Vanessa Embling » A blog about my life & photography

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I’m a Camping Diva

When we were kids, my dad used to take us camping all the time. I have very fond memories from those camping trips. My dad is a camper extraordinaire. Sometimes we slept in tents… sometimes we had the pop-up camper… but he always had his propane stove and all the fixin’s for elaborate breakfasts and dinners. He also brought his guitar and we would all sit around the campfire at night and sing ‘Kum ba ya‘ and ‘He’s got the whole world in His hands’ and songs of the like… I’m not kidding people. It was awesome.

Fast forward many years, I’m older and a little bit more set in my ways and the comforts of home. I was super excited when I heard that some of the singles at my church were planning a camping trip to the White Mountains of New Hampshire and I jumped on board. I quickly started tapping shoulders of friends to see if I could borrow camping gear – because I own almost none. So, with my car nearly full (and it was just ME driving up there) I headed north. I got to the campsite late on Friday night. A few of the guys were kind enough to help me set up my tent. Someone else lent me a blow up mattress (score!) and I managed to finagle things so that I had my tent all to myself = DIVA. After the first night’s sleep… or lack-of… I realized I should’ve gotten a hotel room. That’s when I just embraced it – I am a camping diva. I like the ‘idea’ of camping… but there’s a lot about it that I’m not a huge fan of!!

Needless to say, we all had an awesome time. Jeff was the master chef and hit up the local coffee shop each morning to bring us vats of coffee and then he made the most amazing breakfast sandwiches on the grill… WHAT!? Saturday afternoon we split into two groups – one group went on a hike that led to a beautiful lookout – and the other group went on a scenic drive that led to many beautiful lookouts and involved some swimming too.  Larry Reed and his family joined us on Sunday and led an outdoor church service which was awesome.  The message was all about God’s love for us.

Camping trip to the White Mountains! from Vanessa Embling on Vimeo.