camping

I miss camping. When I was a lad, I spent a lot of time camping, with my family, with Boy Scouts, and with Gadget Girl.

For many years, my family spent our vacations in Pismo Beach, camping of sorts. My parents owned a travel trailer and we pulled that thing up the coast each summer for a week of camping, fishing and most importantly, clamming! My family loves clams, especially because they were free. My parents would dig for clams for hours at a time...well past low tide and sometimes after dark. The trailer was not huge, so I often slept outside, by myself. I loved sleeping outdoors, in a tent or under the stars.

Boy Scouts was a great opportunity for camping--we'd go at least once a month. I wonder if Boy Scouts do a lot of camping these days? When I was a lad, we picked a theme each year. One year was canoeing and we camped at Lake Perris to practice for our big trip, a week canoeing on the Colorado River. Another year, it was backpacking and we backpacked in the desert, up the peak of San Jacinto, eventually culminating in a week in the High Sierras.

When I was newlywed, Gadget Girl and I did A LOT of camping. We didn't have weekends off, but we sailed on Lake Perris all day and camped there overnight so we could sail again the next day. I remember my first vacation when I worked for Thrifty--I had a full week off and it rained while we camped at Lake Perris.

The various sailing adventures have a camping feel to them, as I often sleep in the boat's trampoline, under the stars. 

Ahhh, camping!