Camping: yay or nay?

[Kitty 34]

That's what I love about this one hotel we go to up at Mackinaw City. It has beautiful firepits on the beach with wood provided and when you're done sitting around that campfire on a starry night you just go up to your nice hotel room with queen size beds and get a good night sleep.

 

[ringaswan]

We carry everything on our backs ... tent, sleeping bag, food, clothes, etc. ... we've hiked the Northville-Placid trail a few times (122 miles), the Chilkoot in Alaska, sections of the AT, and wandered about in Yellowstone, Grand Teton (Teton Crest Trail), and Denali. We love it. We have done this spring, summer, fall, and, yes, winter.

But it's not for everybody.

and when we go to Disney we snag a condo.

 

[NMAmy]

I hate camping with a passion. My mother loved camping so we went every weekend when the weather was good and for weeks on end in the summer. We did tent camping when I was young and got a motorhome when I was a teen. Hate it, hate it, hate it.

I remember my ex telling my mother once that I "didn't know how to camp." That's when my mother piped up and said, "Are you kidding? She can start a fire in the rain, she can cook on a campfire or a campstove, she can pitch a tent. You bet your bippy she knows how to camp!" I pointed out that I'd never told him I couldn't, I'd told him I WOULDN'T!

 

[KimR]

I hate camping. We went camping 4 or 5 days out of the week EVERY week EVERY summer when I was kid. No more. I didn't like it then and I hate it even more now. It's funny how it works out, though, because when I was a kid I always wanted to go on a 'real' vacation. So now, as an adult, that is a priority for me. We take one big vacation a year (Disney) and sometimes smaller weekend trips. But what do my kids ask to do? They want to go camping!.

 

[JEmaryland]

My husband and I love camping and always used a tent. But the last time, a few weeks ago, we actually took the back seats out of our minivan and set up our sleeping bags back there. It was pretty nice not having to set up a tent!

 

[cinmell]

Nay!

 

[SDFgirl]

We go tent camping a few times a year - I like it as long as I have an air mattress that doesn't leak, and CLEAN HOT showers available!

Actually my preferred way to camp is in a "Kamper Kabin" - they have them at the KOA we go to. It's rustic, but it does have electricity, heat/AC, and a cutesy little front porch with a swing...

http://koa.com/facilities/images/photogallery/kabin/large/kabin10.htm

 

[Pigeon]

I hate camping. Sleeping on the ground--ugh. Bugs--yuck. Moldy tents--ick. No plumbing--unspeakable. I'm not anti-nature, but I have a perfectly nice house with good beds and functional plumbing. I'll sleep there or in a hotel.

 

[TimeforMe]

I have so enjoyed reading everyone's posts and LOL more than a few times while doing so. You all had some good ideas, too. While I wouldn't invest $ on a pop-up or trailer (at this time anyway), I could definitely do a cabin or something similar. Like a few posters mentioned, I CANNOT stand waking up feeling damp, etc. And the poster that mentioned the army tent reminded me of how back in the day, a bunch of us -- all girls -- went camping and rented a tent that sounded just like yours. Of course it poured the first night and thankfully I was in the middle, but all of our stuff got wet, etc. Yuck!!!

 

[mickeyboat]

I loved tent camping until I had kids. It's just too much work - planning, shopping, packing, loading, setting up, cooking, cleaning, repacking, unloading, putting crap away, doing laundry. When is there time to relax?

Now we go to a rustic resort in the same area of the country where we liked to camp. They provide 2 meals a day and all activities, so it's a vacation for me, too.

I do go to Girl Scout camp with DDs a couple times a year, though.

Denae

 

[ragdoll]

I have never been camping. I will never go camping. I do not have to experience camping to know that I would absolutely HATE it!

 

[RadioNate]

I like the idea of it. In reality no way. It is a pain and I don't feel safe!

DS is dying to go camping and we might do a 1 night cub scout thing so we don't have to get tons of gear.

 

[KristinBelle]

We're going camping for the first time next month, I'm excited.

 

[CarolinaBlue]

In my camper with electricity, bathroom, shower, beds, etc.: YES
In a tent: NEVER

My tent-camping days were over about 20 years ago . My family bought a pop-up camper about 3 years ago. We had it for about a year and traded for a Class C motorhome. Now we're about to trade for a hybrid camper. That's my kind of camping.

 

[java]

Nope camping isn't my thing. I lasted one day at Girl scout camp- didn't even make it through the night.

Bugs, snakes, bears oh my!

 

[izzy]

When my family used to go camping when I was in my late teens, I would drive back to house every day (about a 30 minute drive), take my shower, blow dry my hair, and then watch the Young and the Restless. I'd go back to the campsite for dinner and spend the night, but I hated it. One night our dog, who was in the back of our station wagon with me started barking up a storm. We shone the flashlight out near to where my brother was sleeping in a pup tent. My brother is tall and tent was small, so his feet were sticking out of the end of the tent. About that time we saw a skunk walking across his feet. I can tell you that this was the end of camping for me!

I now consider anything less than a Hampton Inn to be "roughing it."

 

[paintnolish]

My problem is that I have to go to the bathroom several times a night, even if I don't drink that much in the evening. The, seeing as I am not a guy, therein lies the problem.

 

[pweyl36]

I love camping, have been doing it since I was about 1yr old. Got my hubby
into camping. We started in a tent then pop-up, and now we have a 30ft trailer that we just love it. The people that camp at the campsites are just the friendliest people you ever what to meet.

 

[Liberty Belle]

Yay!

I love camping. I can't do it anymore without an air mattress, as I have two herniated discs, but I used to love to backpack, find a nice, natural site and then camp in our small tent. Those days are over for me, though.

 

[xoprincessmomxo]

When my husband and I first got together about 10 years ago, we went camping nearly every weekend. Spur of the moment trips, planned trips, just us and our two person tent and it was lovely.

Now, I'm not so sure. The idea of "relaxing" in a tent, no matter how large, with him, a seven year old, and a two year old doesn't sound so much relaxing as a nightmare.

If we had an RV it would be different. I'm trying to convince him to buy one, but he doesn't like the idea of driving something that big. He's a bit of a weenie when it comes to driving! (good thing he doesn't read the Dis, not sure how happy he'd be that I am letting that out in public.)