Into the Wilderness

I am lying in our full-size bed in the camper, with my filter fan blowing softly, so I don’t miss my bedtime white noise. Honey is lying next to me, bummed because his iphone malfunctioned, so we can’t play Words With Friends (basically Scrabble) online, in bed next to each other. We brought REAL games, but why would we go to the trouble to use tiles or cards and have to sit up in bed, when we can lie down and use the phones? It’s a good thing this campground has WiFi!

So, this is how we camp… in a 27 foot tag-along trailer that has air, electricity, a hot water heater, full-size shower and flush toilet, and a gas stove. It even had a microwave when we got it, but I got that molecule mutator out of here as soon as I could. It’s not exactly roughing it, but it’s something different, and it forces us to spend time together, focusing on family time and relaxing, instead of being at home and never getting our minds off what needs to be done.

Tonight, as Honey and I were squeezed into the camper bathroom, brushing our teeth, we marveled at the absurdity of our camping experience. We are currently in a Jellystone Park, which means that, in addition to a campground, they have a lot of cool activities. So, we paid to come here and bring our camper. We brought food and supplies from home, and even our own firewood. We packed it all into the camper and drove here so the kids could walk the nature trails and enjoy the outdoors.

We live in the country.

Our ROAD is a nature trail!

Oh, but they have a giant jumping pillow that is like the floor of a jumping castle, surrounded by sand, and it’s about 25 ft by 40 ft. Now, that’s fun! Much more fun than the trampoline in our backyard. The kids did have a lot more room to turn somersaults and do cartwheels. And wrestle.

There is also a sand volleyball court and horseshoe pit here, while the volleyball net and horseshoes at our house have never been opened.

What about the campfire? Is it really that much more fun to have a campfire here than in our own backyard firepit, which, by the way, is actually larger than the pit at our campsite?

Well, there’s the gameroom. Jellystone has a pool table and arcade games (can’t complain about Galaga!), while we have ONLY a ping-pong table, darts, Wii, tetherball, baseball, and four-wheelers, to name just a FEW things.

And, do you know what the real kicker is? Not only did we PAY for all this stuff that we could have done at home, much easier, with more room and less fuss, we are THIRTY MILES from home! That’s right. It took us less than an hour to get to this fabulous vacation spot! Now, how absurd IS that?

I do have to say, though, there is an indoor heated pool here that we do NOT have at home. And we got our third night free¸ since it’s the slow season. What a deal. That’s a good thing, since we have never stayed the whole time we’ve reserved a camping spot Ever. Oh, and there are no chickens to herd. That’s nice.

Like I said, though, being away from home forces you to focus on things that are not on your to-do list. And, if you can stay off the iphones and computers long enough, you might actually enjoy one another’s company…. when you aren’t yelling at the kids to stop running around the fire, playing in the fire, lighting things on fire, spitting in the fire, asking to pee in the fire, climbing around the camper, making too much noise, kicking sand at each other, playing with the roasting forks, etc. We did get a game going after dinner and s’mores (made with filled Ghiradelli chocolate squares, of course), so we had some good family bonding time.

Actually, we played two games… sort of. We started with Made for Trade, which is a board game set in the 1700’s, where you are an indentured servant who has to earn your freedom, then you win the game by visiting shops around the board, buying items on your inventory list with shillings that you earn in various ways. You can also draw “Event” cards that give you historical information about that time period, and either reward or penalize you, based on the facts it presents. (At this point, I don’t blame you for thinking I’m a total dork. I am.) Doesn’t that sound like fun? Well… it’s NOT! It’s unbearably boring! We did get some entertainment from making fun of the game, and making fun of me for making us play it, but we quit about 20 minutes into it and switched to Bunco. Honey decreed that Made for Trade was forever banished from our household, and must be put in the next garage sale. The whole family cheered.

Now, we are all tucked into our cozy beds, ready to rest up for a day in town and a visit to Bass Pro tomorrow. Special thanks to my dad, who is at our house tending to the chickens and dog while we are gone. We’re looking forward to the next couple days of this, and hope this will be the first family camping trip that we don’t pack up and go home early. I’ll try to share some pictures next time.