One of my goals, you might remember, is to avoid the internet two days a week. Having coming back from camping and only having my mobile to keep in touch (not very easily, because I find it awkward to comment and reply to emails), I've come back to loads of blog comments, loads of emails... At least I know that my two days should not be consecutive.
So, that explains why I haven't replied to any of your comments from the previous post. I'm off to do that now. But first I wanted to draw your attention to Misha Gericke's blog where she interviews me. In fact, we did a double interview with each other at the same time, which was great fun. I posted the interview I did with Misha a little while ago, but it's here if you want another look.
Are you nuts like me, and go camping even when every fibre of your body tells you you're daft?
No, I hate camping. My idea of roughing it is anything below a three star hotel.
ReplyDelete*giggles* Yeah, this is almost word for word what I was going to say!
DeleteRight, so that's two votes for 'Nuts'! :-)
DeleteHmm. I'm with Al. Not a huge fan of camping ... Though I do have a very pleasant memory of bacon frying over an open fire as a child when I went with a HUGE amount of family members. We still have the video of my Aunt Martha cooking for all of us impersonating Julia Child.
ReplyDeleteHmm redux. Maybe camping's not so bad ...
We missed the bacon this time round. Hubby commented on it this morning as he was swearing at the tent LOL!
DeleteI used to, back in the days when my kids were young and we had no money to take them anywhere exotic. Then we discovered house-swapping - you get proper beds and kitchens and someone elses books to read.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing with house swapping is someone would be in my house... and even I'm not that keen on my house, I'd hate to have anyone else suffer it!
DeleteNever been camping. My family are the luxury type and by luxury I mean warm beds, TV, bathrooms, internet ans so much more. So I guess I will never experience the camping thing. But at least you tried, which is great.
ReplyDeleteAh yes, but you really, REALLY appreciate your warm beds and bathrooms when you get home... I mean, you REALLY REALLY do :-)
DeleteI'm a geologist, which is apparently a euphemism for "Goes camping in the wilderness." On many of our trips to look at rocks we'd be hiking along and say, "Well, this looks as good as any other place to stop for the night." Sometimes we'd have tents, sometimes not. Sometimes we'd drive, sometimes we'd walked (I missed the only trip that was by boat).
ReplyDeleteWhat I learned: the desert is the coldest place to sleep because you never bring enough clothes.
Don't trust professors, when they say you'll be in city X at 500 feet above sea level, they mean they've booked a camp site 20 miles away at 5,000 feet in the nearby mountains in February(I wish that were a joke).
With luck and persistence, you can bake a cake from scratch over a fire. I've seen it done twice.
Seam glue is what makes a tent actually waterproof.
So yeah, I've spent many cold, wet, miserable nights huddled up under my tent and wishing I'd brought more clothes.
Okay, you've definitely put my damp two nights into perspective! I'm intrigued about the cake baking though.
DeleteThe key is patience. They baked it by building a brick half stove IN THE FIRE! it was crazy. Then they covered the pan so that the rising cake filled the whole cooking area then turned it over mid bake so it got even heating. I was really impressed.
DeleteI love camping!! When I was a kid we camped a bunch of times every summer. We traveled all over the United States; I've been to more than half the states in a tent or in a pop-up camper! And yes, we had those wet camping days too. I didn't mind so much when I was kid because everything was always an adventure. I minded when I got older though. If only we could have that carefree kid mind-set all the time!
ReplyDeleteWe haven't done it for a while because we had two wet years in a row... I was so hoping this time would be different. But Hubby's solution is a bigger tent - so we'll see how that goes!
DeleteYou're so right about kids not caring - they had a great time playing barefoot frisbee in the wet grass.
Last time I went camping our tent got flooded in a tropical downpour. Come to think of it the time before our tent got flooded in a tropical downpour.
ReplyDeleteMaybe that I why I haven't been camping in a good while.
We've never actually be flooded, but last time we camped we left a day early because nearby sites were flooding. There were photos on the front pages of newspapers.
DeleteThanks for the follow, and for reading my interview on Misha's blog. I'll pop over to visit in a minute.
I've never been camping--and I don't mind that one bit! :)
ReplyDeleteIt's good fun when it's not raining, or when you've got the equipment to cope with the rain. But I'm probably not advertising it the ideal way!
Delete<---Has never been camping. ::hangs head in shame::
ReplyDeleteSome Dark Romantic
When the weather's nice, it's great fun... Like today, today would have been an amazingly hot, sunny, dry day to camp!
