This is the first of a series – so we’ll get to see more of this upcoming Smith Family camping trip, for sure! My family hasn’t gone camping, because my mother is a bit like Chapel’s mom, without the attitude. She’s not crazy about the idea of being without common commodities. I’ve only been on a camping trip once – three years ago – and it was certainly an adventure. I went as part of my school’s end-of-year trip system, so everyone in the 7th grade got split up into four trail groups and we went backpacking with our group in Yosemite for five days. I have…mixed feelings about the trip and camping in general! I don’t know if any of you read Calvin and Hobbes, but some of my favorite storylines are Calvin’s forced camping trips by his father, and one of my other favorite comic strips, Patrick McDonnell’s Mutts, also features the characters camping – so I wanted to put Chapel’s spin on it as well!
I’ll elaborate on my personal camping experiences more next week, but first I want to hear about all of YOUR camping experiences! It seems like almost everyone falls into one of two camps (pun intended) and that there’s very little ambivalence when it comes to camping. Are you more of a Chapel or a Chapel’s mother when it comes to your opinions about camping trips?
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"Dad, Mom says--"
"OKAY, I GET IT!"
...Sorry. Do I sound whiny?
how scary was i? lest just say a few of them were glad they had easy to clean leather seats in their cars on their way home those night. ;-)
as for this year, i think i might try to be candlejack, he's a good one that the interne
Also, I must say that I love, love, LOVE the art on panels 2 and 3! Especially the sunset and zombie-like Chapel.
Just remember to be prepared! I'm a little more lucky, as the NW as REI (which is great) but you can get preparation help from the internet or even something like a Cabela's, assuming one is close by.(Or any local oriented outdoors stores, if the staff is friendly/ knowledgeable)
But the main point is try! you won't know if you like it or not until then!
the forested mountians where i live in are perfect for camping in, more so we have the famous Appalachian trail to camp out at.
To Miss Emma's Mother: don't wimp out about camping! you brought miss emma into the world, staying in a tent outdoors can't be as hard as doing that. You are a mother! Mothers are tougher than other women who are not mothers!
I can't help but notice that the number of comics is climbing... this is the 85th, correct? Will there be a special comic for #100?
This is actually only comic 82, because I've sometimes posted small Chapel doodles on off-days that don't constitute the weekly update. All the comics are planned out months ahead of time, so I'll have to see which one will be the 100th and see if i can put in something extra-special in celebration! You have a sharp eye as always!!
I think I remember that Calvin and Hobbs strip, too. "YOU'RE GOING TO ENJOY THIS TRIP WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT"
All in all it's great though! I met tons of new people, deepened some friendships, and had some great food. If your mom doesn't like camping, I'd recommend an air mattress, a good camping location with a shower, and a season where you won't get caught in the rain (lateish summer?)
When I went camping with my class, we were way up in the mountains of Yosemite (it took 7 straight hours of hiking to get to our campsite on the first day) with no bathrooms or showers, and huge banks of snow everywhere! Not the most comfy camping site, to be sure.
Also, there's no reason for camping to be uncomfortable. My roomies and I have the whole thing down to a science of comfort. Air matresses, camp stoves, coolers and even a camp shower that we take along so that all we have to worry about is the enjoying ourselves part.
That sounds like a really good setup -- but it's hard to invest in it unless you're going to go camping frequently! Still, I think it's great that you go camping so often.
The only time I've gone camping was when my family had nowhere else to go for a while. It took away a fair amount of the appeal, I'm sure you understand why. Still, I hope to go again sometime now that circumstances are better. I enjoy hiking and new things in general, so it seems like it'd be fun.
I understand your anecdote completely -- still, I'm SO glad things are better for you now. I hope sometime, you'll be able to go camping and make some happy memories related to it that way!
I love camping. Tons of fun and always somewhere in between the two portrayals you have shown.
Btw if you are interested I started, maybe two months ago, putting some of the artistic stuff I do up on deviantArt as etybyte. That would be etybyte [dot] deviantart [dot] com
Camping is fun sometimes, but it's also easy to have bad experiences...And I'm in class right now (don't worry, my tutor lets me take a 5 minute break to answer comments, I'm not breaking the rules) so I can't look at your dA at the moment, but in a few hours I'll definitely take a look at it!
our nation is EXTREAM need of a infrustructure over haul and growth. that is where the jobs will be in the future.
A few years ago some local hooligans set fire to the woodpile at the campsite we were on and we had to call the fire service out.
A couple of years ago we had several injuries that required trips to hospital. So far this year (fingers crossed) we haven't had to take anyone to hospital.
Being in the UK we don't have anywhere we can wildcamp like you do in the US so most of our camps are on scout campsites although we do know someone who owns a couple of acres of woodland that we use for survival camps.
I film most of the camps and other stuff we do and put it on our YouTube channel, 1st Dinas Powys, have a look if you've got time.
That's strange that there's such a difference between the types of camping grounds available in the States and available in England. And it's a shame that so many people got injured! I mean, I suppose there's always a risk of that when you're camping, but it's still a shame when it does happen.
I'll take a look at your Youtube once I get a chance, thank you for telling me about it!!!
Well, we are in Wales (but you wouldn't have known that so I forgive you :) ) but we still camp in England fairly often.
In the UK we have Scouts and Girl Guides, but Scouts in the UK take both boys and girls, we've got quite a few in our troop and it wouldn't be the same without them.
Oh, and I totally assumed you were in England, mistakenly! I have a friend who lives in Wales, although she never did any of the Scouts activities. I think it's nice that the Scouts take both genders, here in the US we have Girl and Boy Scouts which are obviously separated out.