Campy McCampertons

We dusted off our tent and sleeping bags and headed for the great outdoors this weekend to do a little camping. Our ward does a camping trip every year. This year we went "upstate" to a church-owned campsite called Camp Liahona (as if I needed to tell you that it was church-owned, right?). We love going "upstate." Partly because we love saying we went "upstate" last weekend, but mostly because we've always been amazed at the beautiful nature you can find within minutes of the concrete jungle that is our home.

It's been awhile since H and I have been camping (really we only go once a year--with the ward). We looked like rookies.

Essentials we forgot:

• Air mattress (to the camping 'purists' out there who prefer to rough it on the ground: can it, we're city dwellers, okay?)
• Pillows
• Dinner
• Lunch

Anybody who knows H knows there is no way in h (sorry, can't help myself) we were gonna leave home without breakfast. As for the other stuff, we instantly became the ward charity case once our fellow campers realized our, ah, lack of "real" food (we managed to bring plenty of snacks, too--never leave home without those) so we didn't go hungry--gotta love our ward. We had the worst night of sleep ever. We were cold, uncomfortable, it was just a mess.

Oddly enough though, we both had a great time enjoying nature, our ward friends, and of course a good campfire and s'mores. We've decided we need to up our camping skillz and explore the old Sierra Nevada's outside our upcoming new home town. That is, according to H, as long as we take a "defense against the bears" class. Anyone know a good instructor???