You did what?

I can’t believe I’m typing it, let alone I actually did it! I went c-a-m-p-i-n-g. There I said it, I went camping. Now most of you know I’m not really a camper. In fact I think staying at a Holiday Inn is my idea of camping. (TBH anyone!) But, I did, and . . . I had fun!

On Tuesday morning at about 10:30 a.m. I received an email from Caroline with the subject: Spontaneous Camping Trip Tonight - Tubing and Peanut Butter Cup S'mores. And shockingly enough, I’m not quite sure what got into me, but here was my response: Gasp! That actually sounds like fun. I might seriously consider this…

My office closed at 2 p.m. for the holiday, and I went home and threw some items together for our quick 24 hour Fourth of July camping trip. What does a New Yorker have to bring on a camping trip you ask?

Car – no
Tent – no
Sleeping bag – no
Air Mattress - no
Insect repellent – no
Items for a tinfoil dinner – no
Flashlight – no

So what makes a person who has absolutely no camping gear and absolutely no interest in camping decide to go camping – and all within about three hours? I really have NO idea what got into me! In fact as we were driving up there the situation just got funnier and funnier, and when we passed a resort it was a good thing I wasn’t driving because I probably would have turned in :)

We drove up to the Catskills in upstate New York and stayed at the Sleepy Hollow Campground. We stopped in town and got some food and then headed to the campsite. We forgot matches at the store so Caroline and I went back to get some :) See we really were on top of things! We ate s’more, laughed at the “scary” stories we remembered from when we were little, talked and had a good time. Seth and Caroline braved the beavers and bears (yes, there really were signs warning about bears) and slept outside (no tent, just an air mattress), while Lindsay and I braved sleeping in the car. I was still cold in the car!

Since Kelli still doesn’t believe me, here is proof that I actually went camping:

The little town of Phoenicia

The campground

Seth at the little town store getting supplies.

Caroline, Me and Lindsay

S'mores :)

My bed (and yes, those are couch cushion pillows we used!)

The morning after

The area was really beautiful. Very green and gorgeous. And, yes, this is where they filmed Dirty Dancing, and yes, we did joke about it :)

Thankfully it didn’t rain on us at night, and we all got up and were getting ready to brave the cold weather and go tubing down the Esopus river. As we were pulling out of the campground it started raining. None of us girls wanted to go tubing in a cold river on a cold day in the cold rain, but Seth was determined. So, we gave in put on our overly attractive wet suits and went. It was hilarious!

The ugly sneakers I had to wear

Caroline, Lindsay, Seth, Caroline, Jen, Jill and Me

Jill, Caroline and Lindsay working the wet suits

You didn’t realize how cold you were until you touched the water which was ice cold – ice, ice cold! There were some little rapids which were fun, but it also meant you were going to get wet. This basically meant I was screaming the whole way through them because I was so cold for the few seconds I was in the water. So a little ways into the river, we’d passed through a few rapids areas and there was another little patch coming up and I was facing backwards. (I’m sure you can see where this is going, and let me assure you it’s not good.) The next thing I know I’m screaming because I’m so cold. The next thing I know I realize I’m actually in the water. The next thing I know I see my tube floating downstream – without me in it! I couldn't stop laughing. I was completely numb sitting/standing in the water laughing as my tube floated away. Jill, Caroline and Caroline were in front of me and Seth was directly behind me. So Seth starts screaming at them to stop the tube. I could not stop laughing – here I am camping, and now tubing and now standing in the middle of a freezing river in the rain without my tube. So I make my way over to the side of the river and decided I’d just have to walk until someone (hopefully) caught my tube. Then Lindsay came floating by and then Jen. Jen decided we’ll try to both float down on her tube. After trying to arrange ourselves on the little tube I decide we were in too shallow of an area for the tube to float with both of us on it, so Jen went off and I continued walking on the rocks. My feet were COMPLETELY numb at this point, and I realized the rocks on the side of the river I was walking on are about to stop, and I was going to have to cross the freezing river to get to where there were rocks on the other side. So I crossed the river and now my whole body is completely numb. As I rounded the bend in the river I could see Seth coming towards me with my tube! I couldn’t have been happier. We continued down the rest of the river and had a blast – we were freezing but had a blast. I would love to go back – but on a WARM day :)

After tubing we warmed up in the cars, had some pizza and came back to the city. It was a fabulous 24 hour camping and tubing trip. I can’t believe I didn’t it, but I had fun and have NO bug bites! A fabulous Fourth of July!