Roughing It LA Style!

I am of the belief that there are two kinds of camping: "real" and "wussy". Wussy campers load up all the comforts of home and head out in an RV. They sleep inside, watch TV, cook on a real stove. "Real" campers sleep in tents, have no idea what's going on in the world as they have no TV or radio and cook either on a little tiny propane stove or open flame. I am a real camper! I have no problem getting dirty, leaving the world behind, cooking on a fire and needing quarters to heat up the water in the communal shower that's down the trail!

My friends and I spent days on a beach in Ventura County. It was wonderful days of relaxing, cool breezes, enjoying each others company, fresh air and just being away from the daily grind. We hung out at the beach during the day and played Rumikub and roasted marshmallows at night. Yes my friends I was feeling like a true camper out in the wild, roughing it!

That is until I woke up my first morning and had an "lightbulb" moment! I realized that I had a car and that the Starbucks at Trancas (Malibu) wasn't that far, maybe 15 minutes up PCH! So this big, bad rough camper girl went for it! There I was, at the Starbuck in one of the most pretentious cities, checking email on the Blackberry, using a "real" bathroom and drinking her latte like it was the last drop of coffee on earth. I was back to civilization! It felt good! But so did getting back to the campsite and leaving reality behind again!

I think i'll add another category of camper: the hybrid camper. One who likes to rough it as long as she can have the occasional latte and access to the Blackberry!