by Amy Louhela

Created on: December 17, 2009   Last Updated: December 18, 2009

Camping

My husband has been waiting for the temperature to drop and for the snow to fall. He is ready to go on a quest with our sons.  The excitement for him is building! He can’t wait to go “winter camping”. I hope you heard me correctly…. I said "winter camping”. Who goes winter camping? I could see if we lived in California but this is Minnesota and on the average winter night the temperatures drop below zero.  The only thing to do while winter camping is to try not to freeze to death!  Our boys secretly look at me with pleading eyes hoping that I can help them in finding a way out of their father’s latest adventure.

I used to love camping; my parents and a bunch of friends would all camp at various campgrounds, visit, and eat lots of good food. My sleeping bag was usually set upon some type of blow-up bed and I had my fluffy pillows with me from home. If I was lucky the campground might just have a swimming pool or arcade where I could meet and greet the local boys of that town. It was a great time had by all.

When I met my hubby I shared with him my love of camping and he shared with me the fact that “I never really went camping” Hmmmm…. I had thought sleeping in a tent by the woods would be considered camping. He informed me that camping is going in the middle of nowhere and surviving! My idea of camping=fun. Hubby's idea of camping=survival. What had I gotten myself into?

The first and almost last time we attempted to go “real camping” is when we were first married. My hubby’s grandmother called just as we were leaving to inform me that a wolf had been eating the cows in the area. Then she made sure to tell me that a wolf could pull you out of your tent and eat you and she had some true stories to back up this fact. As we traveled up the river in the canoe I began to panic. How could I sleep with the possibility that a wolf could eat me? My new husband just could not convince me that I was safe so we turned the canoe around and went home.

The second and last time we attempted camping we went up to the boundary waters with our three little children. There was not a soul in site and our cell phones did not work.  I felt a little uneasy about the situation but finally settled down to go to sleep. All of a sudden, in the middle of the night I hear something walking around outside our tent and begin to panic- I am sure this is where the wolf eats me and my family. I wake up Kyle who tells me to "go back to sleep” yeah right… like that is going to happen. He reluctantly gets up to check things out…. It appears that something is circling our tent and he too gets a little freaked out. We end up packing up and leave in the middle of the night. As we are leaving the lights from our car shine into the woods and lo and behold there are some teenagers standing in the woods. They remind me of descendants from the movie “Deliverance”

I have never gone camping again. I now prefer hotels with swimming pools, comfy pillows and locks on my door. I always feel a bit panicky when my hubby takes the boys camping. Especially when I hear him talk to his father about their last camping trip when  they were a little “uneasy” about the creatures that were out there last time. Maybe someday I will get the opportunity to show the boys what it’s like to not go “real camping” and maybe a fun time will be had by all.

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