We Re Not Camping

It's been a few weeks since we started to camp. Things got hard when we were denied food stamps. The truth you see is harder to say. Foreclosure happens. When mortgage we can't pay. Mom and dad are so sorry we lied. Camping we're not. So swallow your pride. Tent city will now be our permanent base. Now wipe that miserable look off your face. Homelessness is not as hard as it seems. Just try to get used to the hobo screams. Dumpster diving will be your new favorite sport. And you'll have to spend time waiting in court. Things have to change because we're so poor. Your mother's becoming a bus station whore

Could there be another way of life? Can I survive with less stuff? Should I run for the hills? These are all good questions that people have asked before, throughout history, and which have inspired people to set up camp. But now camping is part of the drive for self-sufficiency, a reaction against mass tourism, a chance to connect with the land, to experience a community, to leave no trace . . . From packing to pitching, with hikes into the deep history of the subject and encounters with the great campers and camping movements of the past, this is the only book you'll need to pack when you next head off to sleep under the stars. IF THERE IS ONE THING THAT CAMPERS LIKE MORE THAN CAMPING, IT'S DREAMING ABOUT THEIR NEXT TRIP

A group of young girls descend on Camp Forevermore, a sleepaway camp in the Pacific Northwest. Their days are filled with swimming lessons, friendship bracelets, and camp songs by the fire. On an overnight kayaking trip to a nearby island, they find themselves stranded, with no adults to help them survive or guide them home. Five girls-- Nita, Kayla, Isabel, Dina, and Siobhan-- survive the trip, and as the following years bring successes and failures, loving relationships and heartbreaks, we see the many ways a tragedy can alter the lives it touches.

Plan your family camping adventure! Whether you’re a first-time camper or a veteran backpacker befuddled by the challenges of carting a brood—and all the requisite gear—into the great outdoors, here you’ll find all the tips and tools you need to plan the perfect nature adventure with your family. Humorous and irreverent, yet always authoritative, this guide to camping with kids, from babies through pre-teens, is filled with checklists, smart tips, recipes, games, activities, and art projects. Helen Olsson, a seasoned camper and mother of three, shares lessons learned over the years of nature outings with her own family. Learn the basics of family camping, from choosing a destination and packing gear to setting up a campsite and keeping little ones safe. Create the perfect camp menu with simple and tasty recipe ideas. Discover foolproof tips and tactics for keeping kids happy and entertained while hiking. Explore nature through clever and creative camp arts and craft projects. This guide is your game plan to unplugging from the digital world and connecting your kids to nature. Whether it’s roasting marshmallows around a crackling campfire or stretching out on a camp mat to gaze at the stars, the memories you’ll be making will last a lifetime.

Camping Grounds narrates a quintessentially American tradition of sleeping outdoors, from the Civil War to the present, that will appeal to academics, outdoor enthusiasts, and general readers alike.

An exploration of the hidden history of camping in American life that connects a familiar recreational pastime to camps for functional needs and political purposes. Camping appears to be a simple proposition, a time-honored way of getting away from it all. Pack up the car and hit the road in search of a shady spot in the great outdoors. For a modest fee, reserve the basic infrastructure--a picnic table, a parking spot, and a place to build a fire. Pitch the tent and unroll the sleeping bags. Sit under the stars with friends or family and roast some marshmallows. This book reveals that, for all its appeal, the simplicity of camping is deceptive, its history and meanings far from obvious. Why do some Americans find pleasure in sleeping outside, particularly when so many others, past and present, have had to do so for reasons other than recreation? Never only a vacation choice, camping has been something people do out of dire necessity and as a tactic of political protest. Yet the dominant interpretation of camping as a modern recreational ideal has obscured the connections to these other roles. A closer look at the history of camping since the Civil War reveals a deeper significance of this American tradition and its links to core beliefs about nature and national belonging. Camping Grounds rediscovers unexpected and interwoven histories of sleeping outside. It uses extensive research to trace surprising links between veterans, tramps, John Muir, African American freedpeople, Indian communities, and early leisure campers in the nineteenth century; tin-can tourists, federal campground designers, Depression-era transients, family campers, backpacking enthusiasts, and political activists in the twentieth century; and the crisis of the unsheltered and the tent-based Occupy Movement in the twenty-first. These entwined stories show how Americans camp to claim a place in the American republic and why the outdoors is critical to how we relate to nature, the nation, and each other.

What do you need to go camping? What do you do once you reach the campsite? Learn all about going camping in this reading-level-appropriate text! Vibrant photos draw the reader in to the fun of experiencing the great outdoors, while critical thinking questions and a photo glossary introduce nonfiction reading skills.