Bugs, Blood, and Beer

Camping is one of those adventures that always looks good...on paper.

Habitual campers can talk at length about hiking through the woods, roasting marshmallows around a cozy fire, and sleeping under starry skies. It's easy to romanticize. They'll assert that if you don't take your children camping, they'll be missing out on everything nature has to offer.

Perhaps a generation or two ago, cooking over an open fire and sleeping in the great outdoors wasn't that far removed from our everyday lifestyles, but the same can no longer be said, can it? Nowadays, we expect climate control in our homes, at our workplaces, and while we travel to and from. We expect shelter from the elements and the small creatures who feast on our bodies. And while I can't speak for everyone, a great many of us expect cold beer at a reasonable price.

Roughing it with no running water, plumbing, or electricity is certainly a task many of us can no longer claim to enjoy. Sleeping under the stars can be appealing until the temperature drops to near freezing or rain and wind wreak havoc with your tent. Cooking by a cozy fire will certainly come with a generous helping of carcinogens. And a leisurely hike in the woods will quickly transform into a full hand-waving sprint as you desperately try to avoid mosquitoes and other blood lusting fiends.

Give Blood.  Go Camping.

Through all the discomfort and distress, however, camping still affords us with a genuine opportunity to bond with family in an atmosphere free from our typical daily distractions.  Cooperating by pitching the tent you are going to live in for 3 days, gathering firewood to allow you to eat, and swatting mosquitoes off of each other is certainly no one's textbook definition of quality bonding time, but it ends up being so by default.

Perhaps this is still camping's greatest allure.