Apr 27 2007
A Camping First (Pic of the Week)
Shannon and Ben peek out from their test run in the tent. (click for bigness)
We took Ben on his first camping trip last weekend. We found out that Texas Parks and Wildlife officials are serious when they say killing is prohibited inside their parks. I’m just glad that instead of having to leave, we were able to move down a few spots.
(more pics plus sound clips inside — headphones are best)
While Texas has its fair share of scenic landscape in the Big Bend area, for the most part this humongous state of ours is a bit of an eyesore to a man from the Ozark foothills. Last weekend we managed to find two tiny oases within an hour of our front door.
The first was all booked up when I called, and the second was filling up fast. Not knowing exactly how basic we could go with Ben along for the ride, I opted for a camp site with electricity and water. “Roughing it” could be pretty rough if Ben hated it.
If things went south and we just couldn’t keep Ben occupied, we had two choices — huddle around the PocketDish for Cars, or drive home. After all, we were only an hour out. Yeah, that’s camping. Whatever.
I mentally kicked myself when I realized too late that I forgot the PocketDish.
We arrived at Eisenhower State Park at 5 p.m. Friday, about an hour before the office/gift shop closes. I waited in line about 30 minutes while Shannon tried to keep Ben from grabbing everything on the shelves. A 32-year-old timber rattlesnake in a terrarium kept his interest for about five seconds. Like most animals in the zoo, the snake just lay there in a sleepy stupor.
The nice lady behind the counter found my reservation on the computer and set a map in front of me to show me our spot. She handed me two squares of paper bearing handwritten numbers. “Stick this one on the inside of your windshield and then clip this one on the post by the parking pad.”
We had number 12.
I made a mental note of the bathroom and playground locations as Homer carried us down the meandering, unmarked asphalt (refresher: we drive a Honda Odyssey). The camp sites, tucked between the narrow road and dense forest, looked roomy enough.
We needed firewood, but with the sign stating, “Gathering firewood is prohibited,” I had to go back to the office and buy some. This went against my backpacking fiber; I was accustomed to campfires with no wood bigger around than my wrist. Shannon and Ben went for a stroll to meet Nature’s call.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw what looked like a fire ant mound running along one end of the picnic table’s concrete slab foundation. I got out of the van and walked over, then performed my typical stomp test.
Tiny ants burst from every square millimeter of the mound and scrambled around searching for something to sting. I hate these guys.
I walked over to camp site 11, also vacant. Several small mounds dotted the landscape, and my stomp test again confirmed my suspicion. This was not going to do.
Again I waited in line in the office, this time only about 10 minutes.
“We have a large fire ant mound in our site. I checked the next one over, and it has them, too,” I said.
She got my information.
“Well, sir, I’ll call Maintenance, but I don’t know if there’s anything they can do because our policy is not to kill anything.”
“We have a small child and our trip won’t be very relaxing if we can’t let him roam free a little.”
She typed a few things on the computer. “We can move you to site 8.” She prepared another sheet for my windshield. “Just stick this in your windshield and then change the number on the clip sheet.”
I left wondering how long it would take the fire ants to make the entire grounds uninhabitable. No killing at all, huh? Have they ever read even the simplest Internet article on these guys? Or even something that goes deeper?
I paid the man at the gate $2 for 4 sticks of wood suitable for a home fireplace. He said I could grab a few smaller sticks because he couldn’t sell them. As fresh as it was, once I finally got it burning it would last all night.
While I set up the tent, Shannon busily arranged the picnic supplies and Ben rolled toy cars and trucks around in a shallow washed out mud gulley. He tipped over a few rocks to find a surprise underneath.
“Dad, rolly pollies!” he shouted.
“That’s right. Watch what they do when you touch them.”
He held one aloft between his thumb and index finger. “They make a ball.”
“Yep. Take it easy with them.”
Here I demonstrate Ben’s latest bubble-blowing contraption. Look just above my left shoulder.
It took a while to start the fire, but shortly after we had hot dogs roasting over open flame. Ben only let his touch the cinders a few times.
I let Ben poke a stick into the fire and bring it out smoldering, until he waved it toward my face a couple times. Accidental dirty sock in the eye? No problem. Blazing hot oak stick? Bad idea.
The food was great. Ben had never eaten a S’more, but as soon as he saw the fixin’s he wanted one. Shannon laid out the graham crackers and Hershey bar segments, awaiting hot marshmallows.
Here’s evidence of the boy’s desire:
And here’s Shannon trying to figure out… what exactly? (this is louder than previous clip)
My work phone rang.
It was Charles asking my opinion on camcorders. He stood in an electronics store somewhat torn between miniDV, DVD, and HD. I told him I’d be glad to take a look at it later. I didn’t mention this at the time, but bro, give me a little lead time for future purchases, and I might be able to help.
Ben lost interest after the first S’more. I guess he didn’t want some more. Can that word be used in the singular?
Shannon spent about 10 minutes trying to get Ben to lie still as she lay beside him. Finally she gave up to join me by the fire, and within another 10 he was sound asleep.
While capturing some cricket and campground sounds, I got this great example of binaural mics’ capabilities. (you will notice this one even without headphones, but for total immersion, there’s no other way)
I geeked out and recorded myself filling a water bottle (to put out the last vestiges of our fire). Some folks talking on the left and somebody breaking sticks on the right. Cricket front and center.
When we turned in, it became obvious we would have to coax our dormant sardine genes into action. My tent, though it claims to sleep 2-3, barely sleeps two six-foot men comfortably. Shannon is not a short woman.
