FIRST TRY AT CAMPING!

My sister and her husband decided that they wanted to go camping. The thought of this seemed to be rather foreign to me and I thought I wouldn't like this kind of vacation very much. We were driving at a State Park close to our home and it was raining. I mentioned about trying to find firewood in the rain wasn't too appealing. They said that I didn't get the concept of camping very well. They promised to take us camping when they got all of their equipment together.

The very next thing, they had taken us to a State Park in an adjoining state. They had two tents, one for them and one for their two boys. We got to use the boys tent and the kids slept in our cars that particular weekend. During the night it started raining a bit. My brother-in-law got his shovel out and made a trench around our tents. He always knew that in this part of the country, when it rains--it pours down! It didn't rain that much during the night, but at breakfast we cooked breakfast in a misty rain.

The smell of fried bacon and eggs out in the fresh air, literally hooked me on camping. I LOVED IT!!!! My sister said that if I liked it in the rain, I would really like it in good weather. We were hooked on camping from that time on. We got our equipment, like tent, sleeping bags, nestled pots and pans, camp stove, camp lantern. We were ready to try it for ourselves. Both of our girls loved camping as well. We weren't seasoned campers yet, by no means.

Our first camping trip we hadn't got the hang of putting up the tent and it leaked the first night out. We had pans at all four corners catching the water from the leaking roof. It didn't take us long to get it right, after that cloud burst of rain.

Our first big camping trip we went to Yellowstone National Park and had so much fun. The girls were about 3 1/2 and 6 1/2 on that trip. We traveled to many a states while the girls were growing up.

To this day, I get nostalgia when I see campers and or firewood burning. We took our latest vacation to Florida at 5 star condos. Camping is just as much fun, but more work involved
in getting packed. Our ages now, prohibits us camping only in the best of weather.

As I recall there was only one time that we were rather frightened. We were traveling in the western states and pitched or tent on a roadside campground (it was hard to find campgrounds early on and especially out West). During the night, someone was feeling around in the back of our tent (through the canvas). My sister and husband were camped next to us, but had a different license plate on their car. They didn't know we were together. I called out to my sister and husband and whoever was outside our tent, left us alone after that. We learned our lesson to never camp at roadside camping spots, only go to National Parks or State Parks or private campgrounds. These are much safer.

Wisdom--We never had anything stolen (beside a soda can). This was probably from some kid
walking beside out site and was thirsty. We were able to go with family, friends and spend many a memorable weekend and fun trips. We were able to enjoy God's Country close up as we gazed out of our tent. One thing I think it did for us as a family, it helped teach the girls teamwork. We all pitched in and had jobs to do, and then we all had "fun" together when the work was done. I personally think it was as much fun as any vacations we have taken.