spin off from camping thread: Stress relief?

Jewlieee

(besides doing the dirty that is)

I guess, other than that I'd have to say Running

Bonita of Bwana

2. Camping.  There is nothing better than waking up in a tent - nothing.

Okay I would say this is an age thing BUUUUUUUUUT nope I have never been a roughing it kinda girl..   I have camped in tents, tent trailers, trailers, KOA cabins,  Heck the car a couple of times... I can make anything fun but if I have my druthers I want my RV.  Period. I prefet it to most hotels. and I have stayed in some top notch hotels.  But if we are on main land I just prefer my rig.

We have a twin satellite system allowing me and the Hubs to record and watch ANY thing that is brain comfort food.  The Convection oven microwave helps me cook as simple or gourmet as I want. The fridge is huge, I have an office on board so I can use me lap top and printer if I want to I can knock out photos etc as I want to.  The bed is King Sized with a 4 inch thick memory foam cushion that make seven the bumpiest road easy to ride on. I carry my own fire pit so I can have a campfire at any dog show or event that it is safe allowing us to entertain and relax with friends keeping the dogs very close. The BBQ is easy to use, I can have friends or famliy stay with us, At the Rodeo we had a dear friend with us and a total of 8 dogs on board. I have a gen set so electrical hook up is an option, and the shower has a custom sprayer on it that conserves water by infusing oxegen in to it making even a fast shower  lovely !!

I can get up close and personal with nature but seriously a vacation sleeping on rocks and twigs??   Don't think so. 

Spoiled rotten and I know it !!

Bonita of Bwana

LMAO!

 
Having been on both sides, I feel the need to comment on this topic.  I was always a tent and pack in kinda gal.  DH and I have spent the majority of our vacations over the past 13 years camping together and it is our favorite thing to do. I ALWAYS thought people with RV’s and trailers were missing out on the “true” experience of sleeping under the stars, cooking and living with minimal means.

NOW…. after having an RV for 2 years (our current pups have too many issues to be tent campers, so we bought my dh’s aunt’s RV off them so we could continue “camping”), that BOTH types of recreation have their merit. Neither is better than the other.. they are just very different.    I admit to loving my toilet and shower though….lol.

So what is my favorite “clean”, stress relieving activity??? 

1) Weekends in the RV in the mountains of course!

This past January we decided to stop paying rent to “store” our RV and paying so much for gas, and instead we keep it at a campground in the mountains only a little over an hour from our home.  We rent a site and can stay there up to 14 nights a month.  Our site is ours to do what we want with.. so we put up a wooden fence to keep the dogs from running off, some fun decorations to make it feel like home and a ton of bird feeders for nature watching and it is now our “weekend retreat”.  We go up almost every weekend and right now in the summer we sleep under the stars in the hammocks at night and in the winter we bundle up indoors when it snows.  There are a ton of hiking trails and on any given day we may have wild turkeys and deer walk right up to our site. There are probably 50 hiking trails within a 15 minute drive of us and some even in our own campground.   Each season is unique and has its benefits and right now.   Having the RV and living in California allows us to camp all year round. 

2) Watching foreign and/ or independent films.  DH and I are foreign film nuts and actually our current favorite way to watch them is up at the RV, in our reclining lounger chairs in front of the campfire, under the stars, and on our portable DVD player. What a way to spend the evenings in summer!

jjsmom06

 

2) Watching foreign and/ or independent films.  DH and I are foreign film nuts and actually our current favorite way to watch them is up at the RV, in our reclining lounger chairs in front of the campfire, under the stars, and on our portable DVD player. What a way to spend the evenings in summer!

Absolutely !!  While we aren't such big Foreign film buffs we enjoy TV , old Turner Classics and a variety of the new series .   Since the rig has 3 slides it opens up to a really nice living space.  We each grab a sofa and kick back with the curtains pulled open so we can watch the stars while we veg out from all the stress in our lives . The dogs are scattered about and we can breathe.

When it gets a bit later we move to the back bed and watch on another large HD flat screen.  I have to have a dozen pillows ( no exaggeration) piled up to get comfy,  then my lap top is close at hand if there is any signal at all I can log on and play catch up via the air card.

When camping with friends we ,make it a point to turn on the satellite radio to music we enjoy, 50's forward to the 80's  generally. Hubs is older and prefers 50s-60's  I am happy with the music of my early teens and the high school era 60's to 70's and the 80's were some of the most exciting times of my life..   Candles lit and set around , comfy chairs and a chance to swap stories with everyone we know .  The fire pit will be burning and My Jasmine would always be in her special chair next to me dozing under a blankey.  Chuck our attack flamingo is dressed in an outfit to suit the event and stands guard by our door.  He can be anything from a Thanksgiving turkey to the Easter Bunny has about 14 outfits to date! I am working on a lion on for him to wear at the Nationals.  Cracks me up to hear someone say  "go down that row till you see the flamingo then turn...."

As the Dog shows begin to close in on the holiday season all of our friends and oursleves try to make a game out of entertaining.  Really unique and great Hors Deurves and some decorations.  Even the X pen is decorated !  We carry a forever tree that is decorated as well.

If I can not allow myself some Retail Therapy , which  everyone who knows me knows I adore... then  camping Bwana style is most excellent!

Bonita of Bwana

fuzzy_dogs_mom

Me neither. For me, a hotel with no room service is about as "rough" as I want to get.

LOL that is so my DH

kpwlee

LOL that is so my DH

That's it!  You and Bugsy need to get yourselves up here so that we can take you camping with us!  I grew up tent camping doing everything from canoe trips with portages to drive in sites but I've never slept in a pop up or an RV.  I guess I don't know what I'm missing 

There were days, long ago, that I would throw a tent and a sleeping bag into the trunk and go camping in the Whiteshell, alone.  Yup, the stupid days...

VanMorrison

There were days, long ago, that I would throw a tent and a sleeping bag into the trunk and go camping in the Whiteshell, alone.  Yup, the stupid days...

VanMorrison

That's it!  You and Bugsy need to get yourselves up here so that we can take you camping with us!

miranadobe

I clean the holy heck out of my house when I am stressed.  Tonight I am cleaning.

Holy heck, I am a nervous cleaner. Well, generally I'm just...a cleaner. My family refers to me as 'the White Tornado'. I just really enjoy having a clean, neat house!

Bonita of Bwana

Absolutely !!  While we aren't such big Foreign film buffs we enjoy TV , old Turner Classics and a variety of the new series .   Since the rig has 3 slides it opens up to a really nice living space.  We each grab a sofa and kick back with the curtains pulled open so we can watch the stars while we veg out from all the stress in our lives . The dogs are scattered about and we can breathe.

When it gets a bit later we move to the back bed and watch on another large HD flat screen.  I have to have a dozen pillows ( no exaggeration) piled up to get comfy,  then my lap top is close at hand if there is any signal at all I can log on and play catch up via the air card.

When camping with friends we ,make it a point to turn on the satellite radio to music we enjoy, 50's forward to the 80's  generally. Hubs is older and prefers 50s-60's  I am happy with the music of my early teens and the high school era 60's to 70's and the 80's were some of the most exciting times of my life..   Candles lit and set around , comfy chairs and a chance to swap stories with everyone we know .  The fire pit will be burning and My Jasmine would always be in her special chair next to me dozing under a blankey.  Chuck our attack flamingo is dressed in an outfit to suit the event and stands guard by our door.  He can be anything from a Thanksgiving turkey to the Easter Bunny has about 14 outfits to date! I am working on a lion on for him to wear at the Nationals.  Cracks me up to hear someone say  "go down that row till you see the flamingo then turn...."

 

That is hilarious!  You guys really go all out. We are still transitioning from the tent camping to the idea of the RV. I really like both, but with dogs it is sooooo much easier with the RV so I am willing to give up a lot of what I love about tent camping so that we can go more often. Having our rig permanently parked in a decorated space just an hour away is really nice and allows us to get away every weekend. So it is worth losing the tent just to have the ease of a weekend retreat with little prep.    We haven’t made our way to satellite yet…. We don’t watch much TV so it is hard to justify the price.  Camping with friends is a load of fun.. but we have few friends in our age range who camp, and even less who do it in RV’s. For thanksgiving we get together with friends and take the rigs to the desert, though I MUCH prefer mountain camping.   During the holidays, no one else seems to like to camp.. though DH and I secretly hope we get snowed in so we can have a good  excuse to call in sick to work on Mondays.