Backyard Camping
Microadventures abound! I had to work this past Saturday. It was one of those slow, draining days, that makes you question why you even bothered opening. Needless to say, after a day like that, I was pretty tired when I got home, and didn't feel like doing too much. My spouse had other ideas though.
Right before it started getting dark, they asked if I wanted to camp in the backyard with the kids. I hem hawed around trying to avoid giving them an answer. But I eventually found myself in the attic pulling down a tent and sleeping bags. It's funny how life works sometimes.
After sorting through totes of camping gear, we got the tent pitched and sleeping bags rolled out. We grabbed pillows off the beds and made the tent as comfortable as possible. We used foam sleeping mats instead of the air mattress for comfort. A choice my back and I regretted the next morning. Sleeping on the ground used to not bother be so much, but as I age, the more I grow to appreciate things like mattresses or comfortable chairs, but I digress.
After the tent was prepped for sleeping, we all gathered up kindling and twigs to get a fire going in the fire pit. We started the fire with a ferro rod and my favorite fire starter, a cotton ball covered in Vaseline. Yes, it's cheating a bit because it's so easy, but it had rained heavily the day before and everything was wet. So, we needed all the help we could get.
Once the fire had been taken care of I headed inside to prep dinner while the family sat around the fire reading Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.
I'm actually typing this up on my phone as I stand on our patio grilling lemon pepper chicken legs with zucchini and squash skewers. I contemplated cooking on the fire, but it was getting kind of late and I was ready to press on. I might be biased, but the chicken and veggies turned out great.
After dinner, we all sat around the fire a while longer talking, reading, knitting, or doom scrolling, until it was time for the kids to go to bed. Once the kiddos were settled, we adults went back to the fire, talked, and looked at the stars. It was a an amazingly clear night for stargazing. The previous few days had been more of those gray days I talked about recently. We too eventually got tired and banked the fire. We headed to the tent to snuggle into sleeping bags and listened to the wildlife and highway noise until we drifted off to sleep.
The Next Morning
It dipped down into the mid 40s overnight, but we all stayed pretty comfortable. Thermal undies and down sleeping bags go a long ways in the warmth department.
Now, as I was falling asleep I had big ideas of how the morning would pan out. I would wake up before the family, as I usually do, and get the fire going again. I would make cowboy coffee on the fire. Then, once everyone was awake, we would make a delicious breakfast of hardboiled eggs and bacon outside. None of that happened.
Instead, the toddler woke us all up. It was cold, and everyone wanted to head indoors. So that's what we did. We made pancakes and turkey bacon on the stove. The drip coffee pot made our morning dose of caffeine.
The clouds had rolled back in by morning, and it was a gray day once again. After breakfast, we brought in all our sleeping bags, took the tent down, packed everything back into the totes, and squared it all away in the attic.
We had a nice time. Other than the slight back ache I earned from sleeping on the ground, it was a good experience. Maybe we can get a bit further afield than our backyard on our next camping trip.