Items

• 
  2020-07-03

  A Taste of Normal

  I am sharing the first photograph I took on a camping trip in Mammoth Lakes, CA in July 2020. I spend a lot of time outdoors camping and hiking. At the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, I cancelled my planned trips for the first four months. I also stopped hiking because local trails were so busy and I tended to avoid close distance to strangers even outside. The trip to Mammoth Lakes was setup because my sister and I decided we had to get outside. Masks were still required in many public places, but there weren't restrictions on camping. I remember two distinctive reactions to the camping trip. It was our first time being around a lot of other people in public and so we were on high alert to avoid close interactions and were wearing masks any time we went inside the little campground shop for firewood. What came as a shock was the relaxed manner the other campers enjoyed their weekend. I felt like I was outside looking in at an exhibit. I was happy to be outside, but I felt removed from all the other campers. To see others in person experiencing the pandemic so much differently than I was, felt very isolating. However, we drove to Mammoth to get a taste of regular life and it did do that as well. Our last night there, a bear wondered into the campsite. It was scared back into the woods about 20 yards from our campsite. The next morning the bear wondered back in and I woke up to it smelling around our neighbor's tent. The bear eventually went on its way. I was so grateful to that bear for giving me a story, an experience. I had felt like every day was the same since March and was just happy to see a big beautiful animal. I was also grateful to have a camping trip that helped me to feel that at some point I'd do normal things again. When something so sudden and intense like a pandemic occurs I think it's normal to feel like nothing will ever be the same again, but the camping trip and being outside felt normal enough to give me a little peace.