The Life Lessons of Camping

I'm BACK!!!  Did you miss me??  I hope so...I know I missed all of you.

What a crazy, fun weekend I had.  I never thought I'd like camping so much - but I did...I LOVED it!! 

Being that my weekly confessions post is tomorrow - I'm not going to confess all today.  I am going to point out some of the mistakes and lessons I learned, though.  I also want to highlight my trip - cause I had a good time, and that is the most important thing.

We arrived at our camp site around 5:30pm Friday. Our site couldn't have been more perfect...big shade trees, private lake access....it was beautiful. The camp site, itself, sat up away from the water, but there was a trail that led to a private beach area. The resort was packed with people - but we managed to snag the one spot that was secluded. There were no other campers close by, so it felt like our own private spot.

As soon as we arrived, we started setting up camp. My parents had bought a 3 room tent, so we all had to help putting the monstrous thing together. Once the tent was up, the air mattresses had to be blown up and everything else had to be unpacked. Then, it was time to cook dinner. My dad fired up the grill, started a camp fire, and in no time we were chowing down on steak, potatoes, and green beans...not the kind of food I think of when camping - but it was delicious.

Friday evening, my dad and little brother fished and the girls (me, my mom, my sister, and Peanut) told stupid ghost stories and jokes.  After dark, we decided to take a walk up to the bathroom "facilities".  I realized that I hadn't peed since leaving my mom's house - and it was close to 10pm by this point.  The walk up there was a killer.  It was uphill the whole way...and I mean UPHILL.  It felt like I should have climbed up there on all fours - cause as far as I was bent over...I wasn't far from it.  It was the steepest hill I think I've ever climbed in my life!

Now, let's take a break from my play-by-play retelling of my weekend to talk about the restrooms.  Holy mother of Hell!!  The bathrooms....well....to say they were disgusting would be an understatement.  I have never seen so many bugs inside a building.  The whole place was crawling with roaches and daddy long legged spiders, killer mosquitoes, and gnats.  There were so many gnats you couldn't even see the ceiling or the sinks...they were completely covered in them.  Oh, and let's not forget there wasn't a single bit of air flow.  The inside of that building felt like a sauna...and that's where people took showers!! CRAZY!!  Getting the heeby geebies yet??  Good, take that feeling and multiply it by 100...and that's how I felt.  I performed the quickest pee imaginable and ran out of there like my hair was on fire.

Shortly after midnight, we all decided to call it a night and retire to the tent.  Six people in one tent was...well...amusing.  We talked, laughed - and no one fell asleep until at least 1:30am.  It was hotter than Hades in the tent.  Nobody used any blankets...and we all sweat our balls off all night.

After finally getting a little sleep, I was wide awake at 6am.  I got up, took the steep climb to the bug motel to use the bathroom, and walked back.  The weather was beautiful.  I considered going for a jog for about 3.2 seconds.  Then, I realized, I had a hard enough time getting up to the bathroom...and the rest of the camping resort was a further uphill climb.  Fishing with my dad and my brother sounded a lot more appealing..so that's what I did.

The entire second day was spent fishing, or trying to stay cool in the shade.  I did take a short break from that to do some paddle boating with my brother.  It's amazing how much work it is to paddle a small inflated boat against the current of the lake. 

Once back from the paddling, I decided to wade out in the lake.  The lake was a little murky, and I didn't like not being able to see the bottom....or what was swimming around me... so my lake swimming was short lived.

Then it was back to the closest shade, and time for a little snooze.

The second evening, everyone was hot and exhausted.  We called it a night around 11pm...and I don't remember being awake very long.  I passed out fast.


Sunday morning, I woke up at 6:30am.  I sat up, stretched, and felt weird.  My skin felt tight and I couldn't bend my fingers or toes.  Upon inspection, I found that I was swollen from head to toe...think water balloon.  Then it hit me... I hadn't drank ANY water since arriving Friday night.  I had drunk a few beers Friday night, only drank 2 cups of coffee and a soda on Saturday...and the whole time I'd been out in 90 degree weather.  Can you say IDIOT??

I took the long climb to bug motel and then it was back to the camp site to start chugging down water.  Glass after glass of water I drank.  My poor fingers, toes, and ankles...I looked terrible. 

After everyone else getting up, eating breakfast, and packing up the campsite - it was after 11am...and 97 degrees.  We decided to head home.

This morning, I decided to step on the scale.  Wow.  That's really the only word to describe it.  A BIG GAIN... no, a HUGE gain.  6lbs to be exact.

Now, I know that water retention is going to play a part of that.  Chugging down 60ozs of water after realizing I didn't drink any for two days...while being out in 100 degree heat...isn't going to fix that problem quickly.  I still had a little swelling when I woke up this morning. 

Also, there's the TMI fact that I haven't done #2 since Friday.  Hello...I was not ABOUT to use the bug motel to do my "business".  After spending two days eating steak, hamburgers, hot dogs, eggs, bacon, sausage...and all the other crap food I ate while there...and not letting it out?  Yeah, that's going to affect my weight.

I'm chalking the whole experience up to very important lessons learned.  I will NOT do that again.  I will camp, but I will make sure I'm guzzling down water like it's going out of style.  The #2 issue?  That probably won't change.  I just can't do that stuff in a public restroom...can't help it.

Well, that's it....this was way longer than I thought it would be - but hopefully I haven't bored you all completely to death.  I'm so happy to be home.

Till next time. ;) 

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