Campin' Stories

I've always loved to go camping, in fact it's one of the reasons we decided to move up into the forest.


Many years ago, we camped at walk-in tent sites at Big Basin State Park. These sites were situated on a hill, and each site was on a teeny-tiny plateau. Oddly enough, there was little shrubbery and no trees in that small area, meaning absolutely no privacy.

Being seasoned campers, we began our dinner shortly before nightfall and watched our nearest camping neighbors scramble to finish getting set up. This mother, father and young son appeared new to camping. The tent finally went up... and then they sat there. And sat, and sat.

My husband (at the time) went over to see if they needed assistance. We were thinking they'd forgotten something, and we were willing to share if needed. The husband was quite embarrassed, and finally admitted the only thing he couldn't figure out was how to strike a wooden match! I'm totally serious!


Once we observed a family camping next to us, also at Big Basin, but in the tent cabin area. Mother and two boys set up camp, and did it quickly. Later in the day, dad drives up with two business associates who appeared to be from Japan.

The guests were attired in brand new camping duds, and pitched an also new tent.

Mom ran the show, cooking and cleaning, and later the entire group went for a jog. Afterwards, at campfire time, the men stayed up late drinking and playing cards.

All were up for an early jog and huge breakfast. I'm sure a promotion came soon after, and I'm also positive the wife was a huge part of this success.


Yet another time, my current husband and I went to those same tent cabins for a weekend without the kids! It had rained recently, so the place was empty. Even the camp host had left the park to go fishing.

It was extremely cold the first evening, so we hit the Southern Comfort early while preparing dinner. We'd brought some nice thick filet mignons and baking potatoes which turned out divine. Bundled up by the remainder of the campfire, we heard a screaming coming from nearby. Thinking it might be a mountain lion, we sat quietly. Some raccoons we'd been watching suddenly went flying up the nearest redwood, and we could hear rustling in the bushes just out of the firelight. Soon the raccoons came back down and we went on to bed.

Early the next morning, we went for a long hike to work off those steaks. We ambled through some campsites on the way back and came upon a small group of people with movie cameras and lighting. The ummmm stars of this movie were wandering about in bathrobes, with apparently nothing on underneath!


Ahhh, the joys of the great outdoors!