The Wealth Spa

Camping alone with a 18 month old toddler is crazy.

Posted on 01. Oct, 2006 by Elizabeth Potts Weinstein in Life Balance

But it is a great workout. In two days of camping, I lost 7 lbs — even though I stayed hydrated and ate tons of junk food. From what, you may ask? Chasing a baby around the campground while simultaneously erecting a tent, starting a campfire, heating water for a bottle, and driving off raccoons who did not seem phased by me screaming at them. Add a few mini-hikes with Gracie in the backpack carrier, and I had a major boot camp workout. Dear Husband (aka Mark) was unable to come out with us on Thursday afternoon, and did not arrive until Friday dinnertime, due to work issues. When he arrived, he was not in mental shape (or dressed) for camping, and was freaking out because his blackberry had stopped working a mile before the campground entrance, so he did not know if a Notice was served. I responded by placing Gracie inside the SUV to watch Dora on DVD (horrible to give in to this when we are trying to enjoy nature, but oh well), dousing Mark with a few glasses of Pinot Noir, and making reassuring noises while Mark paced around the campfire talking nonstop until the wine kicked in. Mark is not a camper. Until me, he had never even built a campfire or roasted s’more’s. And he still is not really into it. Quote – "we work hard and make all this money so we can buy a nice house, and so we pack up our car and decide to camp in a tent in the woods, like a homeless person?" Of course, just by driving through the campground, we can see that homeless people need not apply — the campground is full of BMW’s, Mercedes, and $40K SUV’s. He just does not get the charm of sleeping on the ground (actually, a nice air mattress) or taking an hour to assemble and break down camp (lessons in self-reliance, and following directions). I’m planning to problem solve those two issues for him by buying a pop up trailer camper. Either an A-line ($10-16K new) or the Trailmanor ($26K new and heavier). Need to research them more, and find out if the new SUV can tow them (and I can feel comfortable driving with a trailer). But if I can get him sleeping on a real mattress, and make settling up camp take just a few minutes, then maybe he can enjoy camping. Or at least not complain. I can only deal with one baby with me when I am camping.

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