Go Go Gadget Tent?

June 20, 2007

A tent with an On/Off switch you ask? That what I was asking my friend when I noticed the ‘power’ icon in the corner of the 8 person tent we were setting up for “camping” (I’ll explain why I used quotation marks in a moment). I thought it was the funniest thing, a little zippered opening and a power symbol. My buddy calmly explained that some campgrounds offer electricity and that opening would be for a power cord. Hmm, I learn something new everyday.

Now, why did I use those quotation marks?

Because what we did, in my opinion, can hardly be considered true camping. Sure we had a fire pit, were surrounded by trees and had a clear view of the stars at night, but we were hardly roughing it. Here’s a snippet from Valcartier’s website:

Located next to Canada’s largest waterpark, Valcartier Campground has over 700 sites for everything from tents to RVs, including a number of pull-thrus. Ranked 4 stars by the CDCQ, this ultra-modern campground is considered one of the finest in Quebec. It offers all services (water, electricity, sewer) along with three service buildings featuring a restaurant, a laundromat, a licensed convenience store, a recreation room with fireplace, a movie theatre, pool tables, and a game room—plus a free shuttle to the waterpark. You can even rent one of our 22 tipis for groups of up to 12 people.

The whole point of us staying there was because it was pretty central to everything we had planned for the weekend; Old Quebec City on Friday night, Kayaking on the Jacques-Cartied River Saturday afternoon (and an unplanned re-visit in that area Saturday evening) and finally a day in the waterpark on Sunday.

It really was a lot of fun spending the weekend like that with my oldest friends (we’ve all known each other since high school) and I’d do it again, especially the kayaking. But I think know that I want something a little less… what’s the word? Luxurious next time. I tried to make the best of it by opting to sleep on a half inch foam pad while all my friends had double size inflatable mattresses! What princesses.

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