My family has it down, and so when we go camping for a weekend, or however long we’re gone, we’re all happy campers, even if there is no showers.

This weekend we went up to Jackson Meadows, which is a lake hidden up in the Sierra Mountains, about 37 miles from Truckee. Like many lakes in California, it’s actually a reservoir, meaning it’s a man-made lake in a chain of lakes created by dams. The lake is actually in the Tahoe National Forest, which is probably why my cousins, brother, and uncle like it so much.

In the National Forest, you’re allowed firearms, and allowed to hunt and such, providing you follow the rules. Since half my family are hunters, it works out well for them. It’s also nice to be in an actual forest, since I love trees and all that. Although, there are bears up there, considering the bear-proof food boxes installed in every campsite.

Usually when we go camping, it’s not just our immediate family. My aunt and uncle usually go with us, as do their daughters and their extended family. There is usually at least 15 people, spread out across three sites, with two RV’s and a Camper, because we’re now spoiled.

Camping actually has a schedule, but no one really ever notices. The fishermen go fishing, while I sleep in. When they get back is around the time I get up (small children have been up for an hour or three, and are watching a movie in someone’s RV. I’m really against that, but they aren’t my kids), and we set out making breakfast. If it’s an all-inclusive breakfast for everyone, it might take an hour to make. If it’s individual camps, half an hour. Usually done with breakfast around 11, though. Then the fishermen might go back out, or if the lake is warm enough, water sports are an option. The little ones love tubing, and the older one ski, or are forced to learn.

If you’re not on a boat, your sitting around camp, doing something that entertains you. Either reading a book, or playing a game, or just talking. Lunch follows at about 2pm, and everyone’s down for a nap after that. Well, except me. I’ll keep reading or knitting or doing what ever I was doing before lunch. Dinner is after everyone’s awake, and the fishermen are back from the evening trip, usually around 8pm or so. Then sit around the campfire for a few hours, and off to bed. Rinse, lather, repeat.

It’s always the same, which is probably why I like camping so much. I know I’m going to have the whole afternoon to myself without interruption , and no one is going to wake me up in the morning since I hate fishing. Turning 16 was the best thing that ever happened to camping, since without a fishing license, they couldn’t make me go just to have another pole in the water.

I don’t particularly enjoy the addition of RV’s to the camping experience. We’ve had ours since I was 15 or so, and I almost never sleep in it. I prefer a tent and an air mattress (I’m not sleeping on the hard ground, that’s just silly), and only go in the RV to find food or something. The rest of the time I’m outside.

I do so enjoy camping, and we’re supposed to be going again the first weekend in July. Although, we’re not sure if the sites were really reserved for us, so we might have to find somewhere else to go. No big deal though, there’s plenty of places to camp in California.

So, that was my weekend, in a broad basic overview. How was yours?

—”Different Names For the Same Thing,” Plans: Death Cab for Cutie

My parents and I are going camping this weekend, and my mum and I were up until really late cleaning the RV¹. It was rather gross, since it hadn’t been used in over a year or so. My mum swears we didn’t use it last year, but I have a vague memory of starting a sock over and over and getting frustrated and giving up. Since I finally knit the sock last year, and I didn’t have that yarn for an extraordinarily long time, we must have gone camping last year.

It’s kinda sad now that I can gauge experiences by what I was knitting. It was inevitable, I suppose.

I’m maybe half-way packed. Up until past midnight, and all I had managed to do was my laundry. This morning I packed my clothes, and when I get home, I have to toss together all my entertainment, which means I’ll miss something.

I’ll have a book, two knitting projects, iPod, and my gameboy. I’m sorely tempted to haul my laptop along, because I know I’ll have tons of uninterrupted writing time, but that just sort of defeats the purpose of  roughing it. I guess I should find a notebook, then, too.

Ah, well… time to run. We’re going to leave the office shortly, and it’ll be a mad dash to get up the hill. I had more that I wanted to write about, but I’ve run out of time. I suppose I know what I’ll be writing about on Monday as well.

I hope everyone has some sort of fun this weekend.

1. I’ll be sleeping in a tent, thank you very much. I’d rather sleep on the ground than with my parents