What is camping?

In my work with clients, I will often talk about defining terms. This is especially important in couple’s work. Define what love or quality time means to you and it’s probably different from your partner. In this post, I will define what camping means to me. As I mentioned in my first post about camping, I grew up camping and exploring with my parents. Until all my siblings were out of college, money was tight, but travel was important to my dad. He would pack up the car and the trailer and off we would go: the Outer Banks twice, Washington D.C., Rhode Island many times. The campsite was just a place to eat breakfast, some dinners and sleep. Fast forward to young adulthood, money was tight, but I wanted to still take vacations. I was able to explore Acadia National Park, Rhode Island seashore, Blue Ridge parkway, Washington D.C., and the Outer Banks all with my trusty tent. Now, as an adult with a more liquid vacation account, we are exploring the Adirondacks, Delaware seashore, Vermont, and Pennsylvania all with our trusty teardrop trailer.

Some folks camp differently from us. The campsite is the destination and the getaway is all about relaxing around the campfire and spending quiet time in nature, or loud fun with friends and family at the campground. There are lots of waterfront sites available in the Adirondacks near where I live and honestly a few weekends ago we didn’t leave our campsite except by kayak and that was pretty nice. Interestingly, my husband noted that as nice as it was to not get in the car once all weekend, he prefers when we car top the kayaks to a body of water to explore, paddle to our hearts’ content, and then stop off somewhere for a snack and a beverage on the way back to the campsite. I had to agree. Either way, paddling is my happy place.

When we went to Pennsylvania for our week’s summer vacation, we had a few destinations planned to explore; Gettysburg, rail trail in York and the Hershey RV show (the largest in the United States!). We also spent some time at the campsite reading and sitting by the fire. I even got wild and crazy and did a morning campfire. This is not something we ever do as we are usually on our way somewhere after breakfast instead. It was lovely to just sit and enjoy breakfast with the fire keeping the bug at bay. Fires also offer a great contemplative opportunity.

Part of our exploring includes my husband’s interest in Atlas Obscura https://www.atlasobscura.com/. Once we decide where we are going, he will check out their recommended places. That is how we came to view the Haines shoe house! Isn’t it adorable?

 Lost cost accommodations so we can explore is one reason why we camp. As we get closer to retirement, we are figuring out what our next camping rig will be and our love of exploring is a BIG piece of that puzzle. We want to have something that makes it easy to say “wow! Lets stop and check that out.” Whether your camping getaway is at the campsite or involves exploring or both, may you do it your way! Live the life you want.