“Camping is nature’s way of promoting the motel business” is a saying that has been printed on many images. The saying means that people who go camping will eventually want to stay in a motel instead. American author and columnist Dave Barry is usually credited.
The saying comes from the book Dave Barry’s Only Travel Guide You’ll Ever Need (1991), Chapter Eight, titled “Camping: Nature’s Way of Promoting the Motel Industry.”
Wikipedia: Dave Barry
David McAlister “Dave” Barry (born July 3, 1947) is a Pulitzer Prize winning American author and columnist, who wrote a nationally syndicated humor column for the Miami Herald from 1983 to 2005. He has also written numerous books of humor and parody, as well as comedic novels.
Google Books
Dave Barry’s Only Travel Guide You’ll Ever Need
By Dave Barry
New York, NY: Fawcett Columbine
1991
Pg. 10:
... (see Chapter Eight, “Camping: Nature’s Way of Promoting the Motel Industry”).
Google Groups: alt.herpes
Medicines, where low price ?
Rebecca Crouch
10/21/00
(...)
“Camping is nature’s way of promoting the motel business.”
Google Books
The Five Minute Parent:
Fun & Fast Activities for You and Your Little Ones
By Deborah Shelton
Houston, TX: Bayou Publishing
2002
Pg. 70:
“Camping is nature’s way of promoting the motel business.” — Dave Barry
Google Books
The 2,548 Wittiest Things Anybody Ever Said
Selected and compiled by Robert Byrne
New York, NY: Touchstone
2012
Pg. ?:
1,659
Camping is nature’s way of promoting the motel business.
—Dave Barry
Google Books
Scorn:
The Wittiest and Wickedest Insults in Human History
By Matthew Parris
London, UK: Profile Books Ltd
2016
Pg. ?:
Camping is nature’s way of promoting the motel business.
Dave Barry
Twitter
John’s World 🌐
@LifeWithJohn
Camping is nature’s way of promoting the motel business. Dave Barry #quote #humor
4:24 AM - 5 Feb 2018
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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