I like camping. I enjoy having one or two days out in the "wilderness," enjoying nature and just relaxing. The typical activities associated with camping, such as hiking and swimming, are enjoyable. When I was little, at least once per year my family and I would go tent-camping for four to five days at a state park. We would have a blast. I remember hiking at Mohican. I remember riding at Findley and having the pedals fall off my bike as I went down a hill. We would cook dinner by the fire each night, having pizza pies at least twice, if not three times during the course of the trip. As we got older, we traded tent camping for staying in cabins, which was a huge step up and made camping even more enjoyable for me (even if you want to argue that it's not REALLY camping anymore!)
Back in December, my sister came and visited during the week before Christmas. Any time you visit a friend or family member's new home for the first time, obviously you HAVE to tour the abode and proclaim your admiration of the dwelling. Even if it's contrived, there is always at least one compliment you can pay the proud owner. After taking the five minute tour (it's a 780 square foot, one-bedroom apartment, it doesn't take long.) Kacy proclaimed that the apartment was "cute" and she gave her approval. Then at the end of the week she cracked me up when she said, "Your apartment reminds me of a campground."
At the time, I never gave that statement any thought. It was just a statement. But over the last week I just couldn't help but think about how much my apartment complex really is like a campground, specifically a campground with cabins!
First, you have the setting. Any respectable campground is in a secluded area filled with mature trees. To get to my apartment, you drive down the incredibly busy highway, maneuver your way through the heavily congested retail area on the north end of town, head down the parkway, and turn on to the four-lane-and-a-median road filled with small shops of every variety. Trying to drive on this road during rush hour is terrible. It's so incredibly busy. But once you turn into Martins Creek, you immediately find yourself in a different world. A line of very tall pine trees creates a barrier between some shops and the property. Old oak trees provide graceful beauty and shade. Cleveland pears, magnolias, and maple trees are scattered around all 15 buildings on the property. Azalea bushes and some type of bush similar to a lilac are used for landscaping around all the buildings. Where I walk Cooper there is a fence that is covered with a vine that produces reddish-orange flowers. Each morning when I walk Cooper, the sun filters through the leaves creating an incredibly peaceful scene.
Seeing as how the campground is usually in a secluded setting, wildlife is abundant. There are quite a few squirrels around here at my place. I am VERY lucky that Cooper isn't overly excited by squirrels. He will let a squirrel walk within two or three feet of him without caring. He does however, mind the cats that run around. There is a black cat and a white cat that I usually see running in and out of dumpsters all around the complex and Cooper gets REALLY angry and tries to attack them. While him trying to maul cats is not funny, me nearly having my arm ripped off when I'm not paying attention is probably a funny sight. You know those birds that sit right next to your tent and wake you up in the morning? Yeah. We have those too, courtesy of the mockingbirds and crows that live nearby. There are some cute little lizards that crawl around, oh, and don't forget the "palmetto bugs." (Remember, palmetto bug is just a polite Southern term for cockroaches!!)
Half the fun of camping, for me anyways, is the people watching. You have the "lifers" who will set up camp and stay there all summer. You have your "enthusiasts" who enjoy camping but typically just spend a few days here and there throughout the summer. Even though they may only spend a little time camping, they have all the gear and enjoy showing it off. Then you have the rest of the people, who really only go camping because at one point they thought, "What should I do this weekend. Oh, this sounds like fun." These people usually don't have much other than the basics, and they rarely stay more than one night.
You have basically the same scenario here. You have the people who have lived here for years and plan to live here for many years more. Their apartments are decked out! They are the ones with piles of wood sitting on the patio, ready for use in the fireplace next year. Their patios are decorated for each season. The "enthusiasts" here are the people who are living in apartments basically because it's the most economical option at this point, i.e. college students, single people, young families. You know the enthusiasts because they put a little effort into making things look good, like a few chairs and maybe a plant or two on the patio. They make themselves comfortable, they have all the right gear, but they aren't trying to settle in forever. Last but not least you have the rest. They were probably looking for a place to stay anyways, but I feel that their thought process was probably "ooh, shiny." These are the people who are really excited about moving somewhere, but they don't have quite everything in place or have a place for everything they own. This includes my neighbor who left his recliner and car seat on his patio after move in. While not necessarily the best look, it was semi-amusing to think that to relax on his patio, his seat of choice wouldn't be your typical patio furniture.
One of the givens of a campground is the smell of smoke generated by hundreds of people cooking dinner over an open fire. Obviously there aren't any open pit fires here, but if you're really lucky, all the smoke stars will align here at my complex. How so? 1.) Someone is grilling at the pavilion. 2.) People nearby are smoking (and there's always someone nearby smoking) 3.) I walk in the door when the AC comes on and that nice of stale smoke enters in my apartment. Yep. My version of a campground!
If you go to the right campground, you will find a few attractions, usually a swimming pool, a canteen, and something odd like a mini-golf course. Apartments are really no different. Mine has a fairly nice pool, except for the ash trays which double as beer bottle collectors. The pool is deep too, which is nice, because it offers some distance from little kids! Every once in awhile, Cooper will run crazy circles in my house trying to burn some energy. There is a dog run here, but Cooper will literally walk in, make one very slow lap while smelling everything, then stand by the gate until I take him out. Way to go dog, way to go.
Well, my weekend is almost over and I still have a few chores left to do. Rather than yummy camping food, I have a few weeks worth of yummy regular-type food that needs to find it's way into my freezer. Then it's time for bed, which sounds REALLY nice right now. And the nice part? It's my comfy bed, not the ground with some tree root sticking in my back! Sleep tight!
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