Camping
On the bright side, this weekend I was able to actually go camping with my family. On Friday night we were in New Hampshire, at Russel Lake off of Exit 31 on I-93 North.
My wife, daughter and I set up camp at an outstanding camp site: secluded from most of the others, but still on the main road. The site was level, mostly sand, and had a picnic table and firepit (complete with grill). At around 10ish we were cooking dinner (after coming home from a concert at Loon Mountain) when a park attendant called down to us from his golf-cart on the road.
"Do you have any food out?"
"Yes, we're cooking dinner."
"Well, best put out and extra plate. There are black bears above and below you. You can expect a visitor tonight if you've got food out."
"Ok. Thanks!" came our tremulous reply.
I still continued to cook the food we had out. Brauts on the grill for my wife, leftovers for myself, and a couple of hot-dogs for Audrial. My wife and daughter retired early that evening, her with a sleeping pill to assist her sleep, and Audrial telling her a story about a beautiful princess named Rosalind.
It's funny how kids do that. I used to tell her bed time stories at night, when I was too tired to open or read a book. Sleepily I'd tell her about a beautiful princess named Audrial, and her adventures with woodland animals. And now she comforts my wife, and makes her feel beautiful and loved in her small way, just by adapting the stories I'd told her and giving it her own 4-year-old-wanting-to-be-a-teenager elements.
After they had gone to tent, I sat alone before the campfire and ate the braut I had cooked for myself. I sat watching the fire in the darkness, warming my feet. Occasionally I would take out a small flashlight and shine it ino the woods, just to see if I had any silent visitors. After some time, my wife called to me, telling me that her sleeping pill wasn't working. She asked me to read her to sleep, and I suggested that when I came to bed shortly, I would bring my audio book on my Palm Zire 72, which had a small but clear speaker which would be easy to hear in the silence of the forest night. She jumped at the idea, and once I had finished cleaning up the campsite, I brought it in the tent and set it on. Within 5 minutes, she was fast asleep, snoring softly, as was my daughter.
So I turned off the story and closed my eyes.
The next morning, I was awakened in near dawn. The sky was overcast, but it didn't rain during the night. When I awoke, I thought I heard something large moving off to the left of the tent. But I didn't hear anything more, even though my senses were keenly aware due to the possibility that there could be a bear within 15 feet of me.
I closed my eyes and awoke later when the light was more full in the sky. I stepped quietly out of the tent and strode over to the firepit. The fire I had left burning when I went to sleep last night was only ashes and the remenants of logs. I used those remenants as a base and made a new fire. My wife had used all of the starter material we had purchased the day before, and when I checked my backpack in the van I found that there was none in there either, save for my emergency supplies.
I took one of the paper plates we'd purchased and rolled it in a tube, lit one end with a lighter and placed it below the logs I'd placed on the fire. It burned, the fire took, and blazed for a little while. But when I moved the logs a bit, the flames died out and all I had was embers. So I used another paper plate, and now the flame started blazing in ernest. Before long I had a very good fire going, and I stared at it for a long time in that early morning, alone with my thoughts.
Eventually I got lonely and bored, and decided to wake my daughter up. When I told her I had a fire going, she was all ready to wake up. She came outside and sat by the fire with me and played with her dolls. I cooked the rest of the brauts and we ate breakfast together. When my wife woke up, we all went swimming. I let my daughter drive on my lap. She tried to steer us into the woods a couple of times, but mostly did a good job.
The water of the pond was clear, clean, and refreshing. The taste of it reminded me of Newfound Lake, which I grew up swimming on during the summers. We had a camp there, and I spent many days their in my youth. This large pond would likely be called a lake down here in Connecticut. The sandy bottom was nice, and within perhaps 50 feet it got to be over your head, just slightly. We all enjoyed our time there.
But too soon we were called to leave, and went back to the campsite. I cleaned it up mostly by myself, because my wife was feeling unwell. And with that, out camping adventure ended.
