About a month ago, I stepped way out of my comfort zone and let David talk me into going camping for the first time. My only other attempt at camping was when I was, I think, 14 and my dad had just bought some property in Colorado. At some point while he was pitching the tent, I believe the word "bears" was mentioned and I decided that I would not be joining them in the tent that night. While my dad, little brother, and sister slept in the tent, my mom, other little sister, and I all opted to sleep in the van (which my dad for some reason had parked on a rather steep incline!) After a very uncomfortable night, I determined that camping was not my thing.
Camping is, however, David's thing. I don't just mean drive up in your camper and call it camping. If you don't hike in a few miles carrying nothing but your tent, sleeping bag, water, some freeze-dried food, and one change of clothes, then as far as David is concerned, it's not camping. After convincing him that yes, a toilet is necessary, and no, the girls cannot hike in 2 miles, we were able to find a campsite that (I thought) would suit us well. Beautiful Buena Vista, Colorado and only about 10 feet from the river. David failed to mention that there would be no running water. (A completely honest mistake, I'm sure!) It's a good thing I had packed plenty of baby wipes and anti-bacterial gel, or this germ-a-phobe would not have lasted long!
It was really fun to see David truly in his element. In an attempt to make things easier for me, he insisted on taking charge of our meals. He made sure to stock up on his organic, "gourmet", freeze-dried food. Perhaps if you'd been hiking all day and were in the middle of nowhere, freeze-dried frittata might actually taste good. I hated to squash his love of
Mary Jane, but I think that next time I'll be in charge of food!
One of my favorite moments while we were camping was on our first day. We had just gotten the tent up and rigged up a rather poor rain fly for it using a too-small tarp, when it started to rain. We were all hungry and the girls' low blood sugar in combination with being cooped up in a tent was not making for a very fun time. David prayed,not for the rain to stop, but just that the Lord would "make it work". The rain did not stop, and I wondered why he hadn't prayed for it to. In faith, he just stepped out in the rain to make dinner, and it stopped! Every afternoon it got pretty cloudy, and although we did get a drizzle or two, it never really came down or interrupted our activities! (Which was great because I really don't think that the tarp we tied to the top of the tent would have done much good!) We had a blast doing a little hiking, swimming in the hot springs, visiting a ghost town, and just being with each other.
Another highlight for me was watching the girls. They loved every moment! (Although if you ask Anna, because she is Anna and loves to answer to the contrary, she will tell you she did not have fun.) There is something about kids being outside without the distractions of toys, t.v.s, or even books, that brings out such creativity. They made up games, "decorated" our campsite with "nature" they found, collected leaves, looked for wildlife, played lots of go fish... Despite my own discomforts, seeing the girls' joy made it all worthwhile! (Yes, even the fact that the only way to shower was in a laundromat 10 minutes away where you had to pay $2.00 for 5 minutes. Even that was worth it!)
