Glamping

As I had alluded to in a previous post, last weekend was an adventure for me...a revisit to a way of life I had forgotten from my Boy Scout years. We went camping and went friends up to a place northwest of Little Rock...to get away, to spend fun time together, to be outdoors, to reconvene with nature.

When I was little, we would have many scouting events that required us to live in tents for weeks, weekends, on end and live "one with nature". I had a tent mate that I shared my tent with always. Cameron was a swimmer and he was an all-around awesome guy!!! We even shared a cardboard box together in a winter campout at a local nature park. We lined up the refrigerator boxes side by side and straight across from each other and then capped off the roof and ends with more boxes and loaded each box with two boys and their sleeping bags and gear. It was cozy to say the least but we generated heat nicely with the winter weather going below zero on us for the entire weekend. It was awesome then and earned us our "Zero Hero" badges for braving the weather and going below the zero temp.

When I was little and on into my teenage years, we lived out in the country and out there, when one kid tented out during the summer months, somehow all the kids in the area would tent out. We would make plans to convene at a given location and then go exploring. Play capture the flag. Lay out under the stars. Talk about stuff. It was great. We used to go and play over in the big area to and have our Tom Sawyer moments. But I have grown up..."I've slept since then"...and have forgotten what these experiences were like and quite frankly, could never do something like that again...at least not without an air mattress and electricity.

So when Justin and Jessica suggested going camping, I was very apprehensive. I needed to be eased into this idea of camping once again. And then they threw out the idea of kayaking and canoeing/ floating down a river and I get visions of enclosed legs inside the kayak, the rushing deep waters, and the ideas of kayaking deaths in situations like those and I am down for the count.

But you know what??? I DID IT! I tried it. Once I saw that the actual kayaks were set up so your legs were out in the wide open and began the floating experience in the canoe and sat how deep the water actually was, which was fairly low, my heart was set at ease and I had a terrific time. I loved it.

However, you could never call what we did last weekend as camping if truth be told. We drove up in the awesome RV and it was complete with washer/dryer combo, satellite TV and tunes, awnings, push outs, and rugs to cover the grass alongside the RV for chairs and the cooking burners. It was what friends have affectionately called Glamping. It is Glamourous Camping...and it ROCKED!!!!
I actually have caught myself thinking that maybe we could purchase a tent and an air mattress and sleeping bags and branch out...it sure was nice to be outside, and to be on the water, and to be out in the fresh air and friends. It was a great time had by all.