Camping and Cards

We did a lot of things for fun.  But, the two things I feel define our family entertainment is CAMPING and CARDS.

We have camped as long as I can remember.  I think Mom said that I first went camping when I was just a few months old.  I know that they camped since they were young and I was born into that.  It didn't matter if we went far away or close to home.  We couldn't wait until Grandma and Grandpa came home from work on a Friday so we could be off and running.  The work it took to go camping, organizing the camper, packing everything, and cleaning the camper were chores we all gladly helped with.  Seldom would we go camping alone.  My grandparents belonged to a camping club and made great friends through it that at least two generations of the family grew up calling "Aunts and Uncles".  The friends we went camping with and friends we made while camping are forever ingrained in my brain including their four-legged family members like a wonderful basset hound named Sir.  Camping was full of love, great friends, wonderful food, campfires, playing games, and CARDS.

I can't remember not playing cards.  I think our family members are born with a deck of cards in their hand.  As early as I remember we were playing the typical little kid games of Go Fish and Old Maid like normal families.  But, I remember at 5 or 6, as kids we were taught to "gamble" by playing Garbage (a combination of easy little games where you bet with pennies).  We didn't get to play poker with the adults until we were teenagers though.  Those of you lucky enough to have a copy of the Stewart Family Card Bible know that the card games didn't stop there.  As we got older, we were taught more and more games requiring more and more strategy and learning to bid.  Shanghai was a game that Grandma Yeaples(my great-grandmother) loved.  It is similar to Phase 10 but has a few twists.  I can't even begin to describe all of the games in her book, but the two "northern" games(as I tell my friends and family here) that seemed to be the staple when I was growing up was Euchre and Pinochle. These were the two games I considered "grown-up games" because they were complicated and required bidding, remembering which cards did what with other cards, strategy and other rules and twists.  I couldn't wait to learn these grown-up games. When I moved in with Grandma and Grandpa at 13, I learned cut-throat Euchre because there were three of us.  One thing about learning to play cards at a young age is they never "let us win".  We were taught as anyone was: play a couple open hands, a few hands with reminder about what trump was and then we were on our own to sink or swim.  This is how we also taught Traven to play any board game or cards as well.  We are continuing his education as he has learned a few of the card games from "the book" including Euchre and hopefully he will be learning Pinochle soon.  Thanks for giving me this legacy to pass on!