Keith Browning Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 I was away for the last 4 days - my wife and I took our first vacation since starting a family 8 years ago. Yes it was not a week or two but we finally got out doing things, hopefully this will mark the beginning of regular vacations and some travel. I have been slightly reserved since the girls were born. I know some of you live in more rugged territory or are more "real men" than some guys and may think this is nothing really... I actually was born into a family that started out tent camping and we moved up into travel trailers and bounced around the nation during the summer months for many years. Dad was a high school teacher and was free to spend summers traveling. So we were asked by some good friends to join them at Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park (a franchised camp ground) with locations peppered all over the eastern part of the states. The location we were at was in Woodridge New Yourk in the Catskills. We actually were part of a larger group of families all with children ranging from 1 to teens. It was a really nice trip. This was a good test for my girls who seemed to have a good time and are interested in more trips. We did not reserve in time to get a tent site so we ended up renting a 1 room cabin which was pretty cool. The Jellystone Parks are very accommodating - you can tent, park a RV from pop-ups to 45' coaches, rent a trailer already set up or rent a 1 or 2 room cabin or lodge. If any of you are in my position with small kids or want to try a trip with a group I highly recommend checking out campjellystone.com Oh, and we met Yogi and Boo Boo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 There's one of those Jellystone parks right near me. Always looks like lots of people having a hoot. Feels good to get away for a bit, doesn't it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Browning Posted August 10, 2009 Author Share Posted August 10, 2009 Yes, it felt very good. I think I am suffering from a little hypertension lately and this was good for my nerves though my kids still get me wound up at times. Thank God for my wife. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 Stress.... that's when the mind over-rides the bodies natural tendency to choke the living shit out of someone that desparately needs it... Someone sent me this the other day - It has offered me moments of great comfort. ACHIEVING INNER PEACE AND SERENITY Just in case you are having a rough day, here is a stress management technique recommended in all the latest psychological journals. The funny thing is that it really does work and will make you smile. 1. Picture yourself lying on your belly on a warm rock that hangs out over a crystal clear stream. 2. Picture yourself with both your hands dangling in the cool running water. 3. Birds are sweetly singing in the cool mountain air. 4. No one knows your secret place. 5. You are in total seclusion from that hectic place called the world. 6. The soothing sound of a gentle water fall fills the air with a cascade of serenity. 7. The water is so crystal clear that you can easily make out the face of the person you are holding under water. There!! See? It really does work! You're smiling already!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LARRY BRUDZYNSKI Posted August 10, 2009 Share Posted August 10, 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekanik Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 Maybe I'll do something like that next summer. We have a trip to Disney World planned for November. camping sounds fun. I camped with my mom and sister all the time when I was a kid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 When my son was much younger (read that as "still listened to Dad"), we (my son and I would go wilderness camping... pup tents, lot's of waterproof matches, a bush gun for critter control and fishing rods. However, my blushing bride had me purchase a holiday trailer. Her idea of "roughing it" is waiting for me to set up the portable satellite dish. I enjoy both types of camping as long as we don't run out of beverages. Tyhe doctor told me if I quit drinking, I'd live until a 100 - I told him it would only seem like it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekanik Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 I hear ya Jim. We used to camp in tents when I was a kid. One of my favorite camping trips was in northern California. We were backpacking for 7 days in the middle of nowhere. My wife is a little high maint. The closest thing to "camping" I think I will get her to do is in a cabin. It'll still be fun though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Browning Posted August 11, 2009 Author Share Posted August 11, 2009 I remember my family starting out in tents, as a matter of fact I was a baby on my first trip. I vaguely recall an actual hiking/camping trip somewhere. We had backpacks, tents and ate freeze-dried food and such. We later moved up to a pop-up trailer and eventually a full-sized trailer. To me, whtever level you choose, it is still camping for the most part and you always seem to be in friendly camper company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted August 11, 2009 Share Posted August 11, 2009 "Back in the day...." ... My Dad turned us into avid campers (well, it didn't 'stick' to my sister - she became 'yuppyfied') back in the stone ages... We had an old, green, canvas wall tent - about 6 cubits by 8 cubits (Not quite 3 meters by 4 meters). I would be about 8 or 9 when we first started camping and it was all I could do to roll this folded up monstrosity across the campsite. Dad could lift this thing in and out of the back of the 1952 Dodge by himself... Anyway, we had been campers for many years by the time my mother ended the adventure.. T'would be sometime around 1962 - Dad had graduated to a 1959 Pontiac Laurentian station wagon (now there was a BBBBBIIIGGGG car). Up until this time, it was always my job or my sisters job to deal with the trash. This one day, Mum could find neither of us (and being the kind of person that would sweep the campsite) and decided ahe would deal with the rubbish problem on her own... After all these years, this would be the first (and the last) time she would ever read the sign above the garbage cans... the one telling you to be sure the lids were on securely lest the bears scatter the trash all over... The tent came down... we drove home.... and I spent the rest of my summer biking to Boundary Bay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 1959 Pontiac Laurentian station wagon Should you been old enough to drive, you would have been the guy going "by himself" to the drive in, with 300 people in the back of that beast under that big folded up tent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Warman Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 I think the Nimitz is a scale model of that car..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Posted August 12, 2009 Share Posted August 12, 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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