Camping has become a new passion for me.  It feels romantic to cook on an open file and sleep in a tent on the ground.  I have gotten pretty good at the fire thing.  I can have a cooking ready fire in play in about five minutes.  Yes, I am much faster than charcoal.  So much so in fact, that I have been playing with the idea of bagging my charcoal grill and getting an adjustable fire pit like the ones I saw at Bowman.   Of course they are probably custom made.  Get one made maybe?

Sometimes though camping is far less than the romantic notion of nothing but stars the smell of a campfire.  One such experience happened a couple of weeks ago.

I went camping at Cayuga Lake State Park.  Finding a good camp site was tough as I like to have privacy only made possible by trees and underbrush.  There is something about camping in a park on a mowed lawn that doesn’t do anything for me. If I wanted that I could stay home.

Finally a site was settled on that had reasonable privacy but that was as good as it got.  There was no gravel or grass on the ground but instead the grass had been worn away by frequent use leaving a tacky wet almost muddy surface.  The mosquitoes were aggressive when by the fire and when not.  Cooking was a slap fest so I opted to eat at an open site across the road, a little farther removed from the swampy area near the site.  Even there the mosquitoes were friendly.

Do you have the idea how much I like mosquitoes?  Not so much.

The final straw was trying to sleep in my small tent.  The air was warm and muggy and there was no air movement to speak of.  After 30 minutes of sitting on my camping pad sweating my buns off, it was decided that a bed in an air conditioned room was much better.  You have never seen a camp site break down as fast as it did that night.  In ten minutes the tent was down, the air mattress deflated and rolled up and the car was packed.  Within forty-five minutes total I was enjoying the comforts of home once again. Good thing it was not two hours away. 

Don’t get me wrong, it was not all bad.  The beach front at the park was very nice and spending the afternoon there was pleasant. 

I mean I have camped at four places this year so to have only one bust is not bad at all.  I have learned however that checking the weather is crucial (night time temps?) and that having a plan B is never a bad idea. 

Let the mosquitoes have someone else for dinner next time.