Camping

This may come as a bit of a shock to those of you who know me well, but I actually went camping this past weekend. Slept in a tent, cooked on a camp stove, and peed in the bushes. The whole thing. It was not terrible. Here's the scoop.

My son had a Family Camp out with his Cub Scout pack at a Boy Scout Ranch, a1½ hour drive from here. Being late October, I knew it wouldn't be hot and the chances of mosquitoes pestering me was low. So I agreed to go. I don't think my son or husband believed I would actually go, and seemed genuinely surprised when I showed up "in the flesh" Saturday morning. My daughter had play practice until 6 PM the night before, so she and I went up Saturday morning. My husband and son went up Friday during the day (no school Friday).

I think a one-night excursion was plenty for my first time sleeping in a tent since I was about 10. I will say this: camping has come a l-o-n-g way from when I was a kid. The tents basically erect themselves when you sort of shake them and stand back, kind of like those sun blocker shields that go in your car dashboard. Then all you have to do then is stake the tents down so they don't blow away. Back in my brain archives, I'm remembering pounds and pounds of smelly canvas and heavy pipes that had to be put together, D-ring belts since it was pre-Velcro, and stakes that actually put tension on the pipes to hold it all up. I also remember rocks under my sleeping bag; my husband had set up an air mattress for me. I actually slept with sheets and a pillow! Don't worry, he had one, too!

The campsite had wooden pallets built for you to put your tents on so you got a level surface. There was a mess hall with decent restroom facilities, and near the campsite was an outhouse if you didn't want to walk to the mess hall. My husband said the food there is nasty, so we cooked our own. (If my husband won't eat it, I know it must be bad!)

It was a Texas landscape for sure: rocks, red dirt, mesquite bushes, cactus, and other trees. The Scout enclave is set on a few hundred acres bordering Lake Bridgeport, so the scenery was beautiful. Once it got dark, many boys went snipe hunting (my son knew better) and I was worried sick some kid would bolt pell-mell into a cactus bush or trip over a half-exposed rock and bust a chin. But they managed to survive.

Turns out, this was probably the last "Family" camp out my son will have. He will be graduating to Boy Scouts in February, and they do not have any adult help when camping. Supervision yes, but the boys do it all and the older boys help the younger boys as needed. I was very proud of my son, watching him on this camp out. He made 2 different fires that both started with 1 match. He made sure his bucket of water and shovel were nearby for safety. And he tolerated younger Cub scouts playing with his fire, dropping things in it, or toasting marshmallows in it. He would gently caution them when they displayed a bit of pyromania. He seemed so mature and I heard less whining out of him at the camp out than I've ever heard in any 24 hour period at home!