“Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy a camper,
Unknown
which is kind of the same thing.”
The fun started when we rented an RV for our family vacation this past summer: a 32-foot monstrosity with room enough for 8 to sleep. It was a bucket-list item that we wanted to try: load up the whole tribe, traverse the Midwest, and end up at Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. For a week, we were all together with our four kids, ranging from age 12 to 23, plus our son’s girlfriend, seeing the sights, watching Old Faithful erupt, searching the scenery for bears, elk, and moose (our efforts were rewarded on all counts). There was so much laughter and singing. We hiked and climbed, oohed and aahed. Books and playlists were shared. There were so. many. chess games. It’s a trip we’ll remember for a long time.
We’ve done a lot of tent camping over the years. Taking babies and toddlers and young children to a campground is work, but it’s also magical. The outdoors is the perfect playground for kids. But as my husband likes to say, “As time goes on, the ground gets harder.” Our rented RV opened our eyes to the convenience of having a little place to come in from out of the rain, while not missing out on the campfires and simplicity of camping.
Soon after returning from Yellowstone, we bought a camping trailer. Our little teardrop is more compact, more suited for weekend getaways. It sleeps 3.
Check out this photo of us on our maiden voyage. Next to us is our friend’s car. She slept in a specially fitted tent for her Prius, called a Habitent. It’s pretty awesome. It transformed her little car into a wilderness getaway. Plus, she added twinkly lights which gets my full approval.
So, I stand by the fact that the happiest times of my life are spent in small spaces: my small house (a.k.a. the Cozy Cottage); a college dorm room; cabins in Michigan; bedtime stories in my kids’ treehouse. We don’t need a lot of space to feel happy and peaceful: in fact, it’s my experience is that the smaller the space, the more expansive the joy.
I’m looking forward to big adventures in the beautiful world in our little house on wheels!
Carol Pavlik 
Hello Carol and welcome to our weekend get together. I think you’ll like this group. We’re cozy and different and very friendly. We each have our own version of living and being happy and we love to share stuff. You sound like our kind of folk.
I’m Gary and actually one of the newer members even though I just passed my first year doing this. My writing project is also kind of different. I write short (< 2000 words) humorous, autobiographical essays about growing up. they're clean and I produce each one in what I call a first person rowdy voice, trying to sound like we're just sitting around a table (or a fire) telling stories and laughing. I've had some of my readers read them to their kids both for a laugh and look at what life used to be like growing up in a small town. I hope you'll stop by to check them out. I also try to produce a coffee share each weekend, and for these I'm all over the map, but I always try to entertain and even share some useful stuff.
You can check my collection out at: https://garyawilsonstories.wordpress.com/
Regardless, I'm glad you stopped by and hope to see you back each weekend.
Blessings.
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Thanks for the warm welcome, Gary! I look forward to visiting your blog. It’s always fun to connect with other writers/storytellers and hear unique perspectives. Be well! -Carol
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Good morning Carol. I wanted to stop by just to say ‘Hi” and ‘Thanks for all your visits to my site.’ This has been a huge month for my blog if you just look at the numbers, but a closer look reveals the truth. One story was a nostalgic piece shared with a Facebook group of people who grew up in the same small town as me. These wonderful folks suck up anything that takes them back to the good old days and they, by themselves, gave me the largest one month of readership for this one story.
While figuring out where all those ‘views’ were coming from, I noted a neat stack of ‘views’ from you, or someone from your site. So it was a great excuse to circle back, check out some more of your essays and say thanks. You are always welcome to my little collection and if you shared those stories with other (because I can’t tell) I’m still thankful for the eyes your brought to my hobby.
I hope you came away with a few laughs and come back for more. Blessings.
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Very cool. I love Yellowstone, so I hope the camping with all of the enmities of home was good 😉 I do like the small camper. More my speed, though these days I typically stay at inns, B&Bs, etc.
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Yellowstone was beautiful, and since it’s such a large park, it was a great advantage to not have to leave the park each night to an off-site campground. I didn’t realize it was so huge! I can see why so many people go to visit there–it did not disappoint.
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It is a great place, and as you said, huge. Ah, now I want to go back!
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That is fabulous!! We went tent camping this past weekend, and it has its charms. I lived full time in an RV when my girl was a baby/toddler, to be able to travel more. The two best years of my life! I can definitely see us getting a camper of some sorts in the future. Thanks for the coffee!
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This sounds so interesting! I’d love to read more about your time living in an RV with a toddler! I’m sure you had many adventures.
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There was many adventures indeed. I might have to write a post about that soon.
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I can remember camping with my family when I was a child. Looks like things have really changed over the decades. Glad to see that you’re enjoying the experience and able to do so with friends.
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Did you camp in a tent as a child? Even though I love my little camper, I will treasure the memories of taking my kids camping in a tent. That is a very special experience.
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Yes, we always had a tent. A large one, since there were so many of us. Blankets, not sleeping bags. Always a fire for hot dogs and toasted marshmallows. Marvelous memories of singing around the fire at night and all of us singing in the car as we traveled.
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That’s lovely! We had a huge tent, too! The kids would arrange their sleeping bags and pillows and call it “The Nest.”
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