Camping, Really?

[lisajl]

Hi!
We are in central Ohio, not too far from Columbus. You know, I would not have thought I would be camping at my age. (I am 42), but with my son and scouting, I want to be there for him and have a good time with the family.

We were looking at pop ups but we really need to just go camping and see if we can all handle it. We will proabably eventually get one, but right now just stick to what we have.

I will take any advice you could give us.

I appreciate all the responses I have gotten. For us newbies to camping, it is a lot to take in!
Thanks everyone!
Lisa

 

[funhouse8]

We now have a pop-up for 9 years and love camping. We have been camping since my kids were babies. Just a word of advice. If the campground allows it try to get a site with water & Electric for your first trip. It makes it so much easier to have the water on your site for cooking and cleaning. My Son is a boy scout and loves it too. My older son was one till he was 18. (Was so close to getting his Eagle Scout badge but that's another story.) I like to stay at Camping Resorts, They seem to have nicer bathrooms and lots of activities. My girls have to have a nice bathroom. Pack a tolietre bags for each of you so everyone can shower at the same time. If you can borrow the motor home- head over to cedar point, What a great campground they have. Good Luck to you.

 

[BoardwalkBabe]

We always tent camp at Ft. Wilderness. We have a rather large tent (even though there are two of us), and we bring a screenhouse to set up over the picnic table. We've got chairs, cots to sleep on, a camp kitchen, propane stove for the things we don't cook on the grill (like pancakes) and plenty of other fun things -- like party lights!

It's always hot and humid whenever we've camped, so bring along a fan for the inside of the tent and just know before you go what the weather will be like. Enjoy!

 

[cdclocks]

The best advice I can give is to either tag along with other RVers and see what it's like in their rigs...even though they might be a bit crowded with the extra folks on the trip. If you can't tag along and try out RVs, see what you can rent and try out for a weekend trip. RVs...being everything from pop-ups, cab-overs, travel-trailers, fifth wheels and motorhomes (A, C, conversion vans), etc. There are LOTs of choices...some of which can be lived with...and some which cannot be lived without.

I did the girls scout tent camping....tents on wooden frames....tiny tents on bare ground, and many more in between. I got really tired of tieing down everything and running everything through driers after storms.

Canvas is just not my friend...weather treated or not.

So...as an adult....and NOT an outdoors type...a travel trailer was our first best option. After a couple of years, we realized that we loved RV camping, found an unbelieveably good deal on a motorhome....and have been tripping via campgrounds ever since.

Other than for business purposes, I couldn't tell you the last time I travelled and got a hotel instead of RVing.

Of course WDW is our primary justification for the motorhome. We just LOVE Fort Wilderness, and go 2-3 times a year...as vacation time permits.

What's great, though....is that we have family who truly love to tent camp, a couple who would do better off in a cabin, a couple more with travel trailers.....we can get the whole family in one place at FW.

 

[lisajl]

Thanks for the info. I believe I am not a tent kind of girl. I would much rather go RV'ing or even a pop up. My DH and I were looking at pop ups last weekend. Saw a lot of interesting things. Plus, my inlaws are still trying to get us to buy their RV. It's not in the best shape, so I think we will pass on it, but this Boy Scout stuff has really got us into thinking how fun it will be.
Yes, it will be work, but still fun when we spend time together.

Lisa

 

[nuke]

What a great thread! Lisa I am like you. My idea of roughing it was staying at Holiday Inn instead of Hyatt.

However my husband is a grown up boyscout and loves to camp and has turned me on to it also. We haven't tent camped for a few years but now that my son is also into scouting we are throwing around ideas again.

We stayed with my in-laws in a pop-up about 10 years ago and Fort Wilderness and it is so nice. The bathrooms are clean and everyone is friendly. I really want to go for a couple of weeks to FW and camp. The problem is finding the time.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

[lisajl]

Thanks for the info! I just can't see myself in a tent. I tried years ago and hated it. But, it seems everyone we know camps and tells us how great it is with the kids and the dog.
We will see how it goes.
Lisa

 

[tinan]

Well I think it is a little more work with the dogs. I definitely feel safer in the pop up with the dog and even then we had an incident. LOL The first year we had the pop up my lab decided that he wanted to be on the bed with me. Well he kept scooting and scooting and before you knew it.......the velcro came undone and he was outside wondering how in the world he got out there. I can laugh about it now, but at the time I was worried that he could have gotten hurt. Our Newfoundlands love camping too. We have a very large pop up so they even have their own bed!

 

[Nicks2Angels]

I have tent camped a lot in highschool & college, which was fun at the time. My dh & I are big nature lovers & happened upon a travel trailer at an auction last year. We went camping 8 times. We LOVED it...Now, 2 kids later sprinkled with a little more money & bam-5th wheel toyhauler.

We are do spend most of our time out of doors though. We almost always eat outside & end each night around a fire. Our kids adore it & so do we.

We are near Medina, OH. The KOA in Buckeye is really nice. All the KOA's in OH are pretty nice. The one in Mansfield has a hot tub & the owners are really cool.

 

[goofytime2000]

Being an avid outdoorsman, former Boy Scout, and current part time Assistant Scoutmaster, I think I can sucessfully lend some advice on this subject.
Most everything I have read thus far has been really good. However, I warn agianst air mattresses persay. They are great for comfort, however your average air mattress from Wal-mart won't be the best thing for you. There isn't enough insluation to keep the natural dampness and cold from the ground away from you. I recomend you look into getting an actual sleeping pad. Thermorest and Slumberjack are two big names that come to mind. They have self inflating models which are slightly more comfortable (it won't be as comfortable as a air mat, or your bed at home, but it will be a lot warmer and IMO more comfortable). If I understand you correctly, you'll be going tent camping in central OH in August? I'm from NorthCentral Ohio, and you should be fine with a couple of blankets to cover up with. A sleeping bag won't hurt though. Since you'll be camping with the Boy Scouts, I would geuss that there will be some sort of communial meals/cooking (at least thats how most of the troops I've been with have set up for family campouts) so you shouldn't need too much in the line of cooking gear. Talk to the SM about that one.
You've talked about possibly getting into pop-up camping. My parents switched to that from tent camping about 10 years ago and totally love it!! I loved it at first, however my brother and I kinda out grew the camper (I'm 22, 6', 200lbs, he's 18, 6'2, 165) I decided to give him the bed, and I moved out into my tent (with sleeping pad menitioned above, and a small cot) It's worked great, almost every camp ground I've been to has allowed this (I can only think of one that doesn't). If your son wants to sleep in his tent, most places won't have a problem.
If you have any questions, PM me and let me know. Sorry ya'll for the long post.