Just a thought… The hardest thing to do is leaving your comfort zone. But you have to let go of the life you’re familiar with and take the risk to live the life you dream about. [T. Arigo]
I’ve always thought of this long August weekend as sort of a re-set, on par with Labour Day and the “back to” everything that we feel. It’s like a gut check: what have you not done this summer that you hoped to do? As we know, life is short and it has far too few sweet summer days. So I’m diving in – and I promise you will be hearing details about it!
As you read this, I’m in an area with no power to fire up a laptop, little/no cell service and, yes, no indoor plumbing. A bidet is out…unless I’m surprised by a rogue sprinkler system. But I DID bring my own toilet paper.
Don’t send a SWAT team, I haven’t been kidnapped. I’m doing something I haven’t done since I was in my 20s when my boyfriend and I would go to Tobermory in Ontario, or even down to the Keys in Florida: I am camping!
Okay, you might call it glamping, but I will beg to differ. Here’s how this came to be.
A month or so ago, I decided to fly in and surprise my sister on a special occasion last Thursday. Somewhere between booking my flight and arriving at Kelowna International Airport, I thought Les and I should just have a girls’ getaway.
I looked at hotels (what few rooms were available) and hated the price tag for three nights. Leslie’s been camping of late with her husband and grandson and really enjoying it, so I asked her what she thought of the two of us “roughing it” for a few nights.
Once she cleaned up the coffee she’d spit out and caught her breath, she sent me an app that lists campgrounds, cabins and so on that we could choose from. Pickings were slim at our late date, but I found a yurt in Sicamous, about a two-hour drive from her place, that looked bearable nice. Here’s what our accommodations look like from the website. And the nightly rate is about half what a hotel room would be. I guess the discount comes with not having electricity or plumbing!
The money that might have been saved on accommodations was spent renting a car big enough for a campstove, cooler and all of the things needed for the three nights. As you read this, we’ll be packing up and heading back to WiFi, warm showers and all of the comforts to which we’re so accustomed.
I look forward to making a mental list of the things we take for granted every day. But more than that, I’m really hoping that by today, Leslie and I will have made some good memories, had fun on paddle boards, not been eaten alive, and enjoyed some meaningful time together.
That, or we may never speak to each other again.
How I, the woman who travels with my enVy pillow, a weighted blanket, air fryer, Nespresso, Sodastream and pillow speaker, will have managed in the wilderness for three nights is going to be a story in itself and I promise that even if I don’t, you will have lots of fun reading (and listening this Thursday to Gracefully and Frankly).
I feel a little like Lisa Douglas on the old Green Acres TV show, but with ball caps instead of ball gowns, ear plugs rather than earrings, and eye drops rather than eyeliner. The lacy peignoir set stays at home.
Memories in the woods with my sister? Priceless.
Talk to you Thursday!