My wife, daughter and I set up camp at an outstanding camp site: secluded from most of the others, but still on the main road. The site was level, mostly sand, and had a picnic table and firepit (complete with grill). At around 10ish we were cooking dinner (after coming home from a concert at Loon Mountain) when a park attendant called down to us from his golf-cart on the road.
"Do you have any food out?"
"Yes, we're cooking dinner."
"Well, best put out and extra plate. There are black bears above and below you. You can expect a visitor tonight if you've got food out."
"Ok. Thanks!" came our tremulous reply.
I still continued to cook the food we had out. Brauts on the grill for my wife, leftovers for myself, and a couple of hot-dogs for Audrial. My wife and daughter retired early that evening, her with a sleeping pill to assist her sleep, and Audrial telling her a story about a beautiful princess named Rosalind.
It's funny how kids do that. I used to tell her bed time stories at night, when I was too tired to open or read a book. Sleepily I'd tell her about a beautiful princess named Audrial, and her adventures with woodland animals. And now she comforts my wife, and makes her feel beautiful and loved in her small way, just by adapting the stories I'd told her and giving it her own 4-year-old-wanting-to-be-a-teenager elements.
After they had gone to tent, I sat alone before the campfire and ate the braut I had cooked for myself. I sat watching the fire in the darkness, warming my feet. Occasionally I would take out a small flashlight and shine it ino the woods, just to see if I had any silent visitors. After some time, my wife called to me, telling me that her sleeping pill wasn't working. She asked me to read her to sleep, and I suggested that when I came to bed shortly, I would bring my audio book on my Palm Zire 72, which had a small but clear speaker which would be easy to hear in the silence of the forest night. She jumped at the idea, and once I had finished cleaning up the campsite, I brought it in the tent and set it on. Within 5 minutes, she was fast asleep, snoring softly, as was my daughter.
So I turned off the story and closed my eyes.
The next morning, I was awakened in near dawn. The sky was overcast, but it didn't rain during the night. When I awoke, I thought I heard something large moving off to the left of the tent. But I didn't hear anything more, even though my senses were keenly aware due to the possibility that there could be a bear within 15 feet of me.
I closed my eyes and awoke later when the light was more full in the sky. I stepped quietly out of the tent and strode over to the firepit. The fire I had left burning when I went to sleep last night was only ashes and the remenants of logs. I used those remenants as a base and made a new fire. My wife had used all of the starter material we had purchased the day before, and when I checked my backpack in the van I found that there was none in there either, save for my emergency supplies.
I took one of the paper plates we'd purchased and rolled it in a tube, lit one end with a lighter and placed it below the logs I'd placed on the fire. It burned, the fire took, and blazed for a little while. But when I moved the logs a bit, the flames died out and all I had was embers. So I used another paper plate, and now the flame started blazing in ernest. Before long I had a very good fire going, and I stared at it for a long time in that early morning, alone with my thoughts.
Eventually I got lonely and bored, and decided to wake my daughter up. When I told her I had a fire going, she was all ready to wake up. She came outside and sat by the fire with me and played with her dolls. I cooked the rest of the brauts and we ate breakfast together. When my wife woke up, we all went swimming. I let my daughter drive on my lap. She tried to steer us into the woods a couple of times, but mostly did a good job.
The water of the pond was clear, clean, and refreshing. The taste of it reminded me of Newfound Lake, which I grew up swimming on during the summers. We had a camp there, and I spent many days their in my youth. This large pond would likely be called a lake down here in Connecticut. The sandy bottom was nice, and within perhaps 50 feet it got to be over your head, just slightly. We all enjoyed our time there.
But too soon we were called to leave, and went back to the campsite. I cleaned it up mostly by myself, because my wife was feeling unwell. And with that, out camping adventure ended.
posted by Adam Skinner at 8/02/2004 04:22:00 PM
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