Gimme A Private Room At Camp Blogaway – PLEASSSEEE!

Gimme A Private Room At Camp Blogaway – PLEASSSEEE!

I received an email a few days ago about a contest to win a private room at Camp Blogaway (which incidentally is coming up very quickly!). Well, I let it sit for a few days trying to decide if I should do a post or not since I have been busy and pressed for time to get anything done (especially housework). If you are not familiar with Camp Blogaway, this is a camp for food bloggers in Southern California in mid-May to get to know each other and learn some really great blogging and photography tips from the professionals (at least I think that is what I will be doing at 7000 feet in the woods!) πŸ˜‰

While trying to decide whether or not I should take time out of my crazy life to write this post, I was flooded with memories (what few I have and those I did not block out permanently) of my camper days! They were truly not the best of times, so I then was asking myself…why am I going camping in May????? Based on those less than pleasant memories, I decided that heck yeah, I better write this post! If I am going to be sleeping in the woods with strangers, I sure as heck want a private room (with a lock!)!

Now, if you know me personally, you know I am not a camping type of gal. My philosophy has always been “Why would you sleep in the woods when there is a perfectly good hotel right down the mountain?” I like a nice warm bed with soft linens, a hot shower and my blow dryer! So, you can imagine how I was feeling when I got my camper packet in the mail and discovered I have to bring my own bedding, towels and soap to Camp Blogaway! Yikes!

Now, that would not have been so bad if I could jump in the car and drive up or down the coast of CA, but I am flying across the country and I have to pay to haul this stuff in an extra suitcase. That’s $25 extra (thank you Delta Airlines!). Okay, I guess I can get over that, but then I started thinking…if I am bringing my linens, just what kind of mattresses are on these beds??? Do we even have mattresses???!!!

I have a number of middle-aged ailments (herniated disk, sciatica, hip replacement – are you feeling sorry for me yet??), so I am now dreading the sleeping arrangements and fearing for mobility issues after 2 evenings on a cot (presumably?). In addition to the imminent stiffness issue, Patti (our fearless camping leader), also said not to worry about bringing make-up or hair dryers. So, now will I not only feel bad, I will look bad too!

With this in mind, I will now BEG for that private room! πŸ™‚

I know that I am a big girl now and can certainly hit a hotel if I totally can’t take the camping. However, eons ago, when I was just a little girl and shipped off to camp for a week, I remember being totally miserable. Since this was in the olden days, there were no cells phones to call home and ask what you possibly could have done to be shipped off like this. You were not able to call and plead with your parents to promptly be picked up and brought home!

My next memory of camping was a class trip in 5th grade to Gettysburg, PA. I don’t think the grub (camper speak for food) was too terrible. I remember we had to hike up a hill to get to the mess hall (that’s where campers eat). So, I guess either the food was okay or we were starved to death and ate it anyway. I also painfully remember the cabins had those gosh forsaken cots and it was chilly and musty. However,that was not the worst of it. It was nasty bathrooms that we had to share with members of the opposite sex (at age 10)!

Since we were in the woods, these bathrooms were not plush to begin with. In addition, since they were co-ed loos, they were less than, would you say, sanitary?! Of course, the big thing for boys of that age to do was to sneak up on the girls while in the bathroom either showering or doing other unmentionable things. Well, let me tell you, that just was not fun and the boys were really creepy, so that would be my memories of that little camper adventure.

My final (and thankfully) last attempt at this, was on the Skyline Drive while I was in college. I went up to a campsite with a friend from school with my little Fiat car (if you remember those, you might just be my age!;) ). The wind was whipping so strong that it blew out all the power in the lodge on the mountain (for 2 days, I might add). So, silly us, decided to just put that pup tent right up anyway and get to camping! Now if you know anything about camping (and we didn’t, I might add), you would know that teeny little tent wasn’t going to work so well with those fierce winds!

After setting up “camp” (yeah, right) and being the novice campers that we were, when we could not get a fire going outside the tent to cook our dinner (due to major winds and fires extinguishing immediately upon being lit), we decided to heat that food right up inside the tent! Now, you might guess what would happen in that case (no…I did not burn the tent down). Instead, we had the local residents coming to visit all night long! Yes, indeedy! We had to put all the canteens and backpacks, etc. all around the inside of the tent that night so we could hear if Smokey the Bear or Rocky Raccoon were stopping by for a snack. And then the tent would suck in and blow out all night long with the high winds. Can you imagine having so much fun??

To top it off, the next day as we were getting in the car to go for a drive around the park, the winds whipped up and blew my passenger side car door completely in the opposite direction of where it should go and put a crease right in the door! Nnuf said. The 2 day camping adventure was over in one day!

So, after reliving these not so pleasant camping memories, I decided that YES I do need, want and have to have a private room if I am going to step foot anywhere near a campsite!

Most importantly, we have been warned to be careful about stashing food in our cabins due to mice and other critters. I am really happy to get to know everyone at Camp Blogaway, but because I do not know any of you yet, I am just not sure if I can trust you other gals to leave your snacks at home or locked up in steel drums and I am not interested in my suitcases ending up like this! Click here!!

So, I beg of you to pretty please, please pick me! Pick me! (I know I used that earlier in my blog, but I just had to do it!) πŸ™‚

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