Tag: outdoors

Camp Concussion

Daily writing prompt
Have you ever been camping?
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Back in the early 80’s I was a Boy Scout. You bet your sweet ass I’ve been camping.

I don’t think I was ever very good at it, if that’s even a thing. I always enjoyed the little trips. Tents, cabins, whatever. Tents in the winter time are a pretty sucky experience. Warm cabins? Now we’re talking. Except for that one time.

It was the dead of winter. The weather was super cold but the cabin was warm. The lake was frozen and we were going to try ice fishing. First we tried sledding down the steep, icy hill that had the path from the cabin to the lake. I wasn’t the first to go. The adventurous, athletic types lined up to go first. I was the awkward fat kid and I stayed near the back of the line.

All of the other guys were laying down on the sled and going head first. They were flying down that hill at crazy speeds. I was too chicken for that. I sat upright with my ass toward the back. My first run down the hill was awesome, at first. Then gravity combined with a really low coefficient of friction conspired to do their thing. The weight was at the back of the sled and wouldn’t you know it, the sucker spun around. I was now flying down the hill at a million miles an hour (estimated) backwards. It was exhilarating. Until the tree, at least.

I hit a tree while traveling at about Warp 8.5. Slam. Crash. My head slammed into the tree, very hard. I didn’t pass out, but it knocked me for a loop, I tells ya. Ouch town, population me, Bro. The adults packed me into someone’s car and drove me to a doctor. I had a concussion. I was a tad loopy for a day or two. I slept well, at least.

I don’t remember if that was my last Scout camping trip or not. It might have been. It would probably make a better story if it were. I quit the Boy Scouts when I was in the eighth grade. I gave it another try about a year later, but I didn’t last long enough to go on any camping trips. I am pretty sure that this concussion was my second and last. I was six when I had the first one and that was ice-related too, but I’ll share that story another day.

I guess the follow up question here is would I ever want to go camping again. The answer is never say never, but it’s a safe bet I have packed my last tent. Done and done.

The Last Long Weekend Post

Any time we go away and my D90 comes with us I have to milk as many posts out of it as possible.  This is a good example of that.

Technically, we stayed at a Bed and Breakfast.  In reality, we had a house to ourselves.  There was a legitimate Bed and Breakfast, called Old Field House, but the building we stayed in was a single house about a half mile away from the main building.  Our building was called Holiday Ridge.  It had four bedrooms, a fire place in the center of the living room, a nice deck on the back of the house, a private hot tub (that was a huge selling point for us), a nearly vertical drop behind the house, and the previously mentioned spiral staircase of death and doom.  It also had a full kitchen and dining room.

Here you see the futon we used a couple of times, as well as the top of the spiral staircase of death and doom.
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Here we see the fireplace. Note the comfy chair behind the fireplace. It was in fact very comfy. Too comfy. Once I sank into it I had a legitimately difficult time getting out of it.
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Here are the glass doors to the back deck as seen at night.
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Here are the glass doors to the back deck as seen in the morning light.
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This is the back deck, following Friday night’s rain. This was a really great spot, but it was way too cold to make use of it. Should we ever find ourselves back here in the summer we will definitely make better use of this.
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The room felt a little dated.  Not much though.  The bedrooms down stairs were much more so.  The furnishings could probably go for an update.  We slept in the master bedroom the first night but the bed had a serious sag into the middle.  The rest of the time we slept in one of the other bedrooms and it was 100 times better.  Still, we did not pick this place for the bedroom decor.  We picked it for the hot tub.  Yes, we did.

The tub is outside, below the back deck.  It’s not as private as we hoped it would be.  It was private in that we didn’t have to share it.  It was not private in that there was a house next door that could see it.  My wife has a seriously bad back.  I have a bunch of regular aches and pains in my back and my feet (and my brain, har har).  The air temperature ranged from the high 20’s to the mid 30’s.  Getting from the house to the hot tub took about five steps, but damn those were a cold five steps.  Once we were in the 100 degree water though.  All of our aches and pains washed away.  We both just sat there, melting.  I could have spent the whole weekend in there.  Hell, I could have slept in there.

We didn’t see a single wild animal during our stay.  We were hoping to see a moose, or even a bear.  Assuming, of course, that said moose and bear were close enough for us to see them, but far enough away for them to not be able to see us.  Get it?  At one point I had to go outside after dark to put the cover on the tub.  I had this crazy thought go through my head as I stepped outside that some mountain lion or something was going to try to drag my fat ass off.  I figured if I got jumped by a cat I would try and flip us both into the tub.  Cats hate baths, right?  That would probably be enough to save my life, right?  Right?