It's never too late

Growing up, we were not campers. One time in elementary school I went to a week of summer camp, but was homesick the whole time. It was generally a horrible experience. The closest my family got to camping was spending summers at our cabin on the Hood Canal. Not very rustic, with a fully plumbed kitchen and bathroom.

But for the past few years I've done a ton of camping with various groups of friends, and I've learned to love it. So last weekend, I rallied the troops and we embarked upon our first family camping trip. So what if me, my brother and my sister are all in our 20’s at this point – it’s never too late to start a tradition, right!?

I booked a campsite at Lake Wenatchee State Park and we arrived on Friday evening to swarms… clouds… armies of mosquitoes. I guess that’s what you get for choosing to camp in a wooded area beside a lake. But we made the best of it and had a great time making and grilling the shish kabob dinner I had brought. My brother and dad behaved like typical manly-men by making a fire and sitting around it drinking beer and poking the smoking logs with sticks. It’s amazing how long prodding at a campfire can occupy a guy’s attention.

The next morning I made a delicious breakfast of eggs and sausage before we headed down to the lake to spend the day at the beach. It’s truly amazing how fast you can get used to doing absolutely nothing. We spent hours on the beach with our prime entertainment being periodically dropping the dog into the lake to see if she could swim. (She could, but not well…)

Back at the campsite I spent a couple hours sitting around drinking beer and chatting with my dad. I don’t think I have ever spent this much time with him without a television being present in my entire life. And I also don’t think I’ve seen him so relaxed in a long time. I thought my parents would hate camping (they’re really more hotel people) but I was surprised and impressed how well they took everything in stride.

My sister had made a delicious lunch of grilled panini sandwhiches, and after a typical dinner of hamburgers and hot dogs, we finished things off with a camping favorite: S’mores. I felt stuffed to the gills and incredibly happy. For the rest of the night it was just me and the fam, hanging out by the campfire, listening to music, talking and laughing. I found it ironically bizarre that we had finally found a time and place where we could just be together, without any distractions, itineraries, or modern conveniences. Good times.

And the craziest part? My dad was actually so stoked about the whole camping thing that he’s looking into purchasing an RV! Wow. I could definitely get used to this…