How Evolved Are You?

Do you like camping? People seem to divide so neatly into two groups when presented with this question. A half-hearted 'eh' is seldom the response.

At work on Friday I mentioned that I would be camping with my family this weekend, and a clever and quick-witted coworker (a surprisingly high percentage of my coworkers are clever and quick-witted) seemed to sense a lack of enthusiasm in my delivery. "Oh, do you like camping as much as I do?" he droned. "Exactly as much," I replied.

Michelle loves the camping. I don't hate it or anything, but sometimes it's hard to see the appeal. My coworker, whom I'll call "Jeff," since that's his name, went on to muse, "We've evolved thousands of years to develop electricity, microwaves, computers and video games...I just don't feel the need to go back."

Maybe some of us do; that's understandable enough. The modern world can lose its lustre (one of the few words I just haven't been able to adopt the American spelling of) from certain angles, but I don't ever feel the need to get away from it all. I am certainly content just getting away from little bits of it. For some of us, camping just looks like throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

At any rate, this weekend's devolutionary excursion was just fine from my perspective. Friday night we sojourned out to Baker Park, a comfortable 20 minute drive from home, stopping at a delicious 50's style fountain shop in Loretto for dinner, threw up our tent and built ourselves a toasty little campfire to ward off the 65 degree night air. The next morning the kids played at a well-furnished city-style park until it started to rain, then we packed up and were home in time to have tuna melts for lunch. Camping Lite.

Admittedly, some may not think it worthwhile to do all that packing and planning for just 16 hours away from home, but sometimes that's all the change of pace you need.

The pace shifts again on Wednesday when we'll all be heading off to Vancouver to spend an action-packed week with my family. A wedding, Shakespeare, Texas Hold'em and a visit to Seattle are just some of the anticipated highlights.