Ever since I had children, I’ve always had these fantasies of going on camping trips and having amazing adventures. The problem is I’m what one would call a “city girl.” I like my luxuries. I like running water and electricity and WiFi and bathrooms.
So I never followed through with my camping ideas because I was always scared of what camping with children without these luxuries would look like. Well, last weekend I finally took the plunge and my family went on our first camping trip. If you read my last column on Summer Bucket Lists then I will add that we crossed #3 off of our list!
My parents bought a motorhome last year and have been frequenting our family’s camping lot, so we decided to join them on one of their weekend trips. I started preparing about a month in advance. I researched camping gear, I bought a tent and other supplies. I made my list of items to pack and I was ready to go. What I didn’t prepare myself for was the amount of stuff that needs to be taken on a camping trip.
Camping involves a lot of stuff! I drive an SUV with third row seating and I filled up the entire back part of the car as well as the seats where my kids were supposed to sit. Luckily, they were able to ride in the motorhome with my parents or else we would have had to drive a second car just to take them along. After filling up the car and grabbing the dog to take along I was finally prepared to make the trip to the family lot.
Two hours later we arrived at the campsite. It is exactly what you’re imagining a small family camping lot looks like. Lots of trees, an outhouse, and dirt roads all around us. We were all excited to unload the car and get our tent set up. Earlier when I said I bought a tent I didn’t just buy a small tent for the four of us. I had to get a little bit of comfort somewhere, so I purchased a 10-person, three room tent along with air mattresses. There was no sleeping on the ground for this city girl. The problem with a 10-person tent is it is very large, so we had to find a good space to set up. Once we found a space it took about four people to put it together. But we did it. And our home away from home was ready to go!
Camping was more relaxing than I thought it would be. We hung out around the fire, let the kids run around and play in the woods, cooked food on the grill and over the campfire and went swimming. The glorious thing about being in the woods two hours away from home was that the cell service was very spotty, which meant I could just tuck my phone away and forget about it for a while. I’m like many people in this world, I love my cellphone but it felt good to be unconnected for a few days. The kids had a rough time in the beginning not being able to play their internet-based games or watch YouTube but they quickly got over it and started playing outside.
The amazing thing about all of this was how dirty the kids were by the end of the weekend. It was refreshing. I know that sounds weird to say a dirty child is refreshing but what I enjoyed about it was that the kids were actually playing outside and being kids rather than sitting inside on their electronics all day. That’s what made it great. They were literally playing in the dirt and the river and enjoying themselves. That made me feel like maybe I’ve made a little progress at teaching my children to play outside.
Overall, I think our first camping trip was a success. We obviously had a few hiccups. The whole weekend was not perfect but it was close enough. Things went well enough that the kids are asking to go again very soon. I think I will make a couple of changes though before we go again. First, I will not bring as much stuff. We didn’t use half of the items I packed and I’ve also been looking at small campers to buy. I’m not sure I’m much of a tent camper, I still like my luxuries after all.
I’m really glad we made the effort and took the plunge to go camping. I think we learned a lot about ourselves personally and our families and we grew closer because of it. I look forward to many more camping adventures in the future. I just hope I have running water and a bed next time.
Steph Hightree is a hot mess mom who is fueled by stress and too much caffeine. She is a Three Rivers native who talks about the good, the bad, and well, everything else about parenthood.
Any views or opinions expressed in “#MomLife” are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Watershed Voice staff or its board of directors.
