What I Learned On My First Camping Trip

It is actually fun

The vacations I've always taken have been much different than camping. I am typically always on the go on vacation. I HAVE to go swimming, we HAVE to get up early and walk on the beach, lets go walk along the pier, we must not spend any time just sitting around the condo, lets go, go, go. Well, camping wasn't like that. Camping was about sleeping in, napping in the tent, reading on the dock, playing cards, etc. It was laid back and relaxing. I told J that we need more of that in our lives. We need to just sit and listen to nature, and be unplugged more often. Hanging out was fun, hiking was fun, swimming was fun, making the site our home was fun, everything we did was way more fun than I was expecting and I liked it.

I am afraid of night time

J was face to face with a bear at this exact spot 10 years ago. 

Upon checking in at the front office we were given a pamphlet about the wildlife that can be found within the park. I learned all about bears, cougars, wolves,coyotes, and rattlesnakes and what we needed to do to protect ourselves from them. Hey here's a good idea, lets go way out in the bush that is infested with scary animals and sleep in a thin nylon room. I did pretty well dealing with the idea of living with blood thirsty animals through the day. I did watch my feet every step I took as we were hiking because I just knew I would have an encounter with a rattlesnake. I was however, very anxious at night time. J told me that it would be very likely that we would have raccoons wandering onto our site at night while we were hanging out. He also made sure that I knew what to do if we saw a bear wandering around. Now J doesn't worry about very much, so when he shows any amount of concern, even if it is as simple as being prepared for a situation, my anxiety level shoots up. If he is worried about something then I need to be a million times more worried. I survived the first night, but didn't sleep well at all. I was scared by every sound I heard, even though most of the noises came from Henry. The second night was much better. But, the third night was windy, very windy. Every sound was a bear about to bite half of my head off, but I survived. We didn't see any wildlife other than squirrels, birds, and two non-rattlesnake snakes.

Camping changes puppies into dogs

Ah, that little face.

Last year we headed up to the same area for a day. Henry was about 4 months old at the time and dealing with him was horrible. He hates swimming, hated it. He acted like we were trying to kill him when we brought him close to the water. It was brutal. Before we went camping he wasn't the best on his leash, He still pulled, and tried to jump on anyone with in a 10 foot radius. Since he is still just a pup, I never dreamed of him being able to function off leash in public without running away, never to be seen again. He had random bursts of trying to eat rocks and he hated being on his tie down because he couldn't do whatever he wanted to do and he was always, always getting tangled up.

And then we went camping. All of a sudden, the guy couldn't get enough of swimming. Even when I could tell he was tried he still needed to be in that water. He was fearless and loving his life. He swam off leash. This crazy puppy was off leash in public and he didn't run away. I didn't think that was possible. He walked like a normal dog, even when surrounded by tons of people and other dogs. People kept stopping us to say hello to him and tell me how well behaved he is. That has never happened before. He didn't try to eat rocks, or anything else for that matter. He walked for a few hours with us on a long, hot hike without whining. He didn't even bark like crazy at the strange sounds he was hearing through the night (other than the first night before we settled into the tent). I was anxious about bringing him along with us. I was thinking that he would be really difficult to deal with and that we would regret bringing him because he would require so much attention and cause so many problems. Boy was I wrong. It was so much fun having him with us and I would be so sad if we didn't get to experience all that we did with him. All of these behaviours have also translated to better behaviour at home. Our walks are so much more enjoyable when I don't dread seeing other people approach us on the trail because Henry would freak out. He is a dog now.

Ontario is stunningly beautiful

Ok, I knew this one already because we have been to this area many times. It is amazing up there and I feel really lucky that we live about 2.5 hours away.

Vacations do wonders for forgetting about infertility

We started a new tradition. About 2 years ago J and I took a picture just like this in this same spot. We decided that when we have a new member of our family, furry or otherwise, we will retake this picture. Hopefully next year we will get to retake this picture again.

We left for our adventure at 4dpo and I didn't temp while we were away. It was glorious. I didn't think about it at all. For the first time in a long time I felt completely normal. I felt like I did a year ago before we started trying. I didn't think about our impending RE appointment, I didn't think about pregnancy symptoms, I wasn't depressed by my inability to achieve the most important goal I have in my life. I was me again and I was happy. And then we got home and life came back.

We have to be better organized

Thank goodness for headlights and free hands. 

Camping is a lot of work. There is so much to bring along to make sure that we are fully comfortable. And trying to make a full meal, outside, using a propane stove and fire in the dark is difficult. We didn't plan our time as well as we could have and all of our stuff needed to be better sorted. We spent a lot of time looking for stuff and a lot of frustrations came from that. As much as I liked camping I would have liked it so much more if it wasn't so difficult to function when trying to do anything.

I am obsessed with covering Henry with blankets

It was cold, really cold. He is cute, really cute.