We pulled into Jonathan Dickinson State Park, watching water spouts form in the black cloud above us. Could the park be cursed, or is it only when I want to go camping there?

Last time I'd taken kids camping at that state park, which is about an hour-plus north of here, a
controlled burn raged out of control in the fast winds, and the park was severely damaged.

I had my Cub Scout den there, and it's a campout none of them will forget. They couldn't breathe; the smoke was thick. Fire was licking the sky, and firemen (and, maybe, firewomen), were shouting for everyone to get out, quickly. We threw all of our stuff in the car, amidst chaos and screaming, and coughing and choking, and we left. Many, many other people must have lost their campers, tents and gears, because the fire lept across the lake to our campsite.

For some of them, it was the last campout they've had. Not that they died in the fire. They just couldn't shake the traumatic way that campout ended, when they were only 9 and 10 years old.

But the park itself is quite nice. So I took my two kids there last weekend. We did a one-night camping trip. And it was wonderful.

Mind you, as during any campout, I had moments where I wondered: Why in the world would I do this to myself? The wind started to pick up, and the sky looked ominous. People were videotaping the water spouts -- mini-tornadoes -- forming in the clouds. And it was one of the coldest nights of the year.

It was so difficult putting the tent up in the wind that I became a spectacle for other campers.

But that's one of the reasons we camp, instead of going to a hotel. You "build'' your little house for the night, and you have a sense of accomplishment. There's no TV. You have to resort to good, old-fashioned fun, like kickball, hiking, building fires, and maybe cards.

It's great for city kids like ours growing up in Broward County. You'd think they'd never seen a cactus the way they enjoyed finding them on hikes.

I started looking for another place to camp, to show my kids all the faces of Florida. This site, Reserve America, allows you to reserve campsites and pay for them online. That's how I reserved the campout last weekend. But it doesn't have all the campsites in Florida on it. So this is another good resource: The Official 2008 Florida Camping Directory.

Enjoy!

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