DeleteYeah, I've had camping trips like that. We went camping at Thanksgiving once. The plan was to basically bake the turkey in the Weber (an enclosed BBQ), but it happenened to snow that weekend and we couldn't get the Weber hot enough. So of course my husband used lighter fluid to keep the fire going. Yep, the turkey tasted like lighter fluid. Of course, we laugh about it now:)
ReplyDeleteCamping in the snow... hardcore! I don't imagine much turkey got eaten that year!
DeleteOh yes, I've been there! Wet camping or really hot camping is no fun. I prefer a little cool and dry camping.
ReplyDeleteI'd be happy with hot, actually. I love being able to take my shoes off and wander barefoot in the grass. The year the weather was lovely, we were camping on chippings in a wood!
DeleteI'm not a camping kind of girl... I'd rather stay in a B&B and enjoy the small comforts:)
ReplyDeleteI judge a camp site on their shower facilities, I must admit. The site we were on didn't score that highly, which was a shame, but we never go back to the same place twice.
DeleteHi Annalisa - I decided to hit Scotland without a computer - fine .. but thankfully found one in the local new museum/library ... it was great for all sorts of reasons - so I sneaked in a few short sessions.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm back - and am in the library catching up on embedded comment blogs - which I can't do at home ..
I think I was lucky in Scotland ... most had a dry time and I managed not to get wet ... but I didn't camp - do remember those days ... it's August and it's England ... welcome back .. cheers Hilary
I know I can't rely on the weather, but I'm relatively annoyed at how today and this evening have been. I am hot. I've opened the windows and doors and I'm still hot... and it's hot outside. This was not the case two days ago :-)
DeleteI don't camp. I'm with Alex's category - hotel with cable - ha! I think the point of camping (from what I hear) is to be able to discuss how miserable it was. You achieved this goal with the wet and damp. Congrats. I think in Texas you have to kill a scorpion in your tent to win the gold medal.
ReplyDeleteI didn't mean to complain quite so much. Usually I'm quite stoic about these things. I happily pulled my hood up and down as I wandered around Longleat, and we did all the outside things while it was dry, and headed inside when it rained. And the animals all stayed out as we went around the safari park. So the daytimes were good - lots to be happy about, honestly!
DeleteI would not win any kind of medal in Texas, I'd be far, far away from any scorpions!
Oh dear, that doesn't sound like the best camping expedition! I've been camping before when we had a downpour of rain that traveled through our tents. Fortunately, the girls' tent had stretchers so we got to watch the water run by. The boys' tent wasn't so fortunate!
ReplyDeleteOh no, the poor boys! Okay, I'm giggling - at least you were dry!
DeleteNope. I'm not much of an outdoorsy kind of person, I'm afraid. ;-)
ReplyDeleteYeah, I wonder how I ended up camping so much - my parents never took me, that's for sure!
DeleteWe went camping during a drought. We pitched our tent in a perfect flat spot at the base of a hill. It was a magical little hide-away surrounded by shade trees and grassy knolls. Then, having my camping luck, the drought broke with torrential rains...and our quaint camp site was a dried up creek bed. In the middle of the night, I could ignore the dripping roof, but the foot of water running through our tent had me swearing I would be a hotel girl for the rest of my life!
ReplyDeleteLol - you and Rena have definitely tied for best (or worst, I guess) camping story. What terrible timing your camping trip had! :-)
DeleteI hate camping. I'm a spoiled woman who likes her toilet, hot water, electricity and cozy bed. I see no reason to give all that up...on purpose. :-)
ReplyDeleteI tried camping once. It was so awful, I'd never do it again.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I love the outdoors, I'm not really into camping ... the Husband Unit would attest. I guess my city roots show there.
ReplyDeleteIt's fun when you're young and have kids but now it's hotel time for me. My favorite was a special deal we got at the St. Regis in Aspen--luxury, luxury, luxury. Plus dogs were allowed and in the morning, perfect coffee served in the elegant lobby with Billy Holliday in the background, fireplace too. Later a swim in the outdoor pool surrounded by snow-covered pine trees. And I did get my dog fix as the dogs wandered around the lobby, perfectly well-behaved. There have to be some joys about getting older.
ReplyDeleteWe love camping. Yes, bad weather is a bummer but it can also be fun. We've set up in rain, camped in rain, been flooded and packed up in rain:)
ReplyDelete