I need a lawn

Camping is a very mini/maxi activity for me.  When the sun is shining and I get to spend my day paddling through a picturesque lake, swimming off of a giant rock, poking at a fire, and having wonderful late night conversations in the dark it is a fantastic thing to do.  When the rain is coming down, my hands are locking up because they are so cold, and I am looking forward to a miserable paddle in the drizzle and wind it is a dreary activity indeed.  Fortunately camping in the rain builds character so it is not a total loss.

One thing camping does teach me though is that lawns are really useful critters to have around.  Normally I find them useless and annoying, a source of extra work and worry that is rarely of great utility.  When you get back from a camping trip and try to spread all of the soaking wet, filthy camping gear out to dry though you really get a sense of how useful a lawn and a sunny day can be.  Piling the gear on all of the furniture and hoping it dries just by sitting in my condo is a irritating situation at best - not only do I need a lawn, but a basement to store all the stuff until the sun is out and shining would be nice too.  Maybe I ought to talk to the folks in the condo below mine to see if they would be willing to warehouse my crap?

We also got to try out canoe camping with a child in tow and it went surprisingly well.  Elli needed a ton of attention and supervision throughout the trip but we had ten adults along so that wasn't such an issue.  The only issue with having so many people taking care of her is that all the adults seemed to take it as a point of pride to cram her full of candy at every opportunity - each of them seemed to feel that it was their duty to butter her up with sour keys, roasted marshmallows, or chocolate.  It will be hard for her to adjust to real food again!  I think the whole thing would have worked better with more children around, rather than less, because they could have entertained each other and perhaps avoided being spoiled quite so much.

Also, UtiliKilts are awesome for camping.  Despite all the naysayers and doubt surrounding my choice of attire I stand triumphant.  There were actually people betting that I would lose the kilt at the first portage!  Don't bet against me being stubborn about my nonstandard fashion choices, you won't win.