Monday, November 22, 2010

In-House Camping ? Sometimes You?ve Just Gotta Go For It!

                                      
Okay, Mother Nature. We admit defeat. Torrential rains and gale force winds have put a damper on our much anticipated two-week camping trip. Oh well, we?ll just have to improvise! This is the first time we?ve given in to the weather but ? all is not lost. Sometimes you?ve just gotta go for it!

After a great deal of discussion, my husband and I decided to set up camp in our dining room. We moved the dining room furniture into the living room (in front of the TV so we wouldn?t be tempted to watch anything during our ?holiday?) and pitched the tent. We had to use one of our smaller tents because of the tight fit but it was perfect nonetheless. While listening to a ?waves-crashing-on-the-shore-and-birds-twittering? CD on the portable radio, we set our camp chairs up in front of the fireplace and started our ?camp fire? with store-bought wood. I know, I know, it?s against true camping rules to buy wood but this was an emergency situation! We did our breakfast toast over the fire but decided to cook our meals on the barbecue out back. (We live in a townhouse and I think that the strata council frowns on cooking meat in the fireplace.)
                                      

My husband and I both found this whole experience a little challenging at first. Unplugging the TV and the computers, ignoring the phone and not picking up the mail felt weird. After a couple of days, though, it felt just fine. And I have to admit, a big plus to camping in-house is that, if you have to get up in the night, the bathroom is just down the hall! Actually, we really enjoyed being unplugged for a few days. It was good to catch up with our reading and reconnect with each other. For us, it was almost as good as if we were really outdoors camping. For our dog, because we don?t have a lake for her to swim in or chipmunks for her to case in our house ? not so much! Anyway, when all was said and done, I figure that this in-house camping was the next best thing to the real deal.

However, I have to confess that we have now put a camper on the top of our wish list! One day?

     

Source: http://www.campingandequipment.com/index/in-house-camping-sometimes-you-ve-just-gotta-go-for-it-

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