Camp Eureka (!)

Camping!

I've finally figured out what I've been doing wrong all this time.
The secret to camping is staying in civilization -- not away from it!
What have I been thinking??

It's like now that I've tasted Belgian, I can't go back to Hersheys!



We did Carpinteria last weekend, --where usually you have to fight like immigrant gold miners for land --

But this time we did it different. We took our time, settled for leftovers, and planted ourselves way out of the inner circle . . setting up camp in a remote patch of parking lot grass - facing railroad tracks, an AmPm, and a podiatrist's office.

Sounds sad, right?
But no, it wasn't! Not at all!


Every time my girlfriend and I had seen enough blue darts, or smelled enough teen spirit, --we'd just up and walk across the lawn, right to downtown Carpinteria! Heck she even considered getting a pedi while we were there, --but I stopped her. 'You can't get a pedi, when you're camping, silly!' I reminded her. So we settled for facials and antique shopping.

Once (because of our dirty hair I'm sure), someone pushed a twenty dollar bill into my pocket. But really, what was so bad about that?


And after the boys did the morning camp dishes Saturday, I moseyed over to the vegan bakery and grabbed myself a cookie and juice. The daily paper was in, --so I sat for a spell. It's funny 'cause ( . . and this makes me laugh), ---the kids were like 'how come Mommy gets a vegan cookie, and we don't?! ' and Hubby's like, ' . . and if Mommy had a creme brulee, would you want that, too?! --now go fetch water from the well!' Sheesh. Kids, uh? They're always afraid they might get gyp'ed out of some sort of treat, you know?


At night the Singles Bar near our bumper did get a little routy. But all we had to do was holler--

---Hey! Keep it down over there! --We're trying to camp here!---

--and they'd pipe right down.


Oh, and was our campfire glorious! We used crates from behind the Vons on the other side of Pep Boys. They lit up like dynamite! The heat was great, --but really, we didn't need all the extra light, --what with the store signs, and traffic, and all.



Extra bonus! -- the kids slept outside this weekend! And you know what that meant for Hubby and me! I mean, we found ourselves aaalooonne in the motorhome for like, the first time ever!
--So Yup. . . I was free to decide what bed he would sleep in after I choose the full.



All in all we just had a great time. And I didn't experience any of those pesky problems like I usually do.
Well, that's not completely true. We did have a heck of a time squeezing the 18th century armoire I picked up, --in with the sleeping bags.

But hey, you know? They wouldn't call it 'camping' if it was all just a walk in the park, --right?!