Scenery

Over the years I have been fortunate to live in some places with some pretty rockin' (not to mention rocky) camping areas, and at every opportunity I would venture into the wilderness to enjoy the silence and the stars. On a recent excursion, however, it occurred to me that I had only ever been "kid camping". The realization came when the sun dipped behind the hillside and I ducked into my tent to equip my pjs and prepare for bed. My fellow campers encouraged me to stay up for a while with calls of, "If you go to bed now, we're dog-piling you every hour until the sun comes up." It was then that the moment dawned on me - I had never been camping AND drinking. All my camping experience was of the "s'mores and story-telling" variety not the "I wonder if this flaming log would work well as a brandinOWWWWWWWW".

There are some differences between kid camping and non-kid camping that are worth noting. First, anything goes. You might think that's for kid camping. It's not. Anything adults can do to entertain themselves once the sun goes down is in bounds, and adults have a much wider range of toys at their disposal (like squirt guns filled with lighter fluid or everclear and a hatred of eyebrows). Second, kids can camp anywhere and on anything. Ice need only be melted. The pitch of a water-based campground is soothing. Any temperature is the right temperature. Rocks and hard-packed dirt are the equivalent of pillows and a padded mattress. And sunrise cannot come soon enough. Adults on the other hand need pretty much their entire living rooms setup in A CAMPGROUND before they'll even consider spending more than a couple hours away from home. Tents are to be setup as a food station and to keep the bears distracted from the tasty humans packed into the can (not unlike sardines in a tin). If one is to venture out and setup camp away from the stereo and xbox in the camper, they will find that rocks litter the entire area not one smaller than a coconut or smoother than a hedgehog's backside, and the dirt is so hard-packed as to give one sweet dreams of being water boarded on a bed of nails. As for the sun, adults might as well be vampires with slightly grumpier dispositions. This was the camping trip when I realized I had become an adult and taken part in an adult camping trip. And wished I could go back to kid camping.

This was also the same trip that made me wonder why I had lived in Arizona for seven and a half years and never been to Sedona before. It's really beautiful as these pictures can attest to. And these.

From SSO Camping

From SSO Camping