The Start of Camping Season

Maybe it’s engrossing myself in nature, maybe it’s the taste of a smoked hotdog, or maybe it’s a throwback to childhood (in lieu of any actual vacations, my parents took us camping a few times each summer), but I love camping.

Now that I’m mostly an adult with my own camping excursions, I’ve accumulated almost all the necessities for a successful camping trip — quality tent, quality sleeping bag, lantern, flashlights, tarps, and a comfortable campfire chair (still need: cooler, grill, pop-up canopy for over the picnic table. hint: my birthday is in July).

Of course, those are just the necessities and make up about 20% of what I actually pack and bring with me.

The rest really just make the outing more relaxing — tubs full of snacks and meals, lots of blankets, games, bottles of wine/beer (depending on how cold/warm it will be when camping), music, etc. Aka the other 80% of stuff in my car is all non-essential.

Since this weekend was the first camping excursion of the season (and with my boyfriend, the Captain/Justin), I was excited to showcase my organizational skills and general preparedness.

I requested that he bring an iPod, a pan, a grill, and a water jug. Oh, and Scrabble. “I have everything else!” I proudly exclaimed. Two giant, hot pink rubbermaid bins labeled with their contents and in plastic sleeves, were my pride and joy.

And despite the weather, a gross 52-degrees, misting and foggy, we were on the road by 6:30 pm with an arrival time um…yeah…9:00 pm. Not good.

But I was still excited to get there and finally crack open the tent I received for Christmas and had been waiting to Christen with the first campout of the year.

…….That’s kind of when it hit me.

At about 8:07 pm, I realized I had never even opened my tent to make sure the pieces were all there, let alone that I knew how to put it together. And at 8:07 pm, when the fog was soupy, the weather was nasty, and I knew we’d be using my car’s headlights to illuminate the process, I broke the news to my boyfriend.

While his reaction didn’t have the same ring as my dad’s ”Dammit, Heidi…,” it was definitely noteworthy: “Seriously?! That is the WORST news you could have given me!”

A classic (circa Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball) camping mistake.

But with my handy lantern, flashlights, and Gertie’s headlights (not to mention a healthy mix of communication, humor, and perserverance), we got the tent up in less than an hour and neither of us were maimed in the process.

Sidenote: of the 4 items he was responsible for, he forgot a pan, so I felt less bad about my initial fluffheaded mistake. But then he made me chocolate pancakes on a borrowed pan and all was well with the world.