are you in?

GLAMPING

have you heard this term? i'm not going to look

up the dictionary description- i'm just going to try explain it to you myself.

it's simply camping- made a bit more glamorous.

 how fun is that????

why just camp. 

why not kick it up a notch~

camping is so yesterday.

so 1990's.

growing up a vacation for us meant a camping

trip to alexandria mn.

yeah- i know- right?

we loved it though! it involved a big and i do mean big

heavy canvas tent. i wouldn't be surprised if the

thing was some precious antique already when

my grandparents acquired it. i don't think it was new, but it

served us well, time and time again.

(i think an aunt and uncle of mine still have it in fact-

now that's an amazing piece of camping equipment).

the most glamorous thing about our tent was that it

had two drop down flaps on the inside that kind of-

sort of, if you used your

imagination- made it into a 3 room abode.

we slept on either side and there was a

 middle section. the grandparents were always on one side

and us kids, my sister and i and 

whatever lucky cousins got to come along,

 lined up across the way. 

little sardines were we- hardly able to 

hear the roar of snoring coming from the other

side of the tent.

haha.

you cooked outside at the picnic table,

the food was in an old cooler.

you had to stumble through the dark tripping over

tree roots and raccoons should you need 

to tinkle during the night.

(headlamps hadn't been invented yet.)

if it rained you huddled in the tent and tried not to

whine overly much.

if you were unfortunate enough to have swimmers itch like

several of us did one hot summer weekend,

you just laid down on your 1.99 cent air mattress

covered by a hot sleeping bag, tried not to cry and itched.

we didn't even have a fan along that year and it was about 100 degrees.

and yes we thought this was a vacation!

when i was a kid i didn't know anyone lucky enough to own a real

camper. i couldn't even fathom it.

now a days camping can be better. the list of friends 

and family members who have campers is growing.

if you haven't jumped on that bandwagon, let me

show you some campers that have been

"glamped" up.

most if not all of these are older, retro models that

someone has lovingly restored. 

they're so darned cute i think i could live in one!

(if i lived in say florida or somewhere warm).

the owners of this one maybe hunt? check out the antlers and the feathers.

it's all about the granny square afghan huh?

they make use of every available square inch of storage

 space in these beauties. 

 aren't these just so stinkin cute?
do you want one? I think it would be a kick
to have one to just leave in the backyard.
kind of like a playhouse for grownups.

so, with summer wrapping up and several people i know still

using their campers on these remaining nice weekends,

i salute you, i'm happy for you, and maybe someday

my camper will be parked right there next to yours and i'll be
 sitting in my lawn chair, sharing your bonfire.

wring out every last drop of summer with me will you!

xo, beth

 oh!  p.s. i almost forgot to tell you what the saving grace about our

camping trips was. we always went to the same resort.

krautkramer's eden acres.

the krautkramers had a son named john.

he was our age and he was ka-ute.

no matter how hot and humid it was, how buggy or how bad our

lake itch itched, it was all worth it to us farm girls. 

 for just a few magical days each year, we'd

saunter around the grounds in our short shorts,

hoping and praying for any and all glimpses of this magnificent 

creature.

*********************

i don't think he ever knew we existed.

: D


**** just noticed that this is my 500th blog post.
who knew i had so much to say!!!!
(anyone who knows me?  ...haha)


i started this blog almost 3 years ago in October
and over 50 thousand of you have read
my ramblings.
thanks you guys--- even though lots of
you haven't officially become followers,
you are out there and i am here at my studio table
and i love ya for being one of my readers!