camping

this past weekend i went camping. not the full on roughing it camping- but for a first time camper (never slept in a tent) i feel i did ok and i went alone. 

I wanted to experience some peace and quiet some serenity, tranquility, nature. I bought a tent (a cheap one of course im not spending money on something i might never use again.) but it worked brilliantly. 

i got advice from lots of people - the best advice was from the sound guy at work - 

" bring tongs, you got tongs?" 

tongs? like for spaghetti? 

"yeah your gonna need em"

I thought this was a bit weird, I had been thinking i needed skewers. (why that didnt seem weird i cant tell you)

tongs were brilliant! i will never go anywhere without tongs again.

so were the fire starter - "you dont really know how to rough it matches"

BRILLIANT

camping is apparently easy if you go to the right store. 

at the last minute i decided i really hate hot dogs far too much to entertain actually living on them because they're cheap and easy to cook, so i read up on cooking on fire outdoors (via google of course- how else can one learn proper camping techniques?)

FOIL

the other best thing ever is foil. 

i cooked chicken and potato and wrapped that up in foil to be baked over the fire at a later time

with corn on the cob - i remebered at the last minute that would work over fire too - I dont actually cook that much,  in fact i never cooked corn that way but i see it at the street fairs every year all they do is throw those ears on the fire. yay for street fairs.

i then took a metro north train to the cold spring station where i called the taxi service who picked me up - uhm yes taxi-

they took me to the fahenstock state park - the only park accesible without your own damn transportation and i am eternally grateful that i can get farther than central park (though honestly the light woosh of the taconic parkway in the background made me feel right at home only at 3 or 4 am do you not hear any traffic. 

so its not quite the serene getaway but it certainly is a good compromise. a good starter experience and quite enjoyable

I tossed up my tent 

i got firewood

i cooked

i tried to sleep.

 unfortunately i pitched my tent on a slope and slid to the front door all night slowly sliding into a ball worrying id knock the damn thing over on myself then id claw my way back up only to do it again.

 i vowed to move the tent the next night and perhaps invest in a less slippery sleeping bag, but only if i first lived through the 3 am trip the bathrooms.

i chose my campsite based on the relative proximity to the bathrooms - i did not want to leave a tent at 3 am alone in the dark wood to fine a damn tree NO! - beginner!

i also realized that although i was mostly warm the ground was sucking the heat out of me and i perhaps should have got a pad of some sort because now i was freezing slipping down hill and hoping my bladder didnt bust because i really didnt even want to walk over the hill through the woods at 3 am to pee. at some point though the realization is that there is no way in hell you will live until five am when a flicker of light hits the sky, so you better get the damn flashlight with the eerie blue hued bulb that when seen on a moving vehicle just bugs the hell out and blinds you and just be thankful its not on a headlamp like the last time you stood alone in the woods, but i digress.  i lived no bears attacked no creep music i tried to ignore what little horror genre runs through my mind - i dont watch horror flicks but somehow there are still snippets living in the brain cells. 

in the morning i made coffee. 

i moved my tent.

 i went to the beach and bought a chair that had a small thin insulated layer and a removable frame so i could use it as a pad to sleep on that night. 

i went to the lake and i rowed for two hours well i rowed then i read then i rowed then i read. 

i cooked.

 i ate.

 i slept much better.

 had the same three to four am bladder dilemna.

 lived a second time.

 made coffee again - not as good,

 the daddy long legs were gathering for coffee -  apparently they like coffee beer and fire. 

me to!  yet somehow i still think they are creepy.

i discovered my cooler - which is soft had the zipper torn on half with small punctures in several spots, i believe this may have been the work of a local gang of raccoons, i had heard they liked the crackers from site 24. 

i put my food in a tree - i would have put it in my tent but the sign telling you were the bears were said not to. so i tied it on the laundry line. 

hard cooler next time. maybe.

i packed up my tent like a seven yr old, dancing around shooing bugs, swiping with a small towel i flicked them insanely away - id like to say bravely but when it has more legs than a dog it freaks me out. 

i didnt scream not once, i jumped a few times and maybe i yelled at a daddy long legs and told him where to get off, perhaps the other camper didnt hear my territorial discussion with the creature but if they did maybe they thought i had a friend with me. or maybe they thought -that camper on site 5 is totally cracked.

I called my taxi and asked them to get me from the beach at 12 15 - 

at 12 05 it began to rain my taxi arrived just in time.