The Princess and the Pea

Camping has always been a big part of my life. When I was young, I remember going to the mountains with all our aunts, uncles and cousins (my dad is one of nine siblings, so there are many) to roll around in the dirt and make some of my greatest childhood memories.

After Photoguy and I married, we went on several camping excursions together from sleeping in the mountains right next to our home to trekking up the Oregon coast, road-tripping in Colorado, discovering the nicest KOA ever in Montana, and spending a freezing night in Yellowstone.

My love affair with camping began to fade around the time we went on our annual trip to the Uintahs while I was 4 1/2 months pregnant with our second child. I was exhausted from watching our one-year-old every minute, yet when we retired to our tent I did not get one wink of sleep. I didn't think it would be a big deal to camp since I wasn't hugely in my third tri-mester, but it turned out to be unbearably uncomfortable. I realized that my body just isn't the same while with child and vowed to never, ever go tent camping while expecting again.

After our second child was born, we seemed to go on less camping trips. A good friend of mine (now the mother of five) told me that she adopted a policy of no camping as long as she had toddlers. Instead, they stay in cabins or hotels and still have awesome vacations. It really is a lot of work to take small children camping. And, a bit dangerous too, what with dirt roads running right next to your campsite that don't seem like roads -- where your child could easily walk out and be hit by a car -- lakes, streams, rivers and other water hazards, and then there's the danger of them wandering off and becoming lost in the woods. I kind of adopted that same policy, except for the occasional camping trip here or there where I was usually fortunate enough to sleep in my in-laws' camp trailer while Photoguy experienced sleeping out under the stars with the kids. That guy is made of steel. I think he can sleep anywhere!

In retrospect, I realize that it's been years since I've actually tried to sleep on the ground. And, even then, I'm pretty sure I had some substantial padding under me. Really, I have no good explanation for my lapse of judgment on our recent camping trip.

I guess we were just too busy trying to pack up and head to the mountains, and since we were taking along a guest (a friend visiting from China), there were six of us and not a lot of extra room in the mini-van (we don't have a car top carrier and camping gear is a real space eater). It wasn't until we retired to our tent sometime after 11 p.m. and I felt pain radiating through my entire back, neck and shoulders, that I suddenly remembered -- after bearing three children my body isn't exactly amenable to sacking out on the cold, hard ground without so much as one thin pad beneath me.

I mean, really, the ground is so uncomfortable!!! Am I the only one who feels this way? Photoguy's sisters and sister-in-law seem perfectly happy with tent camping, even when they are expecting, and even with a passel of small kids running around. So, it must just be the princess in me that craves nice hotel rooms where housekeeping cleans up after you, or, a cabin with a view, or, at the very least a comfortable bed in a camp trailer (and, I wouldn't mind a place to take a hot shower).

Still, I do love the splendor of the great outdoors, and I want my kids to grow up with their own priceless memories of camping. It must be time to invest in a camp trailer, or at the very least, some very comfortable (and, compact) padding along with a larger tent (yes, we're still using the tiny one we got for our wedding, meant for two, even though our family has added three more members).

All I know is that sometime around 2:30 a.m. when I hadn't even closed my eyes once and I finally headed to our van to sleep on the middle bench (soooo much more comfortable even at four feet long), I adopted this new policy -- I will never ever sleep on the ground again (so long as I can help it) expecting or not.