skiing vs. snowboarding/backpacking vs. car camping

my poor in-laws. i rope them into all kinds of trouble with me. i feel bad. i don't mean to but somehow i get them to say yes and then half way into it i see the look on my father-in-laws face. it's somewhere between "why did he marry her?" and "how am i gonna live to the end of this?" my mother-in-law, i think, secretly loves it. because i'm roping them into things that she loves to do anyway but never had an accomplice to carry through with.

skiers always ask "skier or snowboarder?" and when you admit that you truly love to snowboard and not ski they usually say "well, it was fun being friends for a while." skiers hate snowboarders because apparently we ruin the ski runs with our boards. especially moguls (those bumps that skiers love to maneuver around). i've found this summer that much like skiing vs. snowboarding it's the same thing with backpacking vs. car camping.

and i discovered i'm not a good car camper. in fact, i gave paul permission to divorce me if he felt the need because i completely understand. i just don't have the energy to car camp. i like it to be condensed, just what you need, on your back.

this last week i called my in-laws and said "hey-wanna go camping with me and the kids next weekend while paul's gone?" of course they said yes. today in talking we discovered my father-in-law was under the impression he had signed up for car camping. (pulling up near a camp spot, pulling everything out of your trunk, and camping right where you are.) i was under the impression we would backpack. (putting everything on your back and hiking in somewhere and setting up camp in the woods.) my mother-in-law says in the background "we can give it a try" which i think means "ya! let's do that!" (she loves to backpack) with a hint of "if you want to" implied for my father-in-laws benefit. i'll update you next weekend after the escapade to let you know how it went. i'm sure they'll have something to tell their co-workers about by monday morning.

here's a picture from the last time i schnookered him into camping and really we hiked from breckenridge to copper. this picture was taken shortly before i started questioning if he'd ever say yes to me again.