Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Much Sorry with Delays
Birth, Death and All That Stuff in Between
How to Honor Labor Day, Every Day
My Yom Kippur Miracle (Repost from 2010)
Good intro to fly casting
Peach update, with pie
NYC update
Easy for you to say: To the elites on mass immigration
For NYC on 9/11, Sailors' Snug Harbor
Pickled Peaches
Water Shoes
Labor Costs in U.S.
Your "identity"
Good news about The Great Courses
Uses of Hot Pepper Jelly/Sauce, Chutneys, and Jams
A Saturday Drive to Litchfield County, CT
How to Pick a Kayak
Civilized: Fruit forks and knives
Loads of kayaking on Cape Cod
Psychology Experiments' Questionable Results

Categories


All categories

Quicksearch

Links

Blog Administration

Open login screen

RSS Readers

Add to Google

Subscribe with Bloglines

Tuesday, April 12. 2022

2 QQQs


Camping: where you spend a small fortune to live like a homeless person.


My doctor asked if anyone in my family suffers from mental illness. I said, "No, we all seem to enjoy it."



Posted by Bird Dog in Quotidian Quotable Quote (QQQ) at 14:38 | Comments (9) | Trackbacks (0)

Trackbacks
Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments
Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

Camping is one of my favorite subjects. Costs vary, now that I'm over 62 I can get the golden age card which allows me free entrance to national parks and half price camping. We go to half a dozen national parks twice a year, usually a week each but sometimes reservations are hard to get and we do a shorter stay or stay outside the park. Have been doing this for almost 20 years now. The thing about going to national parks so often is you both get more accustomed to what is available and you get bored with the well known places/hikes and search out something new. In the last 20 years attendance at national parks has doubled or quadrupled. So finding that less traveled trail or spot is necessary and fun. The travel is more expensive than the camping but the travel is a lot of fun too.
#1 JustMe on 2022-04-12 15:01 (Reply)
I am a Eagle Scout and lived in the field.
I love to hike but I will never, ever camp outdoors on purpose.
Camping in any form in my life is awful.
#2 Ken on 2022-04-12 15:09 (Reply)
It's been a long time but I used to walk off into the White Mountains of NH / Maine with a bedroll and some granola/nuts and stay in for 2-3 days at a time, hiking and loving every minute of it, especially when the blueberries were ready. Or in the winter, on snowshoes dragging a toboggan with all my gear. Last summer we hit the Boundary Waters for 5 days, northern Minnesota and it was brilliant: Over a million acres and no machinery allowed. Canoes and lakes, portages and carry everything in and out. Late summer, so no insects. Absolutely brilliant. It doesn't take that much money if you take the sparing approach.
#3 Aggie on 2022-04-12 16:52 (Reply)
Re Camping (and mental illness): My daughter and her family profess to enjoy camping (although now that she and my SIL are on the wrong side of 43, they seem to not do it as much as they used to).

I don't know where they got it from. As as young man, my attitude was take it or leave it. My wife, on the other hand, refuses to spend the night any place "that doesn't have a nicer bathroom than I have at home".

She used to insist on traveling with her own pillow, box fan, and supply of scented candles. I would protest saying, "Memsaab, camel cannot carry so much!" She relented and no longer insists on the candles.
#4 Hairless Joe on 2022-04-12 17:09 (Reply)
One camping trip with my new bride was it. That was 48 years ago. Her idea of camping was the Hilton...and roughing it meant no pool.
#5 rocdoctom on 2022-04-12 17:21 (Reply)
I retired from the Army, and so did my husband; 5xGulf between us. My father in law and uncle both served (Korea and Vietnam respectively). And we're all in 100% agreement: no camping unless somebody is paying us, maybe threatening us with a gun if we don't go.

And also: modern plumbing is a fantastic blessing, which nobody with a lick of sense would voluntarily do without.
#6 Janet on 2022-04-13 07:34 (Reply)
I'm a wimp about climate control and biting insects, and it's no longer easy for me to crawl around on the ground getting in and out of tents, but otherwise I enjoy everything about camping. We always enjoyed building a fire and cooking over it. It's good to be outdoors and away from electronics. Peeing outdoors is no big deal. I sure as heck don't need a fancy bathroom. In fact, hotels lost their appeal for me decades ago.
#7 Texan99 on 2022-04-13 09:38 (Reply)
Though my wife went camping often when she was a child, now she says she will explode before she pees ouside.
#7.1 feeblemind on 2022-04-13 11:54 (Reply)
Haven't done any camping in years- with the exception of the Feb 2021 Texas Freeze when I slept indoors inside a down sleeping bag. Temperature inside in the 40s. Not that different from winter conditions inside the old NE house I grew up in.

'80s.: hitching from DC to Florida. Slept outside in the Atlanta area in freezing weather. Same down sleeping bag as above.

70s. 10 days hiking in the Peruvian Andes. Lovely country. Fortunately, during the dry season.
#8 Gringo on 2022-04-13 19:10 (Reply)

Add Comment
(Your e-mail will not show in your comment)

By commenting on this site you agree to the site rules listed here. Email
addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for email notifications.

Quick reference guide: [i] italics [/i], [b] bold [/b], [u] underline [/u],
[url] (web address) [/url]. More tips here.

Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (*word*), underscore are made via _word_.
E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications.

To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.
CAPTCHA

BBCode format allowed
 
 
A Chris Southern Consulting website.