The May Long Weekend is just about here. I'm really looking forward to getting out and doing some camping again. Especially since I picked up a used Coleman tent trailer at the end of last season. I've only used it once but I'm really stoked about getting some more use out of it this summer.
In the past we used to do a big group camp extravaganza out to the mountains every May Long Weekend. We'd book a group site, round up about 20 people and party all weekend. Since we had a group site we weren't bothering anyone and of course it's always fun to camp with a bunch of people you know. The cost was relatively inexpensive too, since the more people that went out, the cheaper it got. It was a lot of fun doing the group thing. We played our own version of "campground bocce ball" which involved plenty of obstacles and lots of alcohol consumption. We'd make huge bonfires, play cards or dice or whatever game someone brought out, enjoy the stars, imbibe more alcohol, tell stories & jokes, get hammered and just generally have a great time.
Unfortunately as time went on, our friends started having families and stopped coming out. So we tried to keep the group camping going by extending the invite to friends of friends. Let me tell ya, that's the last thing you want to do. We had people coming out that we barely knew. We were trying to include them in our fun and we were trying our best to make new friends with them. Yet, I think they were more interested in discount camping than in group camping. We'd have group stuff going on, but these extended invites preferred to keep to themselves. Not interested in playing bocce, hacky sack, cards or games. Not interested in sharing a meal together in the cook house or hiking or fishing. Not interested sitting around the fire at night. We'd even go visit them where they had set up camp and make sure to invite them to whatever we were doing.
Sadly they never did seem to fit in and after their second time out, they felt comfortable enough to complain to organizers about how much it sucked. "Why do we have to double up on the lot?" "How come I can't just come for 1 night and not the whole weekend?" "Why do I still have to pay for the full weekend if I'm only staying one night?" "Why is it so expensive?" "How come there are no hookups?" "How come you guys have to be so loud?" Coincidentally they were also not interested in chopping or gathering wood for the group fires, but would help themselves to the pile so they'd have something for their own private campfire.
Ironically when we decided to call it quits and pull the plug on the group camping, they were the first ones to complain about that too! "How come you aren't organizing the group camping again this year?"
After that things started to improve again. The group thing was done, but the few of us that were left over from the "good old days" decided just to get a couple of sites next to each other at a public campground. No real organizing took place other than to book side by side sites. We still did a lot of the same things but on a much smaller scale (the fires were still big though!!). And so it went for a few years. Just 5 or 6 people out on a long weekend enjoying the perks of camping.
Eventually the folks that went and had families started coming out again. Their kids were old enough to come out too which made it easier for them to pack up the truck or van and join us. The activities became more PG so that we were considerate towards the kids but we still managed to have a blast.
As you get older you also seem to have more earning potential as well. One of our friends invested in a small cottage on a Lake north of Lacombe. He extended the invite for everyone to come out to his place on the long weekends and thus another new chapter of camping was born. Something that also comes along with earning potential is the toys. A few friends bought boats and since the cottage was near a lake, we now had other fun things to do on the long weekends. The massive bonfires were resurrected and the games were also brought out once again. The good times were back on!
Now I finally have a toy to play with too. It's not much but my little tent trailer is definitely going to improve the way I camp. It tows along very nicely behind my truck and holds the bulk of my camping gear. No more will I have to trudge down to my basement and fish out all my stuff. I won't have to creatively pack my truck to fit everything into it, and then unload it all at the camp site. I won't have to set up all that gear only to take it all down again at the end of the weekend and cram it back into my truck - then drive it home and unload it, and treck it back down to my basement. Finally I can just leave it in my trailer and only have to worry about it once I get to the campsite. Soooo much easier. Also I finally get to sleep off the ground! Ahhhhh so much nicer. It doesn't come with a lot of perks but it certainly is a step up from "tenting it". :o)
So now I really am looking forward to May Long weekend. It's another opportunity to hang out with friends, play games and enjoy the lake. Also another chance to use my new (to me) toy. :o) I know fires are banned this weekend in Alberta, but we still know how to have fun even without a huge bonfire. More memories coming right up! :o)
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