Outdoor stories

07/22/08

Ricky and I camped in West Yellowstone, Montana. We went to a local pub to shoot a little pool and use one of our remaining expired credit cards to run a tab on & then leave the card at the end of the night (I know this is horribly wrong and dishonest, and God has punished me for it innumerable times). There was a group of folks at the back of the bar by the last pool table. Hoping to get a game of doubles going and win some free beer (which would then lessen the crime of obtaining beer via an expired credit card), we approached the gathering and asked if anyone wanted to play doubles. Fast forward 2 hours and many beers later, we're like blood brothers with these people. We found out that it was a going away party for our new friend named Snake who had to report to prison the next day. I can't remember the crime, but it wasn't enough to make me beat a hasty retreat. Once the bar closed down, we were invited to a late night bonfire party. Not wanting to appear unsociable, we attended.

Even though my husband's family had a pop-up camper when he was a kid, we decided that that kind of camping wasn't for us. We wanted to do the tent thing. Instead, we added time periods and added canvas tents suitable for the Revolutionary and Civil War periods. Non-historic camping now generally involved a cabin, and with a little shopping around or a check of state park sites, there were still deals to be found. Pennsylvania state parks generally open their campgrounds from March through late December and the state Website offers a wealth of information about the facilities, the park features and the surrounding area. You can find everything from rustic sites accessible only by foot to lodges that will sleep up to 14 people at the state parks.