Camping @ Stolkholm
It was a wonderful afternoon . Aksharaa and I were getting ready to leave to a camp site a couple of hours away from our place. It was our first camping experience .
“ Water bottles - Check , Clothing - Check , Swimming clothes - Check , Snacks- Check “ . I heard my father yelling - “ Are you guys coming or not? “ and I yelled - “Coming !” The car was loaded like an elephant sitting inside the trunk. We all tucked tight inside and zoomed away to Stockholm
It was customary to go to Starbucks our favorite coffee place ! My favorite was a Mocha cookie crumble with no coffee ( apparently kids are not supposed to drink coffee , but I wonder why!). My sister had a matcha latte and dad had his usual Grande coffee and momma her usual tall latte with one raw sugar ! After a wonderful grab of our favorite things we zoomed off to the highway.
About one and a half hours later, usual questions like - “Are we there yet ? not yet? How looong ? I am hungry? “ and my sister yelled her - “ can we change the song?” And she put her earbuds on ! Somehow, amidst all the crazy questions, my Dad was still able to drive us to the campsite far far away in Missouri - with that grande coffee !
We arrived to the campsite and and started putting up our tents. Once we figured our spot, we spread out the fabric. With each one holding out one corner we figured out we are heading nowhere and it didn’t look like a tent at this time!
We understood we need to insert the rods to actually make the tent pop up. We started putting up the rods together and inserting them in the hinges given in the fabric and slowly the tent started to come together. Other friends also started to put up their tents and the whole place started looking very colorful. It was close to 6 o’clock in the evening now.
It was time to get the camp fire up. Soon we found out the lighters , charcoal , wood and sticks to help the dads light up the camp fire. The camping ground was already buzzing with moms bringing food that was marinated and skewers full of paneer, pineapples, mushrooms, onions. My favorite was marshmallows that was reserved for the last . We played traditional Indian games of antakshari and imposter which made the night so eventful and fun. We also roasted marshmallows , put it on the chocolate , stuffed it in between graham crackers and called it a day ! It was the best day ever !
As the night grew closer, It was time to go back to the tents. The tents were all lit up with beautiful camping lights and it was already looking so cozy to snuggle up. We went hopping from tent to find the best ones and spent some time with our friends until it was time for bed .
The morning was beautiful with sun rising and shining as streaks of light through the trees. Dads were grilling cheese and toasts while moms were having their sip of coffee. We had a restroom spot a little far away from our camping site. We did morning chores and were ready for a lake visit. By the time Teddy - my friends dog was awake too. We went on a walk with Teddy and my friends.
It was time to wrap already. We brought some fish food for the lake visit , and soon headed to the hatchery. The lake was buzzing with people feeding the fishes, fishing and some boats tied to the decks. We saw a foot long fishes gushing and rushing to nibble the food balls that were thrown into the water. Once all the food was over , and we were done with watching the fishes , we started to proceed for our next adventure.
We decided to hop into one car , with our friends and set off to our next site - a beach visit ! Our car lost the way and there was no charge on our phones to check our spots. Thankfully some other friends cars came back to rescue us . And off we went to the beach site.
At the beach, there were stones and pebbles that were giving acupuncture massages all the time which I did not enjoy , but it was all worth the water. Some of my friends had a water squirted and we sprayed on our friends and were soaked wet with water! And just when I thought I escaped , one of friends squirted water on my hair and it was such fun to do the same ! It was such fun that we could not stop playing until our mothers said - it’s time to leave ! By this time all of us were sooo hungry after all the water play. The Punjabi Dhabha - An Indian eatery was about couple of hours away. We quickly changed our clothes and headed to the restaurant. We dozed off during the travel to the restaurant.
By the time we reached the restaurant, the food was already ordered by one of our friends moms thanks to her! So thankful for the yummy rotis, dals and veggies that were so piping hot. We finished our food with curd rice and topped it off with a delicious mango lassi for the dessert.
It was already time to go back home. We hugged our friends said exchanged good byes .
The drive back, was full of memories about this camping experience and we dozed off the rest of the travel . Before we could open our eyes , we were back home already.
As much as we loved the camping it was so good to be back home . A good shower and hot meal , made it feel so good to be relaxed and resuming our routines.
The memories of this camping would stay with me for ever and I so look forward to some other camping experience another time !
⁃ Adiiti !