We started with Ben between us, but at about 3:30 a.m. I awoke for the fifth time knowing something had to change. I was getting the narrow side of the deal. Using his sleeping pad as a sled, I slid the boy down to a space between our feet and for the next three hours I didn’t know anything.
Our next day, with hiking and an amazing field of flowers, will have to wait.
About going left, check out my archives for March and go to the Pretty in Pink post. It is one of my favorites. There is something about going out of the frame that I REALLY like. :)
I am glad that you fun camping! My husband takes our boys here while Sadie and I have girls day out! :)
Oh, and those smores….YUM…no graham crackers, marshmallows or Hersheys chocolate here…we have to import it all in our friends bags when they come over the ocean!
Sounds like all had a great time…
See you after vacation bud!
That tent does look like a tight fit for the three of you. Still makes me want to get out camping soon though. It’s been far too long. There are few things I enjoy more than staring idly into the coals of a fire and poking it occasionally with a stick.
We’re pretty well set up for camping since I cashed in a whack of AirMiles a few years ago and got a bunch of camping gear for it, including a 6-man tent. It will only sleep 4 comfortably, with bags inside too.
I don’t have any headphones here at work to take a listen binaurally, but I still liked the sound bites. Not as much as I would have liked the s’mores…
We are big time tent campers. We have two tents, the largest sleeps eight comfortably. Most of the local parks don’t have primative sites so we end up paying for one with electric and water. (I think the loving wife likes it that way.)
In the last year because of possible emerald ash borer problems, we have to purchase our firewood from the camp store when we go to Big Bone Lick.
Listening to Shannon trying to open the package was hilarious. No Swiss Army knife?
Big Bone Lick - now that’s hilarious!
But no, no SAK - he has had to throw 2 away now b/c he forgot to leave them at home when he went to catch a flight (and security got him at the airport). Glad you enjoyed the clip! ;-)
So I wonder what would happen if they caught you swatting and killing a mosquito.
Oops. I didn’t take part in this comment thread yet.
Anna - I took a look at your archives. Cool pic.
Dave - Happy cruise, Cozumel, and Puerto Rico to you!
Simon - Apparently Ben has that fire poking gene, too. I don’t know where he got the idea to pick up a stick and poke it in the fire, but he did it within seconds of when I got the first flames started.
The s’mores weren’t as good as I remembered them, but maybe that’s because we used generic graham crackers and generic marshmallows. Hmm… maybe not, but they didn’t taste all that great to me.
Blitz - Camping was a huge part of Shannon’s childhood, and I remember several tent camping trips with my family. I just hope we can carry on the tradition with Ben like you have with your family.
One of our neighbors, upon hearing that we were going camping, said, “You mean, like, in a tent, out in the woods? Interesting. You don’t hear of people doing that much any more.”
I wonder if she knows that we were lucky to get a spot Friday night and that Saturday was booked solid everywhere within an hour of the metro area.
Maybe she meant backpacking, which is a whole different game. I love it, but that wasn’t what we did this time. Although, except for the cooler, we could have done everything we did at the fancy camp site. Tends to limit the food choices.
Shan - You should read Blitz’s post about his area, if you think Big Bone Lick is a funny name by itself (hint: he lives in Sugartit).
I referred to you in my post… :) Very appropriate considering your last comment to me about framing!
Tent camping. Not my favorite. I’m all for the hiking, exploring, and being outdoors with a campfire. I just like to sleep in a BED when it’s bedtime. Tent camping is much better now with the battery powered blow-up mattress, but I’m still fond of a bed.
Markus, I had just figured you were probably hanging out at the pad on a Friday night like we do 99% of the time. I was glad to hear you were camping, and I’m glad you had fun…sans sleep of course.
We ended up going with the Hard Drive camera from Sony. Non HD. It is what everyone recommended, and so far it seems to do pretty well. It’s so small that it’s crazy!
Let’s face it…camping is more fun at Dad’s place with a bed and two feeders to watch wildlife! And a shower…and a grill…and air conditioning. OK…so it’s more of a cabin. But hey…it’s COMFORTABLE.
Amanda was jealous of the camping trip, and I figure my number is coming up on a trip to the woods.
Anna - I noticed that reference, and of course I’m still enjoying your photos.
Charles - We were on regular sleeping bag pads, but I saw some campers using the inflatable mattresses. One of the tents was wall-to-wall mattress!
Don’t worry about the call, bro. I didn’t have to answer.
Aha! You didn’t mention the hard-drive based option as a possibility. If it saves each video as a file you can just download to the computer, then I think you’ll be very happy with that. I end up using videos shot with Shannon’s Kodak digital camera sometimes because it’s so convenient when I don’t have to transfer it to computer in real-time (as I have to with my miniDV). Of course, her videos aren’t near the resolution or quality of what you’ll get, but I can tell you you’ll be more likely to do something with them (edit, share, etc.) when it’s that easy.
Yeah, “camping” at Dad’s is fun, but there’s nothing like being out in the woods with nothing between me and that whippoorwill except a thin sheet of nylon. Unless that sorry sucker’s keeping me awake!
For me, to wake to a wood thrush’s song is incomparable.
Dude…granted Ben was really young….but he’s been camping before :-) This looks like BIG fun!! Great pictures.
Easy E - You’re so right! I guess I should have qualified that with “tent camping.” We had a great time on that trip, too!
Hey, now maybe I’ll post a “You know, actually…” entry, and use some pics from that trip. Fun!
Too cool :-) There were some great pics from that trip…I just recently scrapbooked ‘em!
Sounds like you guys had fun camping! I love “roughing it” at Petit Jean State Park. Beautiful cabins and gorgeous views. Plus all the handgliding you can handle!