Have you ever forgotten about how much you enjoy something due to the passage of time? So often the things that we enjoy the most are set aside as other responsibilities take over our lives. We need to be responsible and live according to the choices that we have made in our lives, yet we also need to take care of our selves and look out for our own happiness. We cannot count on others making us happy nor can we leave our happiness to chance.

When my husband and I were first married we did a great deal of camping. We did not have much money so camping was a cheap way to get away. We both also enjoyed being out in nature, hiking, canoeing and sitting around the campfires. We always talked about taking off for a full month one summer and camping in Alaska. Then we had our three children. During their infant years we did not go camping. As they got older we went on short camping trips as a family. The children liked it; however it was a great deal of work getting everything packed and then unpacked. It seemed like it was more of a hassle than it was fun. Once the kids got involved in sports and other summer activities we stopped camping altogether.

Now our youngest is in college and the other two are starting their careers. Family vacations are a thing of the past. We were cleaning out the garage and we came across the camping equipment. As we were deciding what to do with it I made the comment that I still thought it would have been fun to go camping in Alaska. My husband's response was then let's go. We are both at the stage in our careers that we get more vacation time than we use. We arranged to have the month of July off of work. We decided that camping in Alaska in tents might be too much for our older backs to handle; we rented a recreational vehicle to drive instead.

The rental was reasonable considering that it saved on the wear and tear of our vehicle and would take away the need to stay in hotels and inns. We had heard that the accommodations are quite expensive. We had the routed mapped out for us and we also had a full listing of available camp sites. We took off for our adventure of camping in Alaska. The scenery was as beautiful as we expected. No photographs can possible capture all the wonderful colors that paint the landscape. We were so glad that we had not let this dream slip through our fingers. We enjoyed our camp fires in the evenings as well as the hiking trails. Camping in Alaska has been my favorite trip so far in my life.