It's official. This summer, I'll be attempting my very first camping trip. With a tent. Sleeping on the ground. In a tent. On the ground. In the dirt. Where bugs crawl. If you look at my blog, it's pretty pink and girly. I don't do dirt and bugs. I agreed to said trip in the first place because I'm trying to branch out and try new things. I'm thinking I'm in trouble already. The good news is that the campground has bathrooms with showers, which get good reviews on Trip Advisor for being neat and clean. But still. A tent. On the ground. With dirt. And bugs.
The other day, my brother-in-law e-mailed me a helpful 'camping gear checklist' that's approximately 47 pages long. It's full of things that I do not have, because I do not camp. Not until Memorial Day weekend, that is. The list includes things I would expect to see like a tent, sleeping bags, etc. but there are other weird things that give me pause. Like, what am I going to need an axe for? I don't even know how to use an axe. The one item that really confused me was 'clear nail polish.' Are we going to give each other manicures at the campsite? If so, camping isn't going to be as bad as I thought.
It turns out that the nail polish is for ticks. According to Google, you put nail polish on ticks if they latch on to your skin. First of all, I don't want to think about ANYTHING latching on to my skin. Second, ticks have Lyme Disease, which is not a souvenir I want to bring back from my little camping adventure. Last, I found out when I googled 'tick repellent' that ticks are not really bugs at all, they're arachnids. As in spider-like; eight legs and all (I also looked up tick pictures and counted). Seriously, ew. So now I'm sleeping in a tent, on the ground, with dirt, bugs AND spidery things. Awesome. Why have a I never thought to do this camping thing before? It sounds fabulous.
If a tick jumps on me though, I can guarantee you that the LAST thing I'm going to want to do is give it a manicure.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
15 comments:
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I used to camp a lot with my parents when I was kid. And by camp, I mean in a travel trailer with a bed, shower, toilet, TV, microwave. Yeah. That kind of camping.
ReplyDeleteThe one and only time I slept in a tent was when we went on a group camping trip with friends, and my parents ended up getting a stomach virus. Our friends took me in to their tent so I could get some rest, but guess who else had the stomach virus? Me! And I ended up getting sick all over their tent.
Good times, I tell you. Good times.
Oh, no. If anyone gets sick, I'm out of there. Camping is going to be hard enough with everyone healthy!
DeleteYikes! I am almost certain I'm not designed for camping. The manicure thing I could totally go for, minus the ticks of course :)
ReplyDeleteI don't think I'm designed for it either. My post was tongue in cheek of course, but seriously, I'm not sure I'm going to enjoy it. At all.
DeleteI haven't camped for a few years. I think it's too hard with little ones. The last time we went, I ended up with a 2-year old sleeping on my face. If you want to avoid ticks, you should wear long sleeves, long pants and a hat. That should help a little bit. Plus your honey can "check you for ticks" and that's always fun, right?? ;)
ReplyDeleteHmm, long sleeves, long pants and a hat at the end of May in south Florida. This is going to be awesome. Thanks for stopping by!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with camping. I'm not sure if I could do that for long.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to need all the luck I can get. I may end up at a hotel before it's all over with.
DeleteIf I can survive, you have a good chance of making it as well. My tip is to take one can of camping Fogger for each day you are there. It's a spray can of special bug repellant. You spray it all over your campsite and around your tent. It actually works! Quite well. I was surprised a. EXTREMELY upset when we ran out a before we were done with the trip. I could tell a huge difference. You might grab some other survival tips here lmao http://www.batcrapcrazyblog.com/2011/07/hillbilly-boatin-bonanza-part-1.html
ReplyDeleteI shall look in to the fogger ASAP. I also read your post and I'm quite happy to report that we're camping at a campsite with electricity and water hook ups, and bathrooms. Bathrooms with showers are important.
DeleteThat sounds like my worst nightmare. Maybe you should go "GLAM"ping instead. That sounds more my style.
ReplyDeleteStopping by from SITS
Let's put it this way - there are people going on this camping trip JUST to see me camp, because they never thought it would happen. I'm not optimistic that I'll be doing this type of thing on the regular...no way.
DeleteUgh. The husband is into camping. I did it a few times as a kid…and once after college which resulted in a UTI and kidney infection. Ever since then, I’m not such a fan. But he’s all about the kind of camping that requires hiking one or two miles to the campsite and using a teeny tiny little tent. No thanks.
ReplyDeleteI'm happy to say that I'm staying in a nice normal campsite in a state park, with facilities, electricity and water. That's going to be bad enough. If I actually had to hike to a campsite, I'm not sure what I would do.
DeleteI have a love hate relationship with camping. As for the ticks, well I've had lyme- TWICE - You nail polish that sucker up if he gets his claws into you! LOL
ReplyDelete