Kevin, Faith and I went camping last weekend. And this is what we learned; we are not campers. Not in the least little bit. Now when I say "camping" I mean "car camping". I'm not talking the kind where you hike in and set up camp. We rent a nice little spot on a lake - near the bathrooms (with showers) and park right next to the camp site. But even so, this is just not for us.
Growing up in Montana, I never felt like I belonged. I wasn't outdoorsy - even when I tried soooo hard. I hated hiking, camping, fishing, oh and hunting....yuck! I did love kayaking, but that was cut short when I moved to Seattle (not enough time when I first got here, and now with a baby....there's really no time).
After our first married camping trip, we decided we needed all the right gear. I worked at REI at the time, so we used that to our full advantage. We purchased a large Kelty tent, inflatable mattress (very comfortable), super warm sleeping bags, pots/pans, cook stove, huge cooler, lantern, flashlights, etc. We got everything to make our next camping trip a breeze. Guess what??? It didn't help. We were warm at night and very comfortable, but that was about it. For us, all the work going into everything (from setting up camp to cooking), isn't worth the effort. It's much harder, and the payoff isn't really that great.
After this last camping trip, we've decided renting a house is a much better idea. Through Kevin's work, we can rent a house just 20 min. from this same lake - for not much more. So next year, we're getting a house - or a hotel :)
As a side note: We're keeping all our gear. We do want our children to have some camping experiences while growing up, so we'll get all the gear out once a year and go camping as a family.
Both Kevin and I love to travel and visit new cities. For us, that's the fun of camping. But we can still do that w/o having to sleep outside with the bugs and smoke (from the campfire) and the dirt :)
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