Mariposa Kisses (aka Dianne's Blog)

The smell of dust has never been so sweet. You open up the warped and faded storage bag to retrieve that old tent and the memories come flooding in. Thoughts of hot chocolate and S'mores around the fire-ring fill your mind. So do the spooky campfire stories about ghosts and goblins.

I especially enjoy my childhood memories from beach-camping. The food tasted so good. I'm not sure which was better, the smoky flavor of eggs and bacon or the salty ocean breeze in the background. We loved playing on the beach all day long and walking up the tower of never-ending wooden steps to a cold piece of watermelon or a chilled beverage. We frequently gathered up a wad of quarters and walked or biked to the camp-store for frozen fruit bars, the kind with real fruit in them. Remember those? The long days ended with glorious sunsets overlooking the majestic Pacific.

Desert camping was a blast as well. It felt ironic how you could sizzle in the hot desert sun but hike up to an icy-cold spring to cool yourself in the shade. The desert flowers evidenced miraculous beauty, the kind you appreciate more because it's so anomalous. Now as an adult, I have come to admire the desert in its entirety and not just for its seasonal flowers. Though I was terrified as a child of the creepy desert creatures, I always returned home unscathed and full of fun memories.

As a newly married couple, my husband and I did a ton of camping. It was a great way to start out a marriage, especially given our limited finances and all the free-time. My husband was finishing up his Master's degree out in IL, so we were far from family. During this time of independence, we enjoyed camping on the dunes of Lake Michigan and visiting a variety of IL state parks. Being a California girl all of my life, it was the funniest feeling to dive through a fresh-water wave.

After eleven years of marriage and three kids later, we've ordered our first family dome tent. Though our weathered four-person tent has held up well, our family now requires a mega-tent. After a half-day's research of more tents that I knew even existed, I ordered a three-room dome tent online. We are now expectantly awaiting its arrival and will soon be off on our very first "family" camping trip. Now our kids will have a chance to create their own camping memories. We'll keep the ghost stories to a minimum since our kids are fairly young, but we won't shy away from a variety of hikes and adventures.

What are some of your favorite camping memories? Any crazy tent stories? My husband prides himself on his ability to put up our small four-person tent in less than one minute. I have a feeling our 150 square foot family tent will take a bit longer than that. Share some of your favorite camping stories here.

Labels: camping, family, kids, tents