Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Crazy for Camping

I've been having trouble sleeping lately in anticipation of an upcoming three day star party. This means camping. Camping! My plan is to do this on my own, refine the process and then drag the family along next time. But we may go all-out and bring everyone this time. Not sure.

The outdoor store up the street was having a sale on tents last weekend, so I let the nice man talk me into a large tent that he claimed he could set up by himself. He is apparently much smarter/more coordinated than I am, as I found it to be a two-person job. (At least in our living room.) Waaaay too big for just me to take to a star party. So then I went to Target and got a cheap, smaller tent. It's significantly less nice, but I can put it up in the spare bedroom with "help" from Elise. Perfect.

Then, I bought a sleeping bag. And a self-inflating pad thingie. And a tarp. In the next little bit I get to acquire a camp stove, some camping pots and dishes. A folding camp table would be nice too. And a telescope that doesn't take up half of the back end of the car so that I can fit more camping gear? Hmmmm...

Anyway, I solicited advice from fellow astro club members as to what they bring. I figure I can be adequately outfitted for this deal for somewhere around $5000.00. Hmmm. Well, it looks like it will probably take another couple hundred and then the whole family can camp any time we want. Wahoo! It's a good thing we have that rooftop carrier for the car, though, because astronomy gear takes up an awful lot of room.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I envy you! Camping with a family is GREAT!