Camping: Heaven or Hell?

So this week’s Juice giveaway?  It’s a $200 gift certificate to Patagonia for outdoorsy stuff!  I believe the deal is that if you wear their clothes, you immediately become attractive and athletic and you acquire a pack of fun new friends who will teach you rock-climbing and white water rafting and take you to spectacularly beautiful places all over the world.  Best of all, it never rains if you’re wearing Patagonia and no one gets mosquito bites, poison ivy, or sunburn!

Okay, so I could have some of the details wrong.  But I can say for sure the clothes are cute and you can win some.  So what are you waiting for-- go enter!

I actually like camping, but then we do the wimpy kind.  We have a camper-van, so we get to skip the whole setting-up-the-tent thing, the sleeping on the ground thing, and most importantly, the finding the campground restrooms in the middle of the night when you really have to pee thing. 

As to the primitive kind of camping without the running water, stove, toilet, and refrigerator?  Well, that’s a blast too!  When you’re a kid, and your parents do all the chores.  As an adult, of the lazy persuasion?  No thanks.  If I can’t do it the sissy way, I’m not doing it anymore.

So here are a few wonderful things about camping:

1.  The cost.  It’s cheap to stay in amazingly scenic places,  compared to fancy hotel prices.  And you can see the same gorgeous scenery for a fraction of the cost.

2.  Natural surroundings and native wildlife.  Who knows what you might see? Bald eagles? Armadillos? Otters? Mooses?  (Mooses?? That can’t be right. What the heck is the plural of a moose, anyway?)

3.  No cell phones, computers, or tv’s.  Get away from the mass media! Enjoy the sound of a babbling brook, not the sound of a babbling news anchorman.

4.  Uninterrupted time together with family.  With our busy lives, we rarely get much of this!

5.  The food.  What tastes better than food grilled on an open flame after a long day of hiking?  Top it off with some tasty s’mores!

And here's what totally sucks about camping:

1.    The cost.  Cheap?  Maybe if you camp all the time and have already written off all the gear.  But if you’re just starting off and you have to buy sleeping bags, tents, backpacks, air mattresses, and all the rest of the stuff… then find out you hate camping and never use it again?  “Cheap” is not the word that comes to mind.

2.   Natural surroundings and native wildlife.  Which include bees which might sting you; snakes, spiders, and scorpions that might bite you; raccoons happy to trash your campsite; and bears and mountain lions who will possibly kill you and eat you or at least steal your picnic basket like Yogi the Bear did.

3.   No cell phones, computers or tv’s.  After a day or two… it’s driving you crazy not to at least check email, isn’t it?

4.   Uninterrupted time together with your family. Hmm, weren’t they a heck of a lot more likeable when you didn’t get to see nearly enough of them and they showered occasionally?

5.   The food.  Raw or overcooked burgers, sandy sandwiches, warm drinks, sour milk, cold coffee… and who forgot to pack the Merlot???

Taking Sides:

Blogher bloggers seem to be divided on the question of whether camping is a joy or a nightmare.  In the pro-camping camp, Slouchy of Slouching Past 40 has a sweet post in anticipation of a camping trip with her family, hoping to be “toasting s'mores, hiking down the sides of waterfalls, and swimming in a bracingly cold lake, all the while sketching the kinds of pictures Harold and his purple crayon might have drawn, and placing them with care and tenderness in the repository of our memories.”

A Blogging Away Debt, Beks shows how camping can be economical, and shares some tips on great southern California campsites near the beach.

On the other side of the debate, the title of this amusing post says it all:  Lindy from Future Blackmail explains why Camping is Pronounced H-E-L-L.  

And finally, in one of the most hilarious posts I’ve read recently, there’s a tale of camping misadventures by The Well Read Hostess that is not to be missed.  Well, caution is advised if you are offended by references to intoxicating and possibly illegal substances, nighttime noises that could be mistaken for sex, the trampling of innocent slumbering children, and jokes made at the expense of Maine.  Seriously, read her, she’s funny.

So, any camping fans out there?  Or does anyone else think it should be pronounced  H-E-L-L?