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Camping…Mimi Style

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Recently, I had my first true camping experience. Yes, to those who know me and doubt the authenticity of this, I actually slept in a tent, outside in the woods and survived to write about it. Now, my lack of camping experience does not mean I am a hater of nature. No, I am quite the contrary.  I am outdoorsy and love to spend all day outside, hiking, biking, gardening, whatever…I love it. However, this does not mean spending the night outdoors. This is an entirely different activity.  Here are a few reasons I have avoided camping outdoors up until this point:
  • I have watched entirely too many horror movies where innocent campers are butchered in their tents, or mutilated when they venture out alone in the dark which leads to my second point…
  • I have a super tiny bladder. This means I am going to have to get up and go to the bathroom at least once, probably twice during the night and the thought of doing this outdoors, at night, in the middle of the woods alone, frightens me tremendously probably because of my previous point.
  • Bugs. My overactive imagination will convince me that I am covered in ticks, most certainly getting Lyme disease.

You are probably asking yourself, with all of these valid points I am making, how did I end up going camping. Well, it was for the love of my best friend Rogue Bird. It was her birthday wish to go camping and her devoted husband thought it would be a great idea to surprise her with a camping trip with all of her closest friends. This is how I got suckered into having my first camping experience.

The first thing I learned about camping is it’s a lot of work. Since this was my first camping trip, Joe (my fiance…..love saying that) and I had to gather all the gear – tent, sleeping bag, lantern, air mattress, flashlights, bug spray, coolers, etc. This meant major shopping. Then, we had to fit all of this gear along with food and Daisy into the car. This was a major feat. I have a rather large car but let’s just say, I probably overpacked. I mean along with the camping essentials, I did remember that I would want to decorate my tent…so in went the paper lanterns, christmas lights and a rug. Long story short, we packed a lot into that car.

We went to Vogel State Park which is beautiful and the camping site was set in the perfect wooded setting under a canopy of trees. As soon as we got to the park wouldn’t you know it the sky darkened and Joe and a friend managed to get our tent up in record time before the downpour from the heavens. But my friends, remember point number 3 above, the first thing I see when I go inside the tent, is a tick on my pillow. I am not joking. My fears were already coming true before we even got started with the weekend. But I persevered, finished unpacking the car, decorated the tent and was pretty pleased with the finished product. Here we go, I am camping!

All in all I am glad I had the camping experience. And, I learned a lot in the process. Here are a few lessons learned:

  • Don’t leave any peanut products on your picnic table ever. It took me two incidents to fully learn this lesson. The first involved a paper bag of fresh roasted peanuts from The Sunrise Country Store (where Joe also acquired Moonshine Jelly…). The second a jar of peanut butter (which Joe left out after he had a “shiny peanut butter and jelly sandwich” with the Moonshine Jelly) that had its thick plastic top completely chewed through. You’re welcome little furry forest creatures. I hope you enjoyed it!
  • Even though it was 90 degrees in Atlanta the entire week before you go camping a few hours north, it does not mean that you should not pack warmer clothing. It’s amazing how cold it got at night.
  • When deciding to go to the bathroom outside behind the tent in the middle of the night because you don’t want to wake up your fiance to walk with you down to the camp site bathroom yet again…don’t take your dog out with you who will growl at something, which will scare you because of Point 1 above and oh yeah that threat of bears…which will cause you to trip over the tent stake and almost come crashing down through the middle of the tent. Not saying that happened…but you should be aware just in case…

My first camping experience was fun and I enjoyed being out in nature with my closest friends. However, I think it would be better if I had a fully furnished teepee like the ones at  Ralph Lauren’s Double RL ranch that I got to see when Oprah interviewed him during her last season.  I think camping would be a much better experience in one of these teepees. It would most definitely be more my style.

Well, now that I have all the camping gear, I guess I have to go camping again. But not too soon… I have to take time to recover from this first experience.

I’ll leave you with comedian Jim Gaffigan’s take on camping. I have to say he makes a lot of sense…