The DOs and DON'Ts of May Long Weekend Camping: Part Two

I don't know if it was the cold, or the smoke inhalation, or the lack of good nutrition (Corn Pops and Pop Tarts, yum), but I appear to have caught the plague. It's a terrible way to spend a day off, but I am thankful that it happened after I got home from camping instead of while I was out in the bush. Can't you imagine how much fun I would have been?

DO pack clothing for every imaginable weather pattern.

I was only camping for two days, but during that time it rained, was beautifully sunny, snowed, and hailed dramatically. As a person who deeply enjoys weather, I loved it all. (Especially the fact that the rain only lasted for a few minutes before being blown away.) However, my infatuation with the fluctuating weather may not have survived had I not been wearing twenty layers of clothing plus a rain coat.

DON'T forget to consider how the materials of your sleeping bag and mattress will interact.

This sounds silly, but my slippery sleeping bag and slippery mattress combined with a slight incline of a tent is not an effective combination when it is - 15 degrees outside. I kept waking up being freezing cold and scrunched into the bottom of the tent because my stupid sleeping bag slipped down throughout the night. I was insanely jealous of my tent partner, who had a foam mattress and a sleeping bag made of some sort of cloth material, causing her to remain in place while I sunk down like a fool.

DON'T get so emotionally invested in a card game that you forget who your friends are.

We played the Bean Game, which is one of my most favourite games, but unfortunately I let some underhanded maneuvers negatively affect my attitude towards games for the weekend. At one point during the game, I was so angry I actually felt my ears growing hot. Naturally, this led me to say no the next time I was asked to play; I didn't fly into a rage again, but I did sit at the campfire by myself like a loser while the rest of my friends had a blast playing games. Sometimes I don't make any sense.

DO something physically active at least once a day.

Before we left I was assured that there would be no hikes (I am notoriously bad at hikes). However, I learned that walks can very easily turn into hikes without anyone noticing but me - a good strategy for this is to create or point out some sort of photo op in the middle of a giant hill, and then you have time to recuperate without everyone knowing how out of shape you are! (I need to get back in to that skipping thing I tried once.)

DON'T be surprised by the conversations that emerge around the campfire.

It all comes back to the campfire. Conversations ranging from how many people could fit into a pair of super stretchy pants to aliens to theological issues, people passing around candy and spitz and homemade cookies, Ladies Book Club (even though I didn't really participate in this last one - I tried, but always ended up staring into the fire instead)... I miss the campfire. Even though I think it gave me a sinus infection.


The verdict: I am glad I went, and I think I would go again - except next time I will bring a gas mask and a non-slippery sleeping bag. Thumbs up for May Long Weekend.

The DOs and DON'Ts of May Long Weekend Camping: Part One

DO bring some sort of plastic face shield to protect yourself from the campfire. (A gas mask, for example.)

People will give you funny looks, but trust me: you need the protection. When we stopped at DQ in Merritt on the way back I had to blow my nose because it had been runny since that morning, and my snot was BLACK. For serious. I thought I had a horrible disease for a millisecond, and then remembered that basically all I did for two days was sit in front of a campfire inhaling ash and smoke. Don't get me wrong - the campfire is my number one favourite part of camping. Campfires are phenomenal. I would never say a bad word about a campfire. I'm just saying: be prepared.

DON'T eschew water consumption because the outhouse is disgusting.

I think that is the seed that grows the kidney failure. Honestly, I didn't not drink water on purpose, and I am super proud of myself for actually using the outhouse instead of just holding it all weekend (which I did once; true story), and the outhouses were not actually that bad. But still - an outhouse will never be one of my favourite things, and I would rather use a gas station bathroom than an outhouse, but it's not good for a body to reduce water intake the way I reduced my water intake. Maybe that's why I am sick as a dog right now. That and the smoke.

DO bring medical supplies of all sorts.

You can never tell what is going to happen in the wilderness, so it's best to be filled to the brim with polysporin and bandaids. Today around the campfire I noticed a mysterious bloody indent in my finger, and when I was scrubbing camping off my body after I got home I noticed a bruising scrape on my shin and a cut on that webby part between thumb and forefinger. Of course, you need to be aware of your audience if you're going to ask for medical attention: when I noticed the injury on my finger, I got no sympathy whatsoever because I was sitting between a girl who sliced the tops of her fingers off on a razor and a guy who nearly punctured his kidneys by falling off a log.


There will be more to this at a later time, but right now I am exhausted and need to sleep in my warm, solid, unmoving bed and hopefully wake up without this sinus infection I am growing. It kind of sounds like I had a bad time, but that is not the case and there will be fun stories because it was a good time! I'm pretty sure that I am not a camper at heart, but I am proud of myself for going. Thumbs up for personal growth.

Feel the Waltz, Feel the Waltz

I spent the whole morning cleaning my room. This included vacuuming, which is something I have not done in a long time. Surprisingly good exercise, that vacuuming. Especially when you are vacuuming to get rid of potential insects that may or may not be leaving bites on your legs in the middle of the night. (This is one of the things I am most afraid of and grossed out by. I didn't find any actual bugs, and my bites might be a result of all the time I've been spending outside, but still. I just want to make sure.)

Somehow it happened that I am going camping this weekend. I haven't been camping in about five years, and that time I did it all wrong. I went for too many days, slept in a van with someone who snored, and didn't bring enough books. This time I'm going to be more prepared. Things I am worried about: rain, not being able to sleep, getting eaten by a bear, being left alone at camp while everyone else goes hiking. Things I am looking forward to: reading, campfire, old friends. I think that by the time Friday comes, I will have changed my mind about going several times, because I'm not obligated to go; however, I am starting to see it as a challenge to myself. Last week I went to a concert, this week I am going camping. Next week I might do something even more crazy, like use the kayak that's been sitting in my garage for a month. Who knows.