Camping isn't so bad...

...it just sucks.

With about 2 weeks remaining in the road-trip portion of Rob (my fiance) and I's adventure, this is the conclusion I've come to.  No, camping is not the worst thing in the world, but it's certainly not my cup of tea for longer than a 1-night stay.  We just finished up 3 straight nights of tenting it, and my word, how wonderful it does feel to be in a hotel again.  My showering process alone took more than an hour just to get the ick of the 3 days off!  The first night of this stretch we were in the Grand Canyon in Arizona, near the South Rim.  The weather was quite pleasant, as was our campground.  We watched a movie courtesy of our iPad, and we both had a relatively "comfortable" night's sleep.  The weather was just lovely in the morning, and I'm going to rank it as one of the best nights of camping I've experienced on this trip.

It's the weather that's the thing, though, and I'll probably reevaluate the whole notion of camping in the future if we ever buy an RV or get a tent big enough to fit an air-bed in.  But last night, for instance, in Zion National Park in Utah, the temperature was great, quite comfy, but the wind was howling mad at something all night long.  Even with our combined weights inside, the tent was still rocking up and down from side to side all night with the gusts.  Sleep on the floor with gusting wind = not good.  And then there was a similar episode last week in Death Valley National Park in California, when it cooled down to a nice 80 F after a high of nearly 115 F.  Complain, complain, Rob says.  I know, I know, but ick!  Really, that's my conclusion after so many dozens of nights being close to nature in a tent.  I enjoy the nature sights during the day, but then at night, when I so badly want a body pillow and a comforter and a box spring — and a bathroom with soap! — the floor of a two-person tent just sucks.

I know how to set the whole thing up, though, all by myself, were I to ever need this skill.  I've also mastered the manual can opener.  Two positives in a little puddle of morning back pains.  It's been an adventure thus far, that's for sure!

— Catherine :)

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