Camping

I’ve been camping since the womb. Quite literally. My mother tent camped pregnant with me. There are a lot of photos (and a few vague memories) of my family tent camping at Peninsula State Park (which was also the campground my dad had been camping at since he was five). I’ve been told that we continued to camp there until my sister and I were old enough to realize how gross the bathrooms were (I’m going to note the facilities at the park these days are updated – not the pit toilets of yore). We started camping at a private campground a bit south of the park (which had spotless bathrooms, a pool, and a mini arcade). We had the ultimate freedom there – riding our bikes around the twenty-five acres, traipsing through the apple orchard, spending hours in the pool until our skin pruned.

My parents ended up buying a small camper and getting a seasonal spot – which meant our trailer stayed put year round, and we could come and go as we pleased during the summer. Once, we made thirteen trips from our Chicago suburb to Wisconsin’s thumb. This is the campground my family ended up owning and running for fourteen years.

So you could say camping is in my blood.

Yet, after my parents sold the campground in 2006, I didn’t camp much. (Also, excuse me while I have a moment – writing that year just now made me realize it’s been almost twenty years since they sold it. 😐) It’s not that I stopped loving camping – not by a long shot. But I had just graduated college and was on my way to graduate school. Life took off at a breakneck pace.

Enter a group of friends – a group of women who love to laugh and to explore nature. Who love a good farmer’s market and a day spent thrifting. And camping.

We now kick off each summer with a trek to that very park I frequented as a kid (with their new facilities; I realize I keep harping on this – but what I left out above was the time a snake was found in one of those pit toilets… 😬). We share in making meals, playing games, and, yes, laughing. This year’s trek we dealt with a thunderstorm the first night and rain most the second day – but that didn’t put a damper on us (we were also a little thankful since the state had been under a ban burn, but now we could have a campfire; well, once it stopped raining we could).

There is something about sitting in nature that is comforting. The sounds of birds chirping. The pines rustling in the wind. The pissed off squirrel dropping (I’m not exaggerating) twenty-ish pine cones onto one of our cars – over and over and over – BAM! He legit seemed to be aiming. 😂 The crackle of the campfire and the taste of dinner cooked over its flames. (Not so comforting was the camper next door yelling at their dog at 6:30 in the morning. First, it’s 6:30. Second, if you trained your dog, you woudn’t need to yell. Certainly not so loudly.)

It’s a perfect way for me to end the school year (I usually turn in grades the week before) – to walk away from work and just be. For an entire weekend.