It's a Beautiful Day to go Camping??? WHAT?

Anyone who knows me knows that I love nature! I love outdoor adventures, flowers, wind, animals and especially spending time in nature with Scott and Sage. However, I don't get along with creeping, crawling, biting insects and animals so I generally don't like to be in the wilderness at night.  The exception is being outside looking at the stars on concrete or near a bonfire (which both help to scare away creeping, crawling biting things). The other thing is that I like a warm, soft BED under my head at night. I have never slept in a tent on the ground and highly doubt I ever will. Call me high maintenance, spoiled, a city-slicker...I don't care! I want comfort when I sleep and Scott won't sleep in a tent either so we are on the same page. Roughing it is just not within the scope of our plans - we like beautiful hikes, swims in lakes, walks in the desert but when it comes to nights...we like soft comfortable hotel room beds!

So when my adventure-loving daughter asked to go camping...my immediate answer was "ask Uncle Ryan and Aunt Christy-they love camping!" Well, Sage's idea was tent camping, but even the eagle scout and his wife gave up tent camping a few years ago when they bought a beautiful camper that has all the comforts of home. I was never worried about how a trip with them would go because we always have fun together, but I did wonder how my little "city-slicker" family would take to campsite life. :-)

Last weekend was the big trip for Scott's and his twin brother, Ryan's birthday celebration; Sage got her wish as we met in Eureka Springs, AR to visit Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge and stayed together in their camper. What a great experience! First of all, the camper is huge (by camper standards) and we all had room to sleep comfortably, room to put our stuff, and handle most of our necessities. Moreover, the generous canopy outside afforded us a nice sitting area for visiting and eating our meals. And of course there is the campfire which gave us lots of sitting and chatting time, stargazing time, and roasting marshmallow time.

Ryan and Christy were great hosts and my main job was to keep the kids occupied while they worked their magic, performing secret, camping set-up and take down rituals that seemed very mysterious and important! The truth is, this might be because they know I am a klutz and they didn't want me to break any equipment, but in any case I loved my part of the job! The girls, my mother-in-law and I went on a few walks around the compound listening to the animals, looking for birds, and hunting for rocks. AND playing ---- there was a lot of little girl screeching and laughing as they played their hearts out! I, of course, had to get the girls to say "Lions and Tigers and Bears, OH MY!" and sing their own versions of "If I were king of the forest!!!" But we really had fun on our little walks and playtime!

We had GREAT weather. Sunny and warm, but not too hot. We enjoyed our visits with the lions, tigers, monkeys, pumas, leopards, coyote (and more) and had a great time learning about them. We got to see them up closer than I would have ever imagined and it was awesome! They were bigger, more beautiful, more glorious, scarier, and more touching than I would have believed! What amazed me though, was just how much more I felt I got out of being in nature in those two short days without having a "house" or "cabin" to retreat to.

This was my (and Sage's too) first experience sleeping under a canvas/tent-like roof. We got to experience a beautiful rain gently tickling the roof over our bed, we got to hear the nighttime noises of the mountains and forest, the howling wind, the crickets, the lions carolling, the tigers roaring, and the coyote howling. The cool night air was so wonderful and refreshing.  And Sage had lots of time to play in the campgrounds with her cousins - running around seemed to be the favorite pastime - the girls even converted a small raised picnic area into a stage for their very special music and dancing show. as always, I tried to stop and enjoy seeing things through my daughter's eyes, and as always the view from down there was spectacular! Her little eyes and mind took in every tree, questioned every animal, looked at every rock, waited to hear the songs in the wind! I love to see her enjoy life, and this weekend was no exception.

The mountain view from the campground was amazing! At every turn I was reminded that this experience would have been lacking so much if we had stayed in the lodge or bed and breakfast rooms. Thanks to my in-laws my daughter was able to enjoy a new experience that Scott and I would not have thought to give her! She learned so much about the animals and had so much fun playing in the clean, fresh air that I can now really, truly say I understand why "It's a Beautiful Day to go Camping!" As long as it is the camper kind of camping...

Thanks to Ryan and Christy for a really wonderful, special weekend experiencing nature in a new way!

Emily A. Filmore
blog.withmychildseries.com
http://www.withmychildseries.com/