BREAKING DOWN AND CAMPING OUT

It’s been the same old song ever since purchasing the property last July; Jeff was determined to camp out amid its pine trees. From my perspective, the likelihood of that happening was fairly remote, so this “city chick” (as he loves to call me), cheerfully humored him. I swear, I tried to hold out as long as I could.

Now don’t get the wrong impression ~ ask anyone and they’ll more than likely tell you I’m not really the princess or prima donna type. But still, my former camping days pretty much amounted to “roughing it” in a real camper or RV. You know - the ones with microwaves, TV’s and comfy mattresses kind.

And yet it was that I finally broke down. We hit the local department store to pick up some last minute provisions like pots, pans, and plastic dishes, and then there I was - dare I say it? - almost excited to be piling the truck with the tent, sleeping bags, and every other thing we could think of needing.

By the time we got there, it was a crystal blue afternoon at 10,800 feet high, the sun bearing directly down on us. Still, we had the perfect view of the light puffy clouds below drifting through the valley.

We pitched the tent together, and I blew up the air mattresses and washed the new pots and pans, while Jeff set up the fire pit. He even set up a great “latrine with a view”. What more could I want? Oh my word, I thought. We’re actually camping!

Sitting with my wine in hand and Jeff with his cocktail, we toasted to our future up here where nature couldn’t get any purer. Minutes later Jeff hopped onto his tractor, and I returned to writing this blog. Bliss. If this is any sign of the peace to come, I’m loving it.

Then came time for cocktail hour and our first sunset. The pink-orange of the sun teasingly peeked out from the clouds below us, slowly melting to where we could see it no more. Minutes later the silence was broken. Dusk apparently signals the birds and tree frogs to share their presence, because all of a sudden there was a grand cacophony of song, only to become silent once again within the half hour. Very cool.

NIGHTFALL

Cheese, crackers, rotisserie chicken and a lovely fire - the only thing we’d forgotten were the S’mores. Dang! And then a sprinkle, which soon turned into a light rain. No problem. We tucked into the sleeping bags and hunkered down, I with the iPad to read, and Jeff with his Kindle. Life is good!

I have to admit, the rest of the night wasn’t the best for sleeping. I quickly learned the air mattress definitely needs to be filled to the max if we don’t want our backs to break, and that I couldn’t let my nose and face pop out of the bag unless I wanted them to be chilled off. But otherwise it worked out fine, and well worth it when we woke up to sunshine covering the pleats of the green valley below. Jeff got the fire going again, and soon we were dining on bacon, eggs, avocado and toast. Hot coffee in hand, we lingered for a bit to take it all in.

I know now that this “city chick” will probably jump next time when her husband wants to go camping. Lesson learned, though ~ the S’more fixings are coming with us!