Glamping!

 We are well into November as I write this (although I am going to back date this). If this was a normal year, I would probably just let all this recap go and focus on other things. However, my mental health has been tanking the longer this pandemic goes on. So it's important to me to remember the highlights of this year.  Here is a good one.

At the beginning of October, Levent and had a weekend away to "glamp" (aka glamour camping). I smile as I type this because I am pretty sure Levent eye-rolls so hard at this term. 

Like everyone, I am evolving as a person. One of the ways I am evolving is that sometimes I am willing to go camping. (Ah the things we do for love).

Levent is a born camper. His family used to camp in the northern mountains of Turkey when he and his brothers were kids. They would go up there for weeks at a time and eat fish they caught and be off the grid. Complete mountain men (or family). Maybe it wasn't that extreme. But that is how I am recalling from what he told me ages ago. I am sure they didn't catch fish with barehands but they might as well have if you compare their camping memories with my camping experiences. 

My parents took us camping a few times. Even as a child, I remember that waking up after a night of sleeping on the ground was not the best. I do have a nice memory though from the last time my family of 5 camped. I remember staying up "late" (aka after our parents went to bed) and playing hearts with my siblings. 

Turns out, the key to camping is having the right clothing and equipment. Who knew. 

It also takes a ton of work and planning, which is not very "vacation sounding" to my ears. 

So the compromise this time around was "glamping." 

We found an off-grid cabin through Airbnb near Lawrence to stay at for two nights of relaxing in some woodlands/fields. We were still outside more of the time, chilling by the fire, but at night, we got to sleep inside on a mattress with lots of pillows. It was so nice. While our collection of camping gear is slowly increasing, there is still a bunch of stuff we don't have. But with glamping, we didn't have to worry about most of that stuff, as it was provided for us. 

Really, the best of both worlds, and less back pain. 

One of the dogs who lived on the property

A quick visit to Perry Lake

We spent two nights in this tiny cabin and I read a lot. It was a great mini-pandemic break.