Camping Banshee

What a bunch of campers you guys are! Well, at least most of you, according to the poll. I must confess, I am not a gung-ho camper. I'm not a camper, period. It's not that I don't like the great outdoors. Being out in the mountains, surrounded by real trees and looking up at bright constellations sounds very appealing, especially right now. I even like campfires, and I don't mind eating food that gets cooked over one.

So why do I dislike camping then? Two things: tents and the lack of running water.

The running water thing-- see, I've discovered that most campsites don't have bathrooms. (What a shock!) Even the ones that supposedly have bathrooms really only have smelly pits that happen to have a shack built on top of them to help you pretend you have somewhere convenient to handle the calls of nature. Quite frankly, I'm not fooled. Add to the fact that there is not usually an easy way to manage any kind of shower, and the only way I want to camp is in a RV with a full water tank. But I'm not so squeamish that I can't manage that kind of situation just for the sake of getting to breathe the fresh mountain air. (Especially when it is the middle of summer and the desert heat starts to feel claustrophobic.)

However, tents are a line I cannot cross.

I've tried. Believe me, I've tried the tent thing. But I just can't sleep in them. My claustrophobia kicks in and I wake up screaming and panicky in the night. Not only does this mean that I get no sleep, but everyone in my tent also has their rest broken by the periodic attacks of the screaming banshee. No fun all around. I've completely given up even trying it now. The last time I went camping (more than a decade ago) I slept outside next to the tent and got the joy of waking up all wet. So you see, I really only want to go camping if I have somewhere comfortable and non-claustrophobic to sleep.

But here's the dilemma. My father wants to go camping sometime in the next few weeks, and my kids desperately want to go too. Last time I sent the two older kids without me, but this time there has been some mild cajoling to try and get my whole family to go. Terence would have to work, but all my kids would love to go if only their mother would jump on board.

It's been so hot and miserable for so long, and it's been ages since I've been surrounded by real trees, so I'm tempted. But it looks like my options are 1) attempt to sleep in a tent and probably scare the living daylights out of everybody with my middle of the night panic attacks, 2) brave the sleep-out-in-the-open option, or 3) sleep in the car in a very folded and unrestful position. With any of these options, I'm not likely to get a good night's rest, and the next day it would be a cranky mom trying to keep track of four very busy, curious, active kids in the middle of nowhere.

I don't know-- would it be worth it or not?