Thanks to COVID, we've all been stuck inside for a long time. As the weather has been getting nicer, I've wanted to go out and enjoy it--but wait, everything has been closed, parks included. What to do? Go camping at home!
I was able to use camping gear and materials that I already had so the only expense was the ingredients for s'mores.
After rearranging some furniture, I set up my tent in the living room, complete with sleeping bag and a camp chair. I covered the TV with a picture of Mt. Rainier that my Mom painted for me as a Christmas gift (because who needs the TV on a camping trip?). I already had the electronic fireplace so that became a "campfire". I raided the bin of Christmas decorations and ran a string of LED lights around the ceiling for stars (not shown), then turned off all of the lights I have on timers around the house. I went on YouTube and found ten hours of nighttime forest sounds to complete the effect.
Is camping in a living room lame? Probably. But these are crazy times we're living in! So, click play on the forest sounds video and keep scrolling to see the pictures.
At night with the campfire going. One of the challenges of camping is to start a fire with only one match. In this case, I used none (what do I win?):
An electric fireplace isn't the best thing for toasting marshmallows but, fortunately, I have a gas stove so I used that and a chop stick to make s'mores:
Pro tip for anyone wanting to try this at home: even the thickest sleeping pad can't make a hardwood floor comfortable to sleep on. If you thought sleeping on the ground was uncomfortable...............