10 Things I (Re) Learned About Camping

I consider myself a veteran camper. I camped as a child and my husband and I have been at it through the entire ten years we’ve been together. And yet, the first camping trip of each season inevitably reminds me of some things:

1. When your mother-in-law tells you that it’s going to be below 40 overnight, pack accordingly. Teenage-esque rebellion should be reserved for your own mother.

2. When you check the weather forecast, pay attention to the overnight temperatures. Then, when you learn it will be below 40, don’t pack short pajamas. You will freeze.

3. Obnoxious neighbors from other campsites are even more annoying than obnoxious neighbors at home.

4. Drinking 16 ounces of tea, followed by wine…not a good idea if you are afraid of the dark and don’t like to whiz in the woods.

5. A full bladder, cold and loud music make the night seem very long.

6. Forgetting things like food, lanterns and tent poles make for very amusing anecdotes, but aren’t all that funny in the moment.

7. Raccoons are not remotely afraid of people.

8. It’s harder to find the clean socks you’re looking for in your pack when you have to pee really badly.

9. A whole day of outdoors and fresh air is better than Benadryl for getting kids to sleep.

10. Open spaces make it much easier to get along with people.

On Going Green...ish

Our family has tried for a long time to be friendly to the environment, but I've been making more of an effort the past couple of weeks to do more. I'm quite proud of myself today.

We've had reusable shopping bags for ages. Unfortunately, they tend to sit in the closet because we always forget to use them. I always kept 2 in my car for those last minute jaunts to the supermarket, and sometimes I even remember to bring the into the store, but last week, I put a couple more in the car for the big shopping trips. So today when I went shopping, I was half done filling my cart when I realized that I had, once again, forgotten the bags in the car. Usually I would just leave them there and promise to do better the following week. But today I was determined! I finished my shopping, explained to the person at customer service that I had forgotten my bags in the car, and then left my full cart so I could go get the bags. I am very pleased to say that I got out of the store with only 1 plastic bag (for the meat). Yay!

I also got some environmentally friendly dryer sheets and dishwashing liquid to add to the Method products I bought two weeks ago. Method has a great tub & tile cleaner, by the way - just as good as Soft Scrub, which I also like a lot.

On the downside of my 'going green' dream, I also tried a Tom's deodorant. My armpits look like they somehow got sunburned. Aluminum-laden anti-perspirants have never given me a reaction, but the all-natural, healthy one did. If I had a dollar for every irony of my life, I wouldn't need to find a job.