Pura Vida: Camping. A true story.

It finally happened. I avoided it for six years of marriage. I went camping....and survived. After we left the lake house in North Carolina, we entered the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and camped at one of the campgrounds in the park. Two nights of camping, it was an experience.

I can't say it is my favorite thing to do. I don't see why you can't cook on a campfire, or camping stove, roast marshmallows by the fire, stare up at the stars, then go inside. Sleep indoors, enjoy all the modern day conveniences indoor beds, and indoor plumbing provides, then go outside and repeat the cooking on the campfire, sitting by the campfire, etc. etc. The only thing I noticed about camping, that would be hard to experience unless you were camping, was the camaraderie one experiences at a campsite among other campers. When you all are homeless, living outside, you have nothing else to worry about besides being nice to one another.

One particular bond we formed was with two older couples from Alabama. They immediately fell in love with Henry. They let us borrow a few items to help with setting up our campsite, we thanked them by taking over some wine that evening, and they brought over some sweet potatoes they had cooked on the campfire. Friends. Wine. Sweet potatoes. What else do you need?

Ironically, when I told people, it was my first camping experience, they said, don't worry they rarely see bears in the campsite. I wanted to explain to them, it's not the bears I am worried about, it's the sleeping outside, being cold, public restrooms, dirt, did I mention being cold? The bears were the last thing I was concerned with, especially since the weather was so cold the two nights we camped. I figured any sensible bear would stay in his warm, bear cave rather than wander around a campsite.

Henry helped me survive the camping experience. He was having a great time, hands down, loved it! He liked running through the leaves, tripping over hidden rocks, helping Dad build the tent, build the campfire, sampling all the lovely food we were making. I liked to think of him as the campground morale builder. I would take him on walks around the campsite area (in order to give Ryan some time to build the campfire/cook without Henry's help), Henry would walk around and greet everyone. I think he was the youngest camper there.

In the end, I came to the conclusion I would be willing to go camping again. You read that correctly, I. Would. Be. Willing. To. Go. Camping. Again. Not anytime soon, but eventually, we can go camping agin. Ryan said I experienced the worst possible camping weather, cold, rainy, cold, cold, cold, so anything I experience after this trip should be better.

Henry "helping" Ryan build the tent.

Henry "helping" Ryan start the fire.

Isn't this great, Mom?!?! We are camping!

Sampling the pancakes.

Sampling s'mores.

You can see more pictures of this, and read about the story involving this tree in the photo album.
Needless to say, BEAR did not have a problem driving over this tree.