In tents experience

2009-10-22T21:16:00.000-07:00

I remember our first tent: a blanket draped over kitchen chairs. I loved the feeling of being inside the small, cave-like space.

Over the years, I graduated to homemade mosquito netting tents in the backyard, to old canvas umbrella tents, to moldy Boy Scout wall tents, to a floorless $30 one-person K-Mart pup tent which I dearly loved. I loved the sense of security: inside while outside.

When I married, I bought a two-person Eurkea pup tent. When our first child was born, we got a three-person Eurkea dome. When Child 2 came on board, we bought a 4-person (you guessed it: Eurkea) tent big enough to stand up in. It felt huge, like sleeping in the dome of the state capitol. The four of us just fit.

I don't think we ever paid more than $150 for our biggest tent. They weren't great tents, mind you, but they rarely leaked and they kept out the critters.

Tonight I'm curled up in our family's newest tent, a 2-person MSR Hubba Hubba HP. It's gorgeous. Sleek and silky. Elegant and (oh yeah) expensive. Taut. Tiny yet roomy. A camping machine. We'll Fed-Ex it to Anne and Kate tomorrow for their AZ adventures, but tonight it's mine. I'm sitting in the tent in the living room. I'm 10 years old again, enjoying this high-tech, no-chairs-or-blankets-needed, home within a home.

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2009-10-21T18:19:00.000-07:00

I would like to dedicate this blog to my smarter, funnier older brother Garbanzo who was my childhood idol and started me on a fabulous career in journalism when he gave me his paper route when he became allergic to rubber bands. (He tried to use rubber gloves to protect his hands, but that didn't seem to help and it made the tricky job of wrapping a thick Sunday paper in a single rubber band almost impossible!)

He also indirectly suggested the name of this blog, for which I am forever grateful.

Flies in the Face of Media Hysteria

In tents experience

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