09 June 2008

and now we're back (well, one of us)

The camping was good, thank you for all your well wishes on our little mini vacation. Really, though, we were barely gone for twenty-four hours. And I'm beginning to think that we're not so into this whole car camping deal. I didn't grow up camping (except for occasionally pitching a tent in the backyard of my parents' country house, but I'm just not sure if that counts). The first real camping experience that I had was when I lived in Vermont during college. I later learned that the kind of camping that I did then, was really more "backpacking" than "camping." In Minnesota, camping tends to be almost like an alternative to staying in a motel. Your tent is just next to your car. Generally you have a huge tent. And bikes. And lots of food. Way more "stuff" than you would have if you had to carry everything to your campsite for a few miles. To me, it's kinda weird. But we did discover "cart-in camping" (literally, they give you a cart, not unlike a wheelbarrow, and you can wheel your stuff to a more secluded campsite), and we're thinking this might just be the path for us next time.

But alas, it was really nice to get away. We walked, we talked, we cooked, we ate, we slept, we read. The downer came just a few hours into the trip. After we had arrived and set up our tent. I decided we should go for a short hike. It turned out to be quite a steep (and quite wet and slippery) trail down to the Mississippi. Jared slipped and dropped the camera (and by the camera, I really mean his camera, despite my having staked a claim to it). The lens will not move. So, the baby is being shipped off to Canon tomorrow morning, hopefully to be returned in 10-14 business days fully restored. Luckily, I brought the old canon too.

Here are some of the photos from that first hike (more here). The rest are still in my camera, so I'll share those when they're ready. I was a bit disappointed with some of these photographs when I picked them up this afternoon. So I'm working on learning more about my camera and how to use it. Like, um, adjusting the aperture and shutter speed (seriously, guessing isn't really a good method. This is much better).

And now, Jared is off to San Francisco for a couple of weeks. And I've got myself some serious lists. I'm hoping to be pretty productive here on the homefront. So, until the return of the newer canon, things may be a bit slow here. I do have a couple of projects to share with you (and a garden update!), so I'll be back later this week.

4 comments:

  1. Oh yes...there are so many kinds of camping!
    Our whole family did the cabin thing-but then my dad would always hike us in somewhere with tents and backpacks. That was always more fun-except I disliked finding my own toilet in the forest....
    In France, I went camping and it was bizarre...a ton of family in the countryside and someone even set up a disco tent! Weird!
    I'm sorry to hear about your camera-but it sounds like you'll have some other toys to play with.
    Oh man, I don't know how you can handle Jared being gone-I get lonely when James isn't around. Hope you are doing okay.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I know what you mean about camping. Some people really take just about everything. We like to choose those places where you can't drive your car right up because really.. that's not much different than being at home. Plus it's so much less work to take only what you can carry... or cart.

    ReplyDelete
  3. hi julia.

    sorry about the camera. yikes.

    have you seen the book happy campers? it may make you rethink the car camping gig. but yes, there are so many kinds of camping. remote camping is always a real treat.
    xo

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh, don't give up on Minnesota camping. You just have to choose the right sort of site. :) There are hike in, cart in, canoe in options at most state parks (or at least, the few I've been to)! The thing about car camping that I like the most is putting the food into it at night and not having to worry about wildlife. Otherwise, we ignore our car... not that I've been camping all that much, in the three times in the past year I've gone, we've only had the car near us twice. Afton was hike in, which is really close to you, and quite the steep climb too.

    Sorry to hear about the slippery hike. I feel really awful about it since I recommended that trail!

    ReplyDelete