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Blog Entry 88 of 122 Gladys Mercier, Arvada.

I like living in Arvada.I am a member of Trinity Baptist Church and have many good friends there.I lived in the same house in Denver until I married, so as you can see, I am a native.My husband and I adopted 2 Korean sons who are now adults, 1 is a State Patrol Sgt., the other is an upholsterer. My husband died Sept.1st,2005. My family is a real blessing to me.I will probably write most about them, especially my great grandchildren (3)

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Is it tipi or teepee?

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Contributed by: Gladys Mercier on 10/17/2007

Bob had so many interests or hobbies. I used to call themphases because thankfully none lasted too long.

When we first married and had little money, he couldn't wait to go camping in the mountains. Trouble was we had no camping gear except a tarpaulin and a couple sleeping bags. That didn't stop Bob. We went to the mountains, where he set up 2 poles and spread the tarp over them. We crawled in our sleeping bags and went to sleep. He didn't plan on rain but rain it did and we were 2 wet, cold campers.

Soon after that, someone gave Bob a huge canvas tent. Boy was he happy. Off we went again and after a couple hours of struggling we finally got that tent set up. Trouble was it smelled terrible, really musty, so we didn't get much sleep.
About that time, Bob saw an ad for a tent that was really easy to set up. Ha! We read and re-read the instructions but nothing worked. We went home.
Then we bought a little blue tent that we could manage to put together and had a couple good trips with it but it was so small! There had to be a better way.
Ah! Bob bought a pickup with a camper on the back. Now, he was sure this was camper heaven. We could stand up in it but only 1 at a time, there was no room for more than that. Soon it was sold, too.

Next came a Coleman folding trailer that would be easy to pull behind the car and a snap to set up. We went to Sedona, Ariz., with some of my family. My sister and husband had a beautiful fifth wheel. Oh well, we had our Coleman. The ends folded out to make 2 large beds. As soon as I was asleep, Bob woke me up to say the gas bottle had emptied and we had no heat until he could switch bottles. That meant that I had to get up and wait outside while he folded everything up in the middle of the very cold night in Sedona. I am sure the other campers wondered what we were doing out there, but we finally were able to go back to bed. That camper didn't last long either.

My brother Harold bought a small teardrop trailer for hunting, so we borrowed that a few times to go to Glacier Basin in Rocky Mountain National Park. That is a beautiful place. This camper had a couch that made into a bed for Bob and me and a dining table made one more bed. There was a hammock strung up over that for Donnie. During one night, we heard a crash and Donnie had fallen out of the hammock! He was not injured. We enjoyed camping in it.

Bob was always interested in the American Indians and had a book on how to make a tipi, better known as a teepee to most of us. We went to the mountains and cut several tall lodgepole pines, which he stripped the bark off of and polished them up. Then he bought a huge roll of canvas. He used my sewing machine to sew the canvas together exactly the way the instructions said. He left a hole at the top for the smoke to go out and had a flap for the door. Now he knew we were all set. Trouble was it was so heavy to carry and took all afternoon to set up. He loved that tipi dearly though and put it up in the back yard where the neighbors could admire it. Not long after that, he donated it to a youth group at church.

That was the end of my camping. If he wanted me to go, it would be to a nice motel with plenty of heat! I had put in my time and I think he was ready to give it up, too. We went to Grand Lake a lot and stayed in motels. That was my idea of camping. Still is.

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Showing 1-10 of 15 comments

Submitted By: Carol Gioia

posted on 11/3/2007 @ 5:17:40 PM

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I'm with you Gladys, I prefer to do my camping in a comfy motel. This is a delightful read, filled with warm memories. Thank you making me smile :)

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Submitted By: Fairlight Baer-Gutierrez

posted on 10/26/2007 @ 4:21:45 PM

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I love your memories, Gladys.

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Submitted By: Fairlight Baer-Gutierrez

posted on 10/26/2007 @ 4:21:32 PM

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My dad taught me to shoot a gun on a camping trip when I was 5, and I've loved to head to the woods since (though I never again shot a gun during an excursion).

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Submitted By: Jamie VanEaton

posted on 10/24/2007 @ 8:21:17 AM

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I want a Teepee!

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Submitted By: Karin Malchow

posted on 10/23/2007 @ 11:42:26 AM

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There's just something about a guy who builds his own tipi (teepee) that you gotta love.

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Submitted By: Stan Dyer

posted on 10/23/2007 @ 11:33:36 AM

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It reminds me of that movie with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnez where they get married and buy a BIG "tow behind" trailer.

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Submitted By: Sarah Paige

posted on 10/22/2007 @ 3:50:46 PM

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I camp at the Hilton!

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Submitted By: Kim Price

posted on 10/21/2007 @ 8:01:13 AM

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Gladys - how fun! Great pictures.

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Submitted By: William Boucher

posted on 10/20/2007 @ 8:18:30 PM

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$60 motel rooms?

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Submitted By: Joe McDaniel

posted on 10/20/2007 @ 10:50:10 AM

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Really enjoyed this account of your camping adventures Gladys! As a teen growing up in South Africa I camped a lot with my twin brother and friends. We often took a tent with us but rarely used it as it was warmer to lay on the ground as close the fire as possible! My body wouldn't stand for that now. These days it is $60 motel rooms for us and we get up often before sunrise to try for good photographs.

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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Gladys Mercier

Arvada , CO

Gladys Mercier has posted 122 blog entries and 934 comments since joining on 12/9/2005. Gladys Mercier 's average blog rating is 4.99.

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