Let's go camping, it will be fun....

Our camping group at Rainbow Valley.

You may have read my blog post from March 2013, it was then that I went camping for the first time - it was hot and there were so many flies I honestly thought I was not going to make the 2 scheduled nights.  So this time, when I was asked to camp again, I thought about it carefully and decided 1 night, in winter, I can do this - I will be fine.

 

Well to my surprise, I was fine - I did not die from the cold, there were no flies on my food, had some laughs around the campfire, some good wine - but I still think, camping is not for me.  I have come to the conclusion that it is an amazing amount of work, and while I love being with friends, I am afraid the fun meter and the work meter are seriously out of balance.  You spend two days cooking, shopping, making lists and checking them twice, you load the car (and mind you not 1 inch of leftover space, I thought we might have to tie the boys to the roof!), you drive there, unpack the car, put up the tent and now, hours later you are ready to hike and have fun - oh and did I mention there are still flies in winter, just not in the thousands like summer flies - only a few hundred.

At sunset, thank you Steve for the photo.

We had chosen Rainbow Valley as our camping spot and honestly it is amazing.  I do understand making it a camping trip versus a day trip because watching the sunset against the scenery was incredible.  We enjoyed the walks and the kids loved playing on the rocks.  We had all brought an easy dinner and shared wine with our friends around the campfire, a perfect evening - but did I mention it was winter - the forecast said it would  be 26F - seriously cold.  In preparation I bought a polyester, fake fur, minkie blanket for JD and I to use along with sleeping bags and additional blankets.  I found that as long as I was completely under the blanket, head and all, and pressed right up to JD, I was in no danger of freezing to death - even though we woke up to frost on the top of our blanket.  The boys had swags (canvas bags with a foam mattress) stuffed with sleeping bags and blankets and they said they were freezing.

Our minkie, yes that is leopard print!

The boys swags.

In the morning we spent some time trying to get the fire started, my friend Melissa spent about two hours making a pot of coffee, I gave up and drank a Pepsi, we then had breakfast and began to break down camp and pack up the cars and begin our journey home.  I understand now why the Australians use swags, not tents - you can throw your swag in the car with a little food and sleep anywhere under the stars - I hope JD and the boys enjoy it the next time THEY go camping!

You never know who you will run into.