The Start of our Camping Adventures
It all began with a dream for our distant future - but let’s go back a bit…
I have always loved the outdoors & camping. My grandfather (‘Pappy’ as we called him) taught me how to fish & he & my grandmother (‘Nana’) took us camping at a local state park near where we lived in Pennsylvania for a week every August when we were kids. (For those who are curious I am from Northeastern PA, NEPA for short, & the state park was Locust Lake State Park.) Although I am SURE it was to give our parents a break from us, I am beyond grateful for all the wonderful memories I have from those times & for the love of the outdoors it created in me.
When I was in my 20’s & 30’s I went on several backpacking trips & just loved being able to get away from it all. I figured I would continue to take backpacking trips but turns out my husband, Kurt, was not keen on that. Although he loves hiking & being outdoors, tent camping is not his idea of a good time.
So, I kept telling Kurt that when we retire, we are going to buy a tow behind trailer/camper & go explore wherever we can. Since it meant having a shower & a bed (& an indoor toilet haha), Kurt was game. That was the dream we had for our distant future.
Then 2020 came around along with the first global pandemic that many of us had ever experienced. With that pandemic came so much uncertainty. All the ‘what if’s’ started in my head: “What if one of us doesn’t make it to retirement?” “What if one of us gets sick & can’t get around?” “What if our responsibilities change & we can’t leave where we are?” What if…what if…what if… Nothing is guaranteed (except death & taxes, of course!) Why should we wait until retirement to get a camper when we can start now while we have good health & mobility?
And that’s what we did. In the end of July 2020, we purchased our very first camper: a used but excellent condition Grand Design Transcend Xplor. Holy cow is this fancy compared to backpacking & tent camping!! I totally feel like I am cheating but if this is what I have to do to get my husband camping, I will suck it up! hahahah
Our maiden voyage was in September 2020 to a local state park, Dead Horse Ranch State Park (I know, it’s a terrible name but it was a lovely place!) & we have been on 9 other camping trips since then!!! While I likely won’t go back through all of those trips, I will probably write additional posts about some of the highlights from those trips. My goal with this section of my blog is to showcase some of the incredible landscape & scenery I photograph along our camping journeys.
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