By Holly Giles | Florida
The reality is, that the tag does not bear a warning label that 40ish-year-old women, who have birthed children, will find a pinecone and rock-laden ground to be quite offensive to their back muscles.
Next, is the necessities needed to survive 3 or 4 days in the wilderness. Let me give you a visual. Picture the Clampett’s truck, (The Beverly Hillbillies) but a dodge diesel, pulling a trailer with a canoe, kayak, 4 bicycles, 5 lawn chairs, 7 plastic bins, 2 garbage bags, 3 fishing poles, a Coleman stove, fire logs, and possibly inner tubes. Two adults and two children squeeze in there somewhere, and sometimes a large dog. Trust me, if you have passed us on the highway, you would remember!
We are simple people really, and three-fourths of us are boys, so we don’t need much. Yet somehow, we end up with a ridiculous load. Usually, there IS civilization within a few miles of our camps, but for some reason, we think we have to bring every morsel of food and “just in case” items. And by “we” I really mean me.
[thrive_leads id=’5841′]This usually stems from the item we needed on the last family camping trip but didn’t have. A mutiny would run rampant through camp if we did not have marshmallows and graham crackers. Not every convenience store has them!
Memories, that is truly the reason that brings me back to continue family camping. I want to give my kids lasting memories to share with their children. Campfire songs, wilderness sounds, family togetherness, canoeing stories with good friends.
My memory has a way of forgetting almost losing my bin of clothes on the Sunshine Parkway Bridge in Tampa, FL. Once we had to rescue my niece as her airbed was floating, inside the tent (the disastrous trip I mentioned earlier).
Then there was the tropical storm and six hours later a 30-degree drop in temperature.
Sorry, I am digressing here. Those are the memories we live to tell year after year.
Check out our “day camping” recipes on YOUTUBE.