Camping with Heather

Heather and I are off on a Father-Daughter camping/whitewater rafting trip in the Poconos this weekend. This is an event coordinated by the Girl Scouts.

Here is Heather setup in the back of my SUV. This is our sleeping backup plan in case the tent doesn't work out. We stopped for emergency supplies in Flemington as soon as we got on the road - Heather picked everything out - I don't know how we would have survived without mini chocolate donuts, Pringles, Cheetos, or Mountain Dew.

As I think about our adventure I am aware that the notion of camping is far more attractive than the actuality of camping. The notion: being in the outdoors, communing with nature, campfires, fresh air, being more self-reliant, etc. The actuality: sitting in the mud, going to the bathroom in a smelly pit, bugs, uncomfortable sleeping arrangements, unpleasant odors, bad night sleep, etc. We are going to try it in any case.

We arrived around 7PM just before it got dark. This place is in the middle of nowhere. Heather immediately suggested that we leave - but for now, we are going to stick it out.

After some exploring of the campsite area assigned to us, I think we found our tent that Vicki arranged. Heather started making declarative statements, "No freaking way I am sleeping in that tent!" I am not sure if Vicki ordered the extra acute musty smell, but if so, we got our money's worth. We are going to invoke Plan B (sleep in the car - which is parked next to tent).

We found the canteen and ordered some food for dinner and are watching a Disney movie in the dining hall. I expect that we will be in bed in an hour or so. There is wifi here in the dining hall, but I doubt that it reaches to our campsite - so no late night Netflix streaming.

Tomorrow we are going whitewater rafting. We are in the White Group and go off at 9:30am. There was some talk about not being able to go because of the floods and rain in the area, but the Lehigh River did not look that bad. The Delaware and Susquehanna are flooded. If we get cancelled, we will probably drive down to Amish Country.

More to follow I am sure .....