Campers, Trailers, Caravans

When I was looking at the LONNY site the other day, there were some beautiful photographs of the  interior spaces of airstream trailers that started taking me down the path of camping nostalgia.

As a young girl, every summer was filled with taking trips around the central and southern California coast for beachside camping. My grandparents rounded up Jenna, Katie, Michael--all cousins who I grew up with-- and myself into their little camper and out we'd go for what felt like a month (from a non-child's perspective, days to a week, maybe). How clever little campers are, with the lunch table folding into a bed, and the couch opening up for two, and a loft bed that arches over the top, directly above the driver. The most impractical sleeping space growing up in my grandparents camper was the space underneath the fold out bed. With four kids, though, the eldest and most wise, at the time Jenna, always got this highly desired sleeping alcove (outfitted with a sleeping bag and flashlight, of course). Nowadays, I lean towards the sleeping situation like in the above photograph, with vintage blankets and a window to watch the stars from as I drift off to sleep.

I can remember being a kid and playing in my grandparents camper, even when we weren't parked beachside. They kept it on their long driveway, in their San Gabriel neighborhood, right next to the wide front lawn. After cartwheels and hula-hooping, my cousins and I would play house and dive deep into our imaginations in that camper. We each had our own compartment that we could put whatever we wanted inside--for our travels, of course. Treasures. And did I mention we all had camping names? Jenna was Jennifer. Katie was Kathryn. Mike was Dan. And I was Melissa (after Melissa JoanHart, I was a the biggest fan of Clarissa Explains it All at the time...) 

Aren't these vintage trailer interiors gorgeous? I love the buffalo plaids. There is a sense that time cannot alter the inside. Like the vast space of the great outdoors, when you truly get away from it all, unchanged it stands. Grass is still grass. A stream is still a stream. Flowers still bloom reaching up to the sky. And coyotes still cackle at midnight under the same stars that have and always will be light years away. Maybe that is why I love camping--tent, trailer, camper, caravan--whatever. I love that it feels the same way now as it did when I was a little girl. I love that the great outdoors remains the still the same as I remember it to always be.

images via LONNY // houzz // Velvet & Linen // Vignette Design Blog // Anta | Made in Scotland // Christophe Rouffio