I’ve had the past few days off of work, so I decided that James (my 4.5 yr. old son) and I needed to go camping. He’s wanted to go in the past, but we’ve never found the time. Well, we found the time and were determined to make this trip happen. This wasn’t going to be any grand adventure, just father and son time spent ‘car camping’ (fake camping where you drive to the site and camp within 100 ft of your car).

Weather forecast: 30’s and raining.

We were both pumped and ready to go. Driving out to Darrington (a logging town in the foothills of the Cascades) we ate junk food, talked about which animal was faster, and listened to man music (James’ definition of man music: U2, Kutless, GNR… you get the picture).  We had a blast.

Arriving at the campsite we noted that it was closed (because no one in their right mind would camp in the winter), but that didn’t stop us. We parked at the gate and hiked in (we were at least 30 yards from our car so technically it wasn’t car camping - yes!). 

We made a fire, pitched the tent and did some hiking. Towards nightfall, it began to rain and we headed into the tent. Since this was supposed to be a short trip, we brought his kiddie tent, not the nice big family tent. Big mistake. I learned quickly that kiddie tents say they repel water, but don’t really at all. So we dug down into our sleeping bags and talked for an hour or so before we went to sleep.

What struck me during this time, was that I really don’t talk much with my son. I spend lots of time doing stuff with him. I just never spent much time simply talking with him. I need more times like these. Times when life stops and we have nothing more to do than pursue each other. This trip really opened my eyes [and ears].