How long has camping outdoors been popular? Our outdoor BBQ has been prepared for a long time. In this beautiful April, we finally managed to make it happen before May Day.
After watching countless camping videos by content creators, and witnessing this outdoor feast for people of all ages on social media, I don't want to just talk about it or blindly praise it. I want to experience it firsthand before making any judgments.
Since we were young, we have been enthusiastic about "playing house". In this old-fashioned cosplay, even when we were 3 or 4 years old, we already understood the art of role-playing.
Some played the role of a mother, cooking and taking care of the children. Although I lost interest in taking care of children after turning 20, some played the role of a business owner, using leaves, flowers, and twigs to grill skewers, pretending to be the owner of a barbecue restaurant. Some played the role of a princess, enjoying the pleasure of being dressed up and taken care of.
But in the real experience, everything feels so natural. If you immerse yourself in the joy of camping, there is nothing strange about it. Once you connect it with the "playing house" from childhood, the feeling of embarrassment becomes uncontrollable.
Since the decision to go camping, this joy has been building up. Making a list and preparing equipment, even just buying a picnic blanket for twenty yuan can take a long time to choose on PDD. When I bought a hammock, I realized that hammocks nowadays are no longer the uncomfortable ones made of ropes like when we were young. Instead, they are comfortable hammocks made of coarse fabric. The nightmare of falling off a hammock in my childhood is finally gone.
When buying charcoal, I worry about it not igniting. When buying bamboo skewers for kebabs, I worry that they won't be long enough. When buying a barbecue grill, I worry about it being difficult to clean... The pure joy of checking off each item on the list is simple and free of impurities.
We drove for an hour to the camping site that was pre-scouted by "Chopsticks Little Hands", which I think is the most beautiful grassland in Rongchang, without a doubt.
Due to recent drought, the water level has dropped, revealing a large area of riverbank. As one of the most fertile lands, the mudflats nourish the lush green grass. It benefits not only the cows that eat grass all day, but also us who stay overnight on the grassland.
On the other side of the lake is a large pine forest on the slope, casting a cool shade. Behind the lake on this side is a dense bamboo forest, rustling behind us. It's not actually a natural lake, but a reservoir called Fujia Gongqiao. However, it still serves as a medium between the earth and the sky.
As one eye of the mountain village, looking at it can measure the depth of its nature. The grass and woody plants are like eyelashes, with the pine forest being the curled upper lashes and the bamboo forest being the soft lower lashes. Not far away, there are the Tonggu Mountain and Manzi Cave, which are the towering eyebrows, outlining the heroic appearance of this face.
That was the romance of camping, and now it's time for fireworks. If there is a next time, I hope to be the delicate one in the camping team that makes dreams come true, like someone buying groceries, or even someone preparing a picnic basket and props for staging.
The reality is, it took a long time for the charcoal to ignite. The potatoes that were skewered and the garlic that was chopped went bad due to the hot weather. Without a sun hat, I sprinkled salt, cumin powder, and chili powder under the scorching sun. It was definitely a scene full of smoke and fire.
But I didn't lose interest because of that, on the contrary, I enjoyed it.
The children sunbathed on the hammock, and as expected, one of them accidentally got their shoes stuck in the mud. The elders ate and drank to their heart's content, lying on the picnic blanket and resting under a big umbrella. My dad was fishing across the lake, and the fish he caught ended up on the grill as crispy little fish in less than a minute.
Although I was tired, I enjoyed every moment. Finally, in this year when I'm about to turn 30, I understand a bit of the joy of middle-aged people. After being overwhelmed by life, just a glance at what I strive for gives me the motivation to continue fighting. The wind blowing on my cheeks and the smiling eyes along with the sunlight, this indescribable feeling has been etched into my memory. I will remember this moment for the rest of my life.
Most of the time, I pursue clarity. The feeling of clarity and transparency makes me feel at ease. However, during the hot afternoon when I was drowsy from the sun, at the lakeside filled with idealism, my shadow became blurry and gradually disappeared.
I wonder if one day we will no longer see camping, traveling, and food as painkillers in life, but instead settle on the earth and lie down, gazing at the sky until we forget about it.