More Thoughts on Camping

I love walking in the woods. We go camping so I get away from people and take those long walks. For me, they are very healing. I always get a list of hiking trails in the area where we are camping, and then read the descriptions carefully looking for day trips for us. We don't go for long hikes, but we will go for several miles on various trails, and fewer people who are on them, the better. Daughter is not as enthused about my passion for spending time walking through forests. Even the promise of a view at the end does not do much to increase her enthusiasm. She complains about how exhausted she is and how she can't possibly go another step. I have discovered, though, that when I finally believe her and we head back to the trail head and the car, she has a spurt of energy and will find the strength to run with enthusiasm, urging me to hurry up. Once in the car, she never shows signs of fatigue. I would find that her complaining had not only shortened my time in the woods, it hadn't taken the pleasure out of what time I had there. I began to tell her that everytime she complained, I would add another mile onto the hike. This helped some, but I still had the knowledge that my companion was not happy about our current activity and was counting the steps until we could return to the car.

This year I made a deal with Daughter. If she would accompany me on hikes without complaining, we would do the things she wanted to do the following day. She thought this sounded like a good idea. So, we set off on our hikes and she didn't complain. When she stopped complaining, she began to discover that there were good things about hikes. She began to point out small critters in the forest, and stop me so we could listen for a woodpecker. She admitted that she enjoyed the hikes. She became a cheerleader during the particularly strenuous uphill walks, "Come on, Mom, we can do it!"

After our first day of hiking, we spent the next day at an outlet mall with an Old Navy outlet. She was delighted to be wearing a smaller size, and thrilled with the new clothes I purchased for her. I was pleased with the bargains we found, and the L'eggs, Hanes, Bali store gave me the opportunity to buy the underwear we'll need for the coming year. We were both pleased, and she was very willing to undertake a hike the following day. The beautiful picture above is from the hike we took the following day. There was a bench there where we rested, enjoyed the view, and she checked her blood sugar and ate a snack.

By the end of our week, she was talking about how she couldn't wait for next year, and how much fun she'd had. She still had moments of complaining, and was still convinced that the smoke from the campfires was out to get her and the insects were going to kill her, but she was much happier, and our trip was much more relaxing as a result. I guess we both are able to learn-- at least in some areas.