It's Camping Season Friends!

Recently, someone asked me, "What do you do when you go camping?" and my response was kind of reflex; we sleep. cook. eat. drink. 

But, then, I thought about that more and really tried to figure out what they were asking, like in a spiritual sense what are we doing in the woods, or desert or beach?  For us, we don't go to church we don't believe in a judeo-christian god so our religion is nature, it's observing the wonders of the world while living in harmony with them.  We don't really get a chance to do that in our current society, everything is manufactured and artificial comfort.  We don't hunt or forage for our food on a daily basis, we don't feel the cold or the heat when we don't want to, we don't worry about the comfort of our beds or roof over our head.  But in nature, its simplified, it's reduced to its core.  We simply are present.  Our phones often do reach to where we camp, but ideally we turn them off when we get there, we avoid the temptation to check back in, we make a conscious effort to check out.  I still take pictures out of habit, and sometimes I forget. Sometimes, like this weekend, we camp with friends.  The kids like this most because they head off on adventures and climb and get dirty, they cook their own hot dogs (or vegan dogs) over the campfire, they find stones and feathers, they drink hot tea, they sleep when it's dark, they rise with the sun.

My answer upon reflection should have been something more like; Camping is the spiritual for us, all of it.  Listening. Re-wilding.  Sometimes we walk and gather, other times we listen.  I usually journal on longer trips, but mostly it's one of the rare times I'm actually present.

So I guess my question to you is, do you camp? what do you do when camping, both spiritually and literally?

 This weekend we camped near Prescott, it was really cold.

 just to point out this little girl NEVER wears her jacket, we were all cold.

 camping dogs.

these two humans have been friends since birth.  I found out I was pregnant with her the day we met him and his parents at the hospital.

husband being burly and chopping fire wood.

Emily cooking over an open fire. 

//  toasting english muffins, because we bring some comforts. 

the kids like camping because we let them pick out their own personal snacks, like this giant bag of popcorn.

 // someone found a rock throne.