My family and I went on a 3-day camping trip.
There are hiking trails and camping sites in the mountains just beyond our city.
It had been so long since I had been out there in the wilderness enjoying nature like I used to do as a young adult before I married. Camping and hiking had been my favorite pastimes. Wilderness survival was also a keen interest of mine. My wife has never been completely opposed to the idea of camping, but she isn’t quite as enthusiastic as I am. Still, I had taken her on a few camping trips since we had been together. She knew I loved camping and this particular 3-day weekend was the perfect opportunity to go camping as a family, so we had been planning for it for quite some time. The trip was great! The kids had a lot of fun and learned a lot about the skills of survival out in the wilderness and what you need to make it. Through a combination of fishing and hunting and gathering, we managed to make ourselves pretty comfortable. However, that is not to say that I did not, along with everyone else, supremely appreciate the air conditioning once we finally got back home. There was something magical about walking into the house and feeling that old familiar rush of cool air. The first time I had used my phone since we started the camping trip was to use my smart thermostat app to make sure that the air conditioning system was running in our home by the time we arrived. I may really enjoy camping, but I am not against using technology for comfort. We did not necessarily sleep all that badly under the stars, but we certainly slept much better that first evening back home in our cool rooms thanks to the air conditioning. As much as I love the wilderness, I am so grateful for heating and air conditioning!