How did you "get into camping"? was it the FT?

[FlaFortCampster]

Who, what, why, how?


So who, what, why, how did you start camping? Was it the Ft.?

Awesome thread, thank you.


Like so many, I started camping as a kid. It was the only thing the family could afford for awhile. We loved it. Mom was a master at making breakfast with Sterno.....still don't know how she did it. We camped all over Florida, the Keys, Ocala National Forest, J. Dickinson, Sebring, Oleno and even did a trip up North tent camping the whole way. That was tough as we got flooded one night outside of Gettysburg. Everything was cold and wet, so we got a motel home the next night. Remember singing row, row, row your tent gently down the mountain with my brother.
My folks finally got a small TT. Pure luxury. Remember a great trip up to Michigan to visit family one year. It was great.
First camping trip to the Fort was 1973 in 2 small pup tents. Finally worked up to the popup currently owned now. Also, pure luxury.
I can see where a motorhome would be awesome if one had the $$$, especially so I could bring my babies along. Just so thrilled to have my Fleetwood, life is good.

 

[Michelle GT]

I went camping in TT as a kid. DH never camped growing up except with the boyscouts in tents and he hated it.(always rained) A few years ago, we wanted to go to Disney and my dog was such a baby about being left without us that I started talking to him about a TT. He really didn't want to, given his experiences with camping. Then one day in August I was able to get two sites in FW for Christmas. I convinced my mom/dad to come and then off to look for TT. It is kind of funny. We got the TT end of Nov. and then drove down the next month for Christmas. The only experience driving was in our local High school parking lot. We were such novices. So, first I got the reservation then bought the TT and tow vehicle. We have been 3 times to the fort and we really like it. We also use it to go to Nj shore and Va.

 

[CCIntrigue]

We got into camping because we wanted to take our Schnauzer with us to the Fort! Over 20 years camping now and we've never regretted our decision.

 

[lorac4disney]

Deer camp as a kid. When we were kids, my dad would take us to deer camp with him. We had a private, family hunting club so our deer camp was like a huge family reunion where I got to play with my cousins. There were tents and TT's all set up in a circle. We had a huge bonfire every night. We talked and laughed and ate. For some reason, the food always tasted better eating it around the bonfire and the stories were always funnier. I fell in love with those times.

After I grew up, I never considered not camping. Not having much money early on, it was really the only vacations I could afford. When it came to planning our first real vacation, I discovered the Fort. Since I already had the equipment, I thought it was a great way to save a little money since we were on a tight budget.

Now my kids get upset everytime they see someone else camping and we aren't such as when I take them to the lake to go fishing or swimming. They want to camp also. It is an activity that our entire family enjoys.

 

[retired and happy]

I saw a Dodge MH in 1964 and was fascinated with the concept. It was 10 years later that I got my used Class C and raised my two older boys in it. We went to FW once or twice in it. For a time I was a Scout leader and camped with them for a couple years. I hated the tent and usually slept in the covered rear of my pickup. I let the scouts have the tents. I sold the Class C to buy materials to build a garage, but never finished the garage before my job moved me. Fast forward 10-15 years and we found a very used Class A that we could afford. We cleaned it and began our routine trips to FW and to Dollywood. As our special needs family expanded we moved to a 37' MH that promptly blew an engine. A few months after an engine repair we found another 37 footer with a slide that we use today. We're on the lookout for a reasonable multi-slide unit that will take us beyond our traveling years. In the meantime, we couldn't be without our motorhome and our somewhat annual Christmas month at FW.

 

[juligrl]

Some of the first pictures of me camping are of me, naked, on a picnic table in Kansas. I was 9 months old and my parents decided to do a western camping trip so I got to tag along. I was hooked!
This is my cottage:

So technically, it's not camping cause it's a house. It has this:

but it also has this:

which in my book counts as nearly "roughing it". Anyhow I spent the majority of my summer weekends with family there through much of my youth. Toss in yearly tent camping trips with my parents and somehow the girl that still hates snakes and worms incredibly turns out to be a camping nut. Both me and my sister (who still doesn't care much for bugs) really ended up loving camping and my sister even gets paid to camp now.

My mom always camped because she loved the outdoors. She even had part ownership of a camper before she met my dad and she and another teacher friend of hers took that camper on an east coast camping trip one summer. My dad I think mainly likes camping cause it's cheap and so is he, but hey, whatever works.

We did the obligatory