Camping...hmmm

Here is my first entry in the fine arts photography category for the County Fair next year. I love cows. I took this picture on the way back from camping this last weekend and I.....whoa...wait a minute....CAMPING?! It's kind of akin to the dog issue. I am not a camping type person. I have never been a camper. I have never even desired to BE a camper. When I was a kid, we never, as in, not-one-time, went camping. My parents just were not into the backpacking/tent-putting-up/sleep on the ground experience. But nowww, I'm a camper. Okay, I, also, am not in favor of the tent-putting-up/sleep on the ground experience. Plus, because of scary movie residue, I am always scared to death of a huge bowie knife ripping through the canvas while I sleep. So, I bought a tiny pop-up camper. And now, I too can camp.
This does not alleviate the knife through the canvas predicament, but it does get rid of the sleeping-on-the-ground and the putting-up-a-tent. I may still lie awake at night waiting for a homicidal maniac to find the campsite, but at least I'm comfy. And, bonus, there are gadgets. Look at this cooler. Ready to have a bag of ice dumped in and beer inserted. Look at the stove and the sink. Well, the sink is a little iffy. I don't know that I actually want to drink the water that comes out of a hose that's been in there since 1985. But it's clean and pretty. I'll tote my own water thank you very much. But now I have a counter to set the water jug on and a sink to drain it once I've brushed my teeth. Each side of the pop-up folds out into full sized beds, and it has a table with booth seating that also turns into a full bed. And, the whole caboodle folds down into a neat 6'x 8' box on wheels.

I have to admit, it was an impulse buy. Sheesh. But hey, I'm not buying any clothes. It fairly old and it was fairly cheap. Along with the scary, irritating parts of camping, there are also wondrous things. There's the stars at night seen from a grassy meadow. There's the toasty campfire that pops and crackles and keeps you warm when you start to think, What in the hell am I doing outside when it's 34 degrees out?! There are breakfast burritos that taste so much better eaten in the crisp 7:00am air, along with thick, dark, camp coffee....when at home I would never be up that early on a weekend. There's the people and their kids that go along, and it's like being a in a cool little village for the weekend. There's the sound of animals, and weather, and the wind in the trees. And one of the things I love the best, which is not taking a bath for a couple days and getting all dirty and yucky and then Sunday afternoon, getting home and taking a half hour hot yummy shower.
Plus, how could one not get this camper when it has such a cool floor. And finally, it's such a great feeling to wake up in the morning at the campsite alive, and not another story on America's Most Wanted. :P

"Earth's crammed with Heaven."
Elizabeth Barrett Browning from Chapter 8, Giving