Camping Is One Of The Best Family Pastimes
If you’ve never taken your family on a camping trip before, I strongly suggest that you consider it. Some of my fondest memories as a child are from when my family went camping. Those are the types of memories that you end up cherishing again and again for the rest of your life.
My father worked hard all his life. Back then the only vacation he got was the standard two weeks per year. One of those weeks would be spent bailing hay during June or July. The other week would be saved specifically for the family’s annual camping trip.
Dad taught all us boys how to fish when we were very young. We grew up with it so it was part of our regular pastimes. Fishing was a big part of the camping trip. Every day we were out camping, assuming the weather cooperated, we would go fishing. We didn’t just fish a couple of hours either. We would fish from early in the morning until dusk. We only stopped for about an hour for lunch.
The majority of the time we would be camping on a major river or lake. It seems that dad was pretty good at picking out the best waters for game fish. We always caught lots of fish. Very rarely did we come back with nothing to show. We almost always came back with a catch to brag about to the other campers. People would be amazed when the five of us climbed out of that little aluminum boat with several stringers full of Bass, Perch and an occasional Northern Pike or Walleye.
We would head back to the campsite where mom would get us all cleaned up for dinner. We ate as a family. Dad would build a fire as my brothers and I scrounged through the nearby brush for some good sticks to use for roasting marshmallows. I remember burning a lot of them. Once in a while I would get one to roast to a perfect golden brown. Man that was yummy.
We all sat around a campfire talking until us little guys were too tired to stay awake. Then it was off to the pop up camper for a great night’s sleep. Something about that fresh air and cool temperatures creates the perfect atmosphere to sleep in. The next day us buys would be up bright and early looking forward to another full day on the water trying to land the biggest fish ever. I wouldn’t give those memories up for anything in the world.
One of the best parts of camping in the mountains is all of the interesting Poconos wildlife that you get to watch. It is a very relaxing hobby.
