I'd Rather Be Camping

Fall has officially fallen here in Korea. I'm probably being quite liberal in applying the epithet "frigid" to the last couple days, but I'm full of excuses for that--I'm from the desert; I never lived with seasons; we visit the snow.

It's not like I'm lying about those thing, but even I'll admit I'm being a bit of a baby. After all, it's only October. Things are about to get real. And although I'm aware of this (and admittedly, quite excited about it), I feel as though I have license to complain just a teeny bit.

But I digress. The whole point of this post is not to talk about the weather, but actually, how the weather makes me feel (not to go all Sally Jessy Raphael on you all).

And it makes me feel like camping. That's right. Seemingly random though it is, fall weather always makes me want to go camping. I blame it on Camp Wildcat, the super awesome do-gooder association that I belonged to in college.

Yup, cool, crisp mornings make me feel like crawling out of a sleeping bag, rubbing my eyes in the early morning light, convincing myself that I really must get out of the tent, and starting up a fire on a gas stove to heat my apple cider. It makes me want to back my CamelPak with a couple sandwiches, some fruit and trail mix and hit the ground trail-running. It makes me want to stay up late, tending a fire, roasting marshmallows, singing goofy songs, and talking about my personal life to people who probably don't care until the wee hours of the morning.

Unfortunately, the key to enjoying this isolation is to not actually be all that isolated. It's difficult to do such things on your own and make them both enjoyable and worthwhile. I mean, I'm just as capable of going all Bear Grylls as the next nature-loving person. But what fun is it if your tent pole snaps and slaps you in the face repeatedly throughout the night if you can't giggle and laugh about it with your friends? Who am I supposed to reminisce with in the event that my gas stove erupts in flame to the tune of "We Didn't Start the Fire"? I enjoy looking back on my camping adventures because they were times that brought me closer to the people in my life, and they helped turn a seemingly awful situation into a memory.

So I wait. And lust for those sunburns, wish bracelets and memories earned in the depths of Mount Lemmon.