Visual Gratitude: #19 Camping

Up until the last year or so, I was not much of an outdoors kind of lady. Sure I liked going for walks and sitting outside on the beach, but that was about it. Last summer my boyfriend encouraged me to open my mind to the possibility of camping. I hadn't been camping since I was a child and only had horrid memories of the experiences. So many poles to put the stupid tent together. Chances were someone was going to step on one of the poles and ultimately ruin the tent. Oh, and at night, the tent was guaranteed to leak. Camping just wasn't for me.

After some discussion with the boyfriend, he convinced me that camping gear had come a long way. Within a few weeks we were onto our first overnight camping soiree. He was right. Times and technology had changed. My mouth was permanently agape with surprise as the tent took probably a total of three minutes to put together. And within a good fifteen minutes our entire campsite was assembled. My next thought was, "Now what?". Seriously. I recall showing up at our campsite as a child and from the time we got there until it was time to go to sleep we were busy putting stuff together and organizing our site. Maybe it just took so long because my parents had three unruly kids to take care of too...

Anyway, after a few overnights last summer, I was hooked on camping. I enjoy the simplicity of being outside and having everything you need in one place. My boyfriend and I typically do a bit of hiking on our camping trips too, so I of course like the physicality of it all. I also now have a hefty dividend at REI to prove my new love for camping.