Summer Camping!

Dan Wells writing, I hope this note find you well and in good spirits!

Everybody loves a good vacation, Right! How about a "real deal" tent camping vacation? If you're not sure, read-on.

After about eight hours of driving northeast of Cincinnati in a packed-car, my wife and I, along with our two young daughters finally arrived in the Allegheny National Forest.

If you don't know, the Allegheny Forest is a National Forest located in northwestern Pennsylvania. The forest covers 512,998 acres of land. It's huge and probably one of my favorite places on earth! Within the forest is the Kinzua Dam, which created the Allegheny Reservoir. (check out the pictures) I've gone to this area to camp in the wilderness with my Mom and Dad for as long as I can remember.

Ok, back to my story, my girls (ages 4 and 2) did great on the long drive and on the trip as a whole.

On Thursday evening, we pulled into our campground, set the kids loose, unpacked the chairs and tent, after about an hour of set-up time, we sat down to take it all in.

I love when you can see just about every star in the sky, the sunny mornings when you can sit outside in the sun with a coffee and just breathe without thinking about traffic, school, work, laundry or any multitude of mundane things we all deal with.

I honesty think I could be a forest ranger in another life!

I was introduced to camping earlier than most people. When I was a growing up, we went every year to the woods. We (my brothers and sisters) had such a great time running around, joking around by the fire, and enjoying time with our friends; I was smitten.

In recent years, I haven't been able to go tent camping as often as I'd like simply because my girls had been too young to rough-it in the woods but this summer the family camping trip was ON.

During our trip, we boated, water and jet-skied, hiked, had campfires made smores, got a little too sun burnt, told lots of good stories saw beautiful scenery, and most of all got un-interrupted time together. That's priceless.

This past weekend was one of the best vacations I've taken in a long time! I think it's because camping for me is simple! If you've never tried it, and you need some "simple" in your life please give it a whirl, I bet you will be hooked!

Have a great weekend.
Dan