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A Camping Odyssey
Bonding on a Nine-day Camping Excursion
By Denise Steele-Darnell
Family camping trips are definitely a great way to bond with each other and have a lot of fun. Our latest camping experience had a few more elements than your average trip! We went on a nine-day camping odyssey as we moved our family from Ashland, Ore., to Issaquah, Wash.
Last August, my husband, Steve, and I, packed up our daughter, Whitney, 5, our toddler son, Ethan, 14 months, our dog and 17-year-old cat. We each drove a car that was packed to the brim with camping paraphernalia and last-minute items that the movers forgot, including our vacuum cleaner! Needless to say we looked exactly like Ma and Pa Kettle as we drove away from Ashland!
Here is our journal of this adventure...
Our first campground was only 30 minutes away from Ashland, but it had taken us until 8 p.m. to get there! We had bought a beautiful new five-person tent the week before and practiced putting it up in the backyard. But here is a tip to future campers – make sure you practice with your tent at all times of the day and night. As I tried to entertain our overtired children, my husband confidently grabbed all the tent poles and started putting it together with only the light of flashlights. Before we knew what had happened, a pole went the wrong way in a sleeve and ripped! Our beautiful new tent was ruined and we had no place to sleep! Spending a whole day with grouchy movers, bored and unhappy children and a frantic husband definitely tests a marriage. As my husband's face turned three shades of red we decided it would be best if he slept in the car and we three slept in our other two-man tent we had brought along for an emergency!