend!
So we went camping this weekend. And I dont mean camping in a motorhome or camping at a place with a pool and showers. I mean camping with pit toilets, no hot water, no showers! Just dirt, hard ground, bugs, and smelly out houses. Wow, I make it sound appealing dont I?
Now I am not some city girl with no experience getting dirty. I was a camp counselor for 5 years. I went camping with the family when I was little. I am not a total novice. However I find, as I grow older, that I like a bed. I like a hot shower, I really like clean hair. I do not like bugs, especially in my sleeping quarters. I like indoor plumbing, I do not like bathrooms where you cant flush! But I am a good sport and the hubs, he likes to camp. So I go, on occasion, although I do complain a bit.

It was pretty tolerable back in the early years, when we were first married. Of course I was all of 22 back then as well. Now I have two children to bring with me. They are 5 and 8. They love dirt. They love no baths. The are all for dirty hair, bugs, and sleeping on the ground. They do NOT like the pit toilets, so there is that we have in common. My boy pretty much rolled in the dirt the entire time we were there. My girl relished in the fact I didnt make her comb her hair or wash her face. When I bathed them tonight, the water was black. I had to scrub the tub after each bath!

There was one highlight to this weekend camping trip and its name was: Wine. Ah yes wine, I think I had a bottle. Or maybe two. Its amazing what good wine can do. I forgot the dirt, I forgot the bears, I forgot the fact I had to sleep on a half inflated air matteress (are there any other kind?) with my husband, trussed up in a sleeping bag and dirty sweats. Yes, the wine turned it all into a nice fuzzy glow. I actually went to sleep in my dirty clothes with scuzzy teeth and I didnt even care! (Way more information than you needed right?) So this leads me to my recommendations...

* if you can avoid camping in a tent, DO!
* if you can choose your vacation, go for a real bed!
* look for campgrounds with showers!
* avoid camping with small dirty people, or try to stick them in their own tent!
* if all else fails, drink copious amounts of wine! You can delay the pain until the next morning!
HAPPY CAMPING!!