Ca-ca-ca-camping!

My friend and I were working out together way back in the Spring when she asked me if we would like to join their family on a camping trip over Labor Day.  I hadn’t eaten breakfast and was dying on the elliptical machine.  I think I was blacking out from overexertion because I suddenly heard the words, “Sure!  That sounds like fun!” rolling out of my mouth before I could stop them.

Sure, that sounds like fun?!  What?!  I don’t even like camping.  I mean, not at all. And besides that, the only camping gear we own is a cruddy sleeping bag from Walmart and a checkered camping pillow that smells like it’s been passed around a homeless encampment.  It was a severe momentary lapse of judgment  that I couldn’t renege on.  Dang.

And then Labor Day just up and showed its face on the calendar.  Thankfully, we looted my parents garage of all their expensive camping gear during our 4th of July visit so at least we wouldn’t be sharing the stinky pillow.  But still I felt anxiety about camping.  In the woods.  Preparing dinner with dirty hands.  With bugs all up in your business.  Bleh.

But away we went anyway.  We camped at South Beach State Park near the coast and what a delightful campground it was.  Flushing toilets, showers, water, and all within walking distance to the beach.  Turns out camping isn’t so bad when you can shower and wash your hands before making dinner.  We had a pleasant time and will probably go camping again next year.  Gasp! 

It took a while to load our car – probably because of the copious amounts of Oreo cookies.  And the fact that we didn’t test out our new bike rack beforehand and found our bikes wouldn’t fit on there as intended.  So we white-trashed it and strapped them down all cattywampus like.  Don’t judge.  You weren’t there. 

It only took us an hour to set this bad boy up.  We would have been done sooner but one of the poles was strangely too long so we had to perform minor surgery.  We were successful.  Who says you need formal training to perform surgery?  Hogwash.

Eva and her buddy made great use of the outdoors.  My favorite activity they conjured up was their “exercise bikes.”  They sandwiched their bikes into the bark chips so their back wheels could spin freely and then they would sit and “exercise” whenever we were in camp.  They also spent a lot of time climbing around in my car and leaving dirty footprints everywhere.

We had fun at the beach and exploring tide pools.  We ran down the rock hill at Cobble beach and listened to the cool sounds, we roasted lots of marshmallows and drank hot chocolate.  We spent quality time together as a family and enjoyed the freedom from distractions.  It was a good trip.

And then we hit up Dairy Queen on the drive home.  Seems fair after sleeping on the ground for 2 nights.  Which is my limit. 2 nights and not a minute more.

I guess we’ll try it again next year.  I sure hope my parents don’t expect their equipment back anytime soon…