Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Victorian Glamping

 photo camping_out-gsr.jpg Stereoscope card of an 1877 trip into the Colorado Rockies by a team of botanists, their wives and friends, guides and a cook.

 Recreational camping began in America during the Victorian Era, so I had wondered why camping, as far as I could tell, had not been embraced by the steampunk community. That is about to change. The Cowford Steampunk Society out of Jacksonville, Florida is organizing a Victorian Glamping event in October (which is when Florida weather becomes tolerable without AC).

https://www.facebook.com/events/219775821547894/

  In case the concept of "glamping" is new to you, it means "glamorous camping". Modern glamping looks something like this:

   photo 1-1.jpg Glamping seems to be particularly popular in the UK, which is where this picture came from (http://www.glampingholiday.co.uk/).

 The idea is to enjoy an adventure in the great outdoors without really roughing it.

 This is my favorite photograph of a real Victorian Era luxury tent setup:  photo annie5.jpg
Annie Oakley

It's never too early to plan for something like this, so a few days ago, when I found an interesting little folding table at a thrift store, I bought it to go in our tent.

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I sanded it down and refinished it to match the wooden folding chairs we already have.

 photo DSC_0010-7.jpg

The tag on it said it was a coffee table, but it folds flat and can be adjusted to different heights.

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If you would like to see more of the glamping ideas I've collect, I have a Pinterest board labeled "Steampunk Camping": http://www.pinterest.com/lisarooney/steampunk-camping/

 photo 4cd40a9c-e1a0-465b-abd1-3ebaafb6ef57.jpg

5 comments:

Erin Winslow aka Itsbugart said...

I SO envy you that table!!!

Sandra B. said...

Glamping is also really popular in Korea, there are whole resorts for it, and you don't have to bring anything, not even food. Everything is provided.

Your table looks great, I love the little corner embellishments.

Sandra B. said...

Oh, I found a book, Emilie and the Hollow World, that Blaze might like.
http://www.amazon.com/Emilie-Hollow-World-Martha-Wells/dp/1908844493/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1393516237&sr=1-1

Crescent Moon said...

Thank you!
That book does seem like something Blaze would like.
We're reading The Lord of the Rings books right now and are only about 1/4 of the way through The Two Towers.
We're also reading The Grapes of Wrath as part of our history unit about the great depression (although I'm editing out quite a bit of the swearing as I read it out loud).
Having something that is fun and lighter reading may be just what we need when we finish these.

Sandra B. said...

If he does like it there is supposed to be a sequel coming out soon.

Crafty Crow