Monday, November 24, 2008

I Wish I Was Camping

Well, let me be more specific. I wish it was hot and summery like it is when one goes camping. Ken and I did a good bit of tent camping when we lived in California. I think that Yosemite was one of our more frequent destinations, but we also camped in other parts of the northern Sierra, several times on the coast, in Nevada and Utah, Death Valley, and the southern desert near Palm Springs.

Morning coffee by the fire. The truck is not mine.

Ken was a reluctant camper at first, but he was a good sport and eventually got into it. We nearly always had our dog Collette with us, too. I got back into camping (which my family did every year when I was a kid in upstate New York) because of our friend Sue, who just loves it. Her favorite place is Yosemite, but she goes camping all over northern California, Nevada, and beyond. She lives in the Sierra foothills.

This is a photo of me when I was in grad school, camping at Tuolumne Meadow in Yosemite National Park. I think the year was 1991. Great memories!

Our tent in the back yard.

We moved most of our camping gear to France with us, but the only use it's gotten so far has been in the back yard. Ken has mentioned more than once that we should go camping somewhere in France soon. A true convert!
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6 comments:

  1. Justin24 November, 2008 08:35

    Oh I would love to go camping again... I haven't been in years. My last time I think was to Letchworth State park back in 2002!

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  2. Anonymous24 November, 2008 13:01

    I wish it was hot and summery and I was young and camping in France. That's a lot to ask for on a cold wintry day in the US. We camped for a year in Europe and North Africa, long ago, and at that time many French campsites were by the airport, sewer plant, railroad, or garbage dump. In August our camping neighbors were mostly French and they brought along all the comforts of home, including the TV. Some of them would leave for work in the morning, after hanging their teabags on the clothesline. It was all so much fun.

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  3. Seine Judeet (Judith)24 November, 2008 15:37

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  4. Seine Judeet (Judith)24 November, 2008 15:39

    I love sitting by the campfire, and I love waking to the sound of a stream running, and the birds chirping, and I love making a pot of coffee on the fire, and sitting in the quiet drinking it.

    I don't love hauling all the stuff to the campsite; sleeping (not really) on the hard ground with stuff poking at you; hauling food to cook and having dishes to do without the convenience of your kitchen; having a bunch of stuff to launder when you get home; having someone drunk from a nearby tent stomp into yours in the middle of the night (muddy boots and all), and declare "Oh man... I think I'm in the wrong CANOE..." when you scream. :))

    In short, I like camping when there's a nearby lodge where you can shower and have meals. Then, camping is lots of fun :)

    Walt, you guys have such a rustic, beautiful setting, you can get all the fun of camping by just sitting in your back yard!

    Judy

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  5. Susan25 November, 2008 13:23

    Hey, just come and visit us at any time. That's like camping!
    BTW, you look so cute and fluffy in this photo :-)

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  6. Evol Kween26 November, 2008 05:23

    I have a love/hate relationship with camping, and not because I can't take a hairdryer. I think it has more to do with all the horror movies I watch - campsites are generally dangerous ;p

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