Camping

Camping has been a big part of my life. It's quite inexpensive and makes for some good memories.

My favorite camping time was when I was around ten years old, between 4th grade and 5th grade. My father was a teacher and so had the summer off. We were living in New York, near Albany, and owned a small camper. (folded up, probably 4'x8')

We found a campground in Copake Falls. We stayed one week and then decided that it would be a great place to spend the summer. We chose a campsite on the edge of a stand of pine trees. The ground was covered with soft needles. It made me think of the fabled woods of the fairy tales. In fact, we played "What Time is it, Mr. Wolf?"

We returned home each weekend. I had flute lessons on Friday afternoon. On Saturday, we would do laundry and buy groceries, attend church on Sunday, and go back to the campground on Monday.

There were trails all around the hills. I remember finding a whole meadow of wild strawberries. We hiked to the falls and cooled off in the pool at its base. There was a small lake. That's the year I learned to swim well enough to go out to a float.

One night, we heard something getting into our styrofoam cooler. My father shone the flashlight through the camper's screen to see the white stripe of a skunk. It was trying to push the lid up with its nose.

He decided to rescue our food. We kids joined Mama on their side of the camper, peering out the window to watch Daddy with the skunk. For a few minutes, it was a game of opening and closing the cooler lid, until the skunk strutted away. Mama was surprised it didn't get mad and spray. That would have cut our camping trip short.

We had lots of adventures on our camping trips, but I'll have to save them for another day.