Our First Camping Trip

A rocky, unforgettable beginning...

Cooking on the campfire at Acadia National Park, 2001

My family went on our first camping trip in August 2001. Given that we had absolutely no recreational camping experience, you would have thought we’d start off with a weekend trip nearby to get our bearings. You would be wrong.

We started with an epic weeklong trip 15 hours away. We stuffed ourselves, our two kids, a family friend, our dog, and a metric ton of new camping gear into the station wagon and hit the road for Acadia National Park in Maine. Go big or go home!

We had never been campers before this trip. Our older daughter was already 15 years old and the younger was 8. We were your standard summer beach trip kind of people. (And we still love a good beach trip!)

But something had been gnawing away at us. My wife had grown up immersed in nature, living in farming communities. And while I won’t say I loved camping Army-style, all the time I had spent in the Army out in forests, jungles, deserts, and so on had left a deep imprint on me. There was something special, something almost spiritual, something, well, natural about getting out into the wild and sleeping under the stars.

We wanted that for our kids. We wanted them to know that there is so much more to life than the ultra-processed, digital, indoor version on offer in our age. We wanted them to learn that amazing things happen out where the wild things are.

Into The Blue

So, we bought camping gear, planned a trip to Acadia, and headed out into the blue. We drove from Maryland to New York, spent a fun day touring West Point, and then headed to our first ever campsite to set up for the night.

Shell-shocked on the first night

That is when the wheels came off. Had we ever set up a campsite together before? No. Had we worked out individual duties for the set up? No. Had we planned our trip so there was plenty of light and time for our first set up? No.

We arrived at our campsite. It was almost dark. It started raining. Everyone was exhausted. Mass chaos ensued.

I quickly became furious. I cursed myself for thinking camping was a good idea. I cursed everyone else for floundering helplessly in the dark. Meanwhile, I floundered helplessly to put up the tent with a flashlight in my mouth in the rain. (The dog, he was just elated to be along for the ride.)

If it was not for the irrepressibly joyful spirit of our daughter’s friend, I do believe the whole family would have gone under that night and all our camping aspirations with us. But she kept us afloat with her good humor. And so, we survived the first night.

After that, things began to click. Early the next morning, we drove on to Acadia and set up the campsite again in the daylight. Now battle hardened, everyone pitched in. It wasn’t yet exactly pretty, but it worked well enough.

Then, amazing things began to happen. We went on hikes in the pine-covered mountains and along rocky coastlines. We ate like kings at the campsite. We laughed and sang around the campfire. We smelled the salt air as the winds shifted inland at night. We marveled at the stars. We saw whales on a boat-trip. We ate lobster in Bar Harbor. We saw the sun rise on America from the top of Cadillac Mountain.

By the end of that week, we were all of us, even our dog, bound together by joy. We were a team. We had learned how to camp together. We had experienced nature together. We had made mistakes and learned to laugh together. And when the time came to return home, somehow that long drive seemed much less long.

A Catalyst for Joy

That trip was the start of something wonderful. The kids wanted to go camping again, go hiking again, get in nature again. And we did, many, many times. It led us out on so many adventures, so many wondrous run-ins with snakes, bears, coyotes, elk, hawks, and more.

If you asked our now adult children, I think they would tell you that they still carry some of the joy of that trip with them. Why, even today, 24 years later, we still sing the silly songs we made up around the campfire that week.

And you know, a funny thing happened the next summer. The kids wanted badly to go out camping for a week again. So, we did a repeat trip, including with our daughter’s friend, the whole crew. But this time, we decided to make things easier and just go two hours away to Shenandoah National Park. It was another grand adventure, with waterfalls and black bears and rocky outcrops. On the way home, we asked the kids what they thought. All three of them looked at each other, then said, “It was great! But the drive was too short.”

Sunrise from Cadillac Mountain, Acadia, Maine

Carpe Diem!

How about you? Have you ever taken a bold decision to try something new? How did it change you?

Do you have amazing camping or nature memories too? Please share with us in the comments.

Is there something you want to try, but you have been holding back? Could it be time for you to seize the day?

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A Short Meditation

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9

With these words, God commissioned Joshua to lead Israel. They are also a portrait of how Jesus lived and died, forging the way into the Promised Land for us. And as they have inspired and comforted so many over the ages, they also were my wife’s own battle cry in her awe inspiring fight against cancer.

Where might the Lord be calling you to act with boldness in the assurance that he is Immanuel—God with us? The road may not be smooth, but joy awaits.

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Un Petit Aperçu

Dormir dehors et être proche de la nature, c'est quelque chose de spécial. Ma femme et moi, nous voulions que nos enfants vivent cela. Nous avons donc décidé de faire un voyage de camping en famille dans le parc national d'Acadia, dans le Maine. Nous avons fait des erreurs, bien sûr, mais nous avons pris le coup de main. Nous avons fait des randonnées dans les montagnes. Nous avons ri et chanté ensemble autour du feu de camp. C’était tout à fait formidable! Pour notre famille, ce voyage a été le début d'une vie de camping, de randonnée et d'aventures!

Et vous? Avez-vous déjà pris une décision audacieuse d'essayer quelque chose de complètement nouveau? Comment cela vous a-t-il changé? Y a-t-il quelque chose de pareil que vous aimeriez essayer? Serait-il temps pour vous de saisir l'occasion?

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Μία Περίληψη

Είναι υπέροχο να περάσεις καιρό έξω στη φύση. Θέλαμε τα παιδιά μας να το ζήσουν αυτό. Έτσι, κάναμε κάμπινγκ στο Εθνικό Πάρκο Acadia στο Maine. Κάναμε λάθη, αλλά δεν πειράζει. Μάθαμε πολύ. Κάναμε πεζοπορίες στα βουνά. Γελάσαμε και τραγουδήσαμε γύρω από τη φωτιά. Διασκεδάσαμε τόσο πολύ! Για μας, αυτό το ταξίδι ήταν πραγματικά η αρχή μιας ζωής περιπέτειας!

Πήρες ποτέ μια τολμηρή απόφαση να δοκιμάσεις κάτι νέο; Πως σε άλλαξε; Υπάρχει κάτι τέτοιο που θέλεις να δοκιμάσεις; Μήπως ήρθε η ώρα να το κάνεις; Τι λες, φιλέ μου;