It’s not always bad news…
Reason #42- Camping and Glamping
My parents never took me camping, not that Los Angeles has ever been a camper’s nirvana. They did, though, support my joining the local Boy Scouts troop, the leaders of which took the members camping a few times a year. We visited the Angeles and San Bernardino National Forests, the Mojave Desert and other areas around Southern California. I vividly remember hiking to one of the peaks in the San Gabriel Mountains and shivering in the cold because I had failed to anticipate and pack for 30-degree temps at nearly 8,000 feet.
Even so, I loved camping and enjoyed it as often as I could over the years. When my oldest daughter was less than a year old, we camped in the Yosemite National Forest, and she was no worse for wear from the experience. I think all of my kids enjoyed the experiences we had after moving to Washington State. Camping and fishing were two of our primary activities every summer.
The kids grew up and I moved to Western New York, and camping was less available, so for years it was a forgotten habit. It wasn’t until my wife and I moved to Las Vegas and realized we both had the itch to travel and see America that my vagabond nature returned. However, this time it would be glamping, not just camping. “Glamping,” or “glamor camping,” is the term some people give to camping in RVs rather than tents. As you get older, tent-camping becomes much less desirable.
Campouts are not just for families any more — we actually camp full-time. One of the popular aspects of camping is the huge variety of types and styles available to the average person. Even tents have improved to the point where they may not even be recognizable as such. Canvas cabins are as spacious as wooden ones. Hard-side pull-trailers and traditional tent trailers have been combined into “hybrid” camping trailers. Fifth wheel trailers can range from small 20-foot rigs to huge 45-foot toy haulers and you can utilize from one to five or more slide-outs for even more space. Several have side and/or rear raised decks.
Then there are the myriad of types of motorhomes, from a regular van conversion, rated a class B, to a larger and more sophisticated class B+, to the traditional class C motorhome on a larger chassis and truck cab with the usual overhang for a bed or storage, to a bus style class A. The lines between the styles and classes are being blurred more each season. Glamping just doesn’t get any better, or more expensive.
No discussion about styles of camping would be complete without defining the types of camping. It is estimated that there are over 15,000 RV resorts, parks and campgrounds in the U.S., and they range from rustic forest or state campgrounds without or with limited hookups, to more traditional parks with or without full hookups, to neighborhoods of park model or manufactured homes that allow RVs, full-service RV resorts with amenities that never end. If you want to rough it, you can boondock or dry camp, which is basically picking a spot in a forest or meadow, on the plains or in the desert, and making camp without any services or amenities except what you brought for yourself. Fortunately, most RVs are completely self-contained, sporting water and waste tanks and a generator or solar system for power, so a week or less is totally possible to enjoy in this manner.
Communing with nature is never better than when you experience it while camping. Usually, the location you choose will provide plenty of fresh air, and often hiking or biking is readily available relatively close by. So, the health benefits are all around you, including a reduction of stress and a happier mood. That feeling of glee you get when you take your first breath of air in a campground isn’t all in your mind — it’s due to a release of serotonin from breathing in the extra oxygen produced by trees and in the forest. When you are out in direct sunlight, you’re receiving an abundance of vitamin D, which allows your body to better absorb calcium and phosphorous. Even mild activity usually equates to a good night’s sleep, and the natural surroundings may allow or even suggest some soothing meditation.
RVers and other campers are ordinarily a social bunch, so it is easy to make new and long-lasting friendships. This is true whether you camp over a weekend, over a season or full-time. Not only did we make lifelong friends while camping in Colorado, but developed a surprising number of friends and acquaintances we met after hitting the road a few short years ago.
There are many ways that camping or glamping can provide happiness in your life. It did that for us in such abundance that it is now our daily way of life.
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I’ll close the subject with a quote from a British politician, Margaret Beckett, who experienced glamping: “Some people think that going on a caravan holiday is a slightly more upscale version of camping. Let me assure you, it is much better than that. You know that you will have your creature comforts wherever you are. I never have to pack light, and I can put the kettle on in any location.“
You can find the complete collection here:
https://www.amazon.com/50-Reasons-Happy-Always-News-ebook/dp/B091B72L5X
Trappings of the Years 