The Great Outdoors

I am not much of a camping type girl.  I’m a city girl and my family did not camp when I was growing up.  My idea of “roughing it” would be a stay at the Holiday Inn with the pool closed and the cable out.  And the thought of getting close to nature, especially after dark, does not sound very appealing to me.  Not.At.All.

I have a vague memory of my youth group camping out during a trip to Disney World, but the only thing I remember is waking up one morning soaking wet because it had rained and the tent had “sweated” due to the high humidity.  And why where we camping at Disney World?!

My only other memory of “roughing it” also involved my youth group and a choir tour to a place called “Camp of the Woods” somewhere in Canada.  It was a two week trip which we sang our way from Alabama to Canada.  One trip highlight, ahem, was our bus breaking down in the middle of nowhere and mosquitoes the size of helicopters trying to carry a few of us away. 

At the camp, we slept in bunk houses complete with OUTDOOR plumbing, that’s right, an OUTHOUSE.  Ummm, contrary to popular belief we don’t really have those in the South.  And I’m a gal who all my life has gotten up in the middle of the night for at least one potty break.  Just keeping it real, folks.

I kid you not, I purposely dehydrated myself after seeing a BLACK BEAR in the woods on the way to breakfast one morning.  I was not going to be a middle of the night Scooby snack for any beast lurking in the darkness of night.

So, fast forward a few decades to a little camping invite by friends last week.  After finding out there would be indoor facilities and electrical access, it didn’t take me long to think about it and answer absolutely not “no thanks, we have prior engagements early Saturday morning.”  Which was the truth!  I promise.

And the fact that we can’t get to our tent in a storage room helped my cause. But we did make plans to join our camping friends for dinner at the camp site on Friday night. 

A last minute change in plans landed us at one of our friend’s backyard for a 5 family cookout.  Ahhhhh, my kind of “campy” get together.  A nicely wooded backyard complete with a fire pit and immediate access to indoor plumbing and running water.  The weather was perfect, the food was great and the company enjoyable.   And I didn’t have to sleep in a tent!!

Maybe next time, camping friends…..perhaps after the little slithering things have gone to rest for the winter.