Dean & Michelle | Happy Gnome Home Clients

Grow old along with me ! The best is yet to be , the last of life , for which the first was made .

— Robert Browning

Last year , after a cold and wet camping weekend in the rain at Jasper National Park and a month later being furiously attacked by mosquitos at Lakeland Provincial Park , Michelle and I decided it was time for an upgrade . We kept our tent for backpacking and canoeing excursions , but for car camping , we purchased a teardrop trailer to protect us from bloodsucking insects and cold rainy weather . At our age , we think we deserve some creature comforts .

I have many fond memories of camping when I was growing up . When I was very young , I remember camping with my grandparents at Pine Lake and sleeping in their canvas tent . Also , camping with my parents who owned a small tent trailer , and later a large trailer . Michelle has always been a tent camper , spending many nights with her family camping in Drumheller .

When we started dating , we borrowed a friend ’ s two-man tent to go backpacking in Kananaskis Provincial Park . After we got married , we purchased a three-man tent , and by the time our third son was born , we owned a sixman tent . We never considered owning a trailer : camping to us meant living outside , sleeping on the ground with sleeping bags , and cooking meals on the picnic table . Our boys enjoyed our camping trips , which included backpacking trips in the Rocky Mountains .

When we began researching trailers and camping vans , we wanted to be sure to find something that would maintain our connection to the outdoors , and a custom-built teardrop trailer manufactured by Gnome Homes filled the bill . It is only one step up from tenting : we sleep off the ground on a comfy mattress with pillows and blankets , and the back opens to a kitchen .

There are lights for reading in the evening and a charging station for our electronic devices . The bonus is it ’ s cheap to pull , and we can store it in our garage .

This year , Michelle and I are enjoying making new camping memories with our teardrop trailer . Inside our Gnome Home , we had the phrase “ The best is yet to be ” engraved on a plaque mounted inside . We are currently travelling to Dawson City , Yukon , a trip that we would have never considered if we continued camping in a tent . The trip has been the best yet — well , except for mosquitoes . Not even a trailer can protect us from being attacked by those pesky blood-thirsty insects at an infested campground .