It’s safer outdoors

 Hear ye, hear ye! 

I’ve concluded: It’s safer outdoors where there are no walls. Yes I’m referring to the goddamn coronavirus that causes Covid-19. I’m also referring to life with the kids. So this post will be a two-parter. 

Now I know that all of today’s media is untruthful to a degree, hoping to manipulate our behaviors one way or another. But it seems like bars and house parties = rise in cases. Even the protests and packed beaches with thousands of people shoulder to shoulder didn’t seem to increase the local COVID cases significantly. And so, I have relaxed a lot in managing our daily lives. When we are indoors, we use hand sanitizer, we mask up, even if we go indoors even for a minute. When we are outdoors, we have interacted with other people and we maintain a good amount of distance where we needed shout but hopefully aren’t breathing in too much of each other’s spittle either. So that’s the first thing. It’s much safer outdoors if you want to keep doing things but not catch the novel coronavirus. There’s a reason why RVs are super hot and you can’t buy a bike for under $1k anywhere. 

PS- buy stock in merchants selling outdoor wares. 

And why is life with kids safer outdoors? I wish I meant it tongue in cheek, but the kids go crazy when they’re indoors. They don’t know how to keep themselves occupied. They want to watch TV all the time when it’s available, which in my weaker moments, I allow. If it’s a streaming service, they aren’t able to stop mid-season without a tantrum. If it’s cable TV in a hotel, then they’re bombarded by commercials all day long, which culminate in a huge case of the “gimmes”. In almost every Airbnb, I have had to pay for extra repairs or fees because we can’t check out in time. Deadlines are not a strength for me. They complain about food I cook, don’t help cleaning up, want to sleep at midnight, fight with each other, and like I said, generally raise hell. 

When we spent a week camping in Yellowstone, all of that disappeared. Their schedule was basically:

Woke up (in their tent), said hello and hugged me, and went for a bike ride or explored by the lake.

Helped me make breakfast or find kindling for a fire later that night.  Make some conversation about cool things they saw and wanted me to see. 

Take some lunch/snacks with us and off we went to explore another area of Yellowstone. 

We stayed at the Grant Campgrounds, where ravens, chipmunks and coyotes regularly passed through. There is no internet there, although you can make phone calls on your cellphone. I have a teardrop trailer with no bathroom so we use the communal bathroom (with a flush toilet thankfully). I do have a kitchen in the back of the trailer so that’s where I make hot water every morning for my tea and coffee. We try to use the fire pit for dinner every night since I have to light it for s’mores anyway. Because it ain’t camping without s’mores, as any mom with young’uns can attest to. 

And yes, the kids love the marshmallows with an unholy attachment, but they also share. They also help each other. They also help me. We have not felt more of a family than we are out in the woods. Or at least where there are no walls. I want to dig into this a little more.