Home/Camping/Decisions

I've been home from Jamaica for just over a week now. I had a great time. I think I have become addicted to all inclusive vacations because I keep looking up new ones online. I am not sure where I would like to go next, but I do know I am going to go with my family. I had a great time with my friend, but it was just so beautiful there that I can't imagine doing it again and not sharing it with my family. I was looking at Barbados (gay friendly) and thinking maybe Ange and I should get married down there. A destination wedding. Could be a lot of fun. I just worry that all of the people we want to be there, wouldn't be able to come. I have a few teacher friends, so I would have to cater to their schedule, which would be the more expensive times. So much to think about.

Speaking of Vacation, I booked our campsite for "Killbear Provincial Park" this summer. I went there when I was a little kid. Maybe 5 or 6 years old. My brother and his family go every year. It is a beautiful park, and I can't wait to go. I booked for 23 nights. Okay, this seems like a long time right? Well it is. The problem with the provincial park reservation system is that you can book up to 5 months in advance. Okay, fine and dandy, but you can book for up to 23 nights at a time. If you want a really nice site, and a guarantee that you can even get a site, it is best to book as early as possible. What most people end up doing is booking 5 months and 23 days before the last day of their stay and cancelling the time they don't need after a month. Even doing it this way doesn't get you the very best spot. It's all so confusing. So right now I have over $800.00 worth of camping sitting on my credit card. I can cancel the time I don't need in 21 days from now, But it will cost me 10% the current price for all 23 days. It bugs me, but at the same time, If the money is going directly to the parks, it's okay.

We still really want to buy a camper trailer. I look frequently at them on line. At first we were in the market for a tent trailer, but when we went to look at them, we decided that we liked the "hybrids" better for the price. A hybrid is a hard sided trailer with tent-like sleeping areas that fold out similarly to a tent trailer. I was all set on an (up to) 18 foot hybrid, but then I realized that we camp in bear country. I know that in bear country, you can't keep any food in your tent or out in the open at night at all. You must lock it in the trunk of your car or in the car in general, covered so that bears can't see it. You have to do the same for a tent trailer. Okay, my question is... Do you have to do the same with a Hybrid. It has a stove and a fridge and cupboards etc inside, but it also has the soft sides that a bear could rip through and attack you to get the food inside. Well, I don't want this to happen. I suppose I will have to do some research. I have begun to look at completely hard sided camper trailers though, and there are some nice options out there. The biggest reason we like the Hybrid, was because of the sleeping capacity a lot of them have. Because of the fold out bed areas, they generally could fit up to 8 people in them for sleeping. Most of the hard sided ones, only had a sleeping capacity of 4 or 5 (generally 2 of those a single bunk bed and 1 a "couch"). I just don't feel that would suit our needs. I want to be able to have more people stay with us in the trailer. That being said. Most camp grounds, only allow up to 6 people on a camp site, so would we need more than a sleeping capacity of 6?
I found a hard sided camper with a sleeping capacity of 9. A queen bed, a double bunk bed, a fold down table/turns into a double bed, and a couch. It is longer than I really wanted to consider, but the idea is growing on me. It is also more expensive than I wanted to consider too. The problem is, credit! They finance them for you for like, 30 years, and your payment ends up being only about $60 every two weeks. It's hard for me to turn that down. I am a credit whore! It just makes sense to me to buy that, especially because we are a camping family, and this will be most of our vacations for the rest of our life. We already have two camping trips planned for this summer. Someone once told me to think of it as an "investment into your family memories and fun". On the other hand, it seems expensive to pay $30 a week for something you may use for 2 or 3 weeks a summer. Although they have heaters in them so your camping could begin in spring and last into fall. There are so many things to consider when making this decision. I have looked into renting them, and they cost almost $1000.00 a week to rent, and that's not even a really nice one. We might as well spend that $1000 and rent another cottage. Problem is, we want to go to the provincial parks and camp.

I have been thinking about my old friends often. It was around this time last year that we stopped speaking to them and them to us. I miss them frequently, but then I think about all of the broken parts of the friendship, and realize that it just could never work without major changes. I'm neither sure anyone thinks its worth it to change those things, nor, do I even think that anyone except for me is interested in even considering it. I wonder sometimes if they miss us, or even give this a second thought. An intuition won't let me let this go. I can't figure out what it is that I need to leave this behind.

Angela and I got a new couch yesterday. Our old bi-cast leather ones were all ripped and uncomfortable. They looked nice when we bought them, but honestly, they were never that comfortable to begin with. They were over-sized and now that we have the new one, I realize just how much the dominated the space in our living room. We got a sectional. We were going to wait until we moved, but we just couldn't stand our old ones anymore. Everything about this new couch just feels so much better than the old ones. We can even lounge comfortably on this one.

Okay, I had better get back to work. I am neglecting my duties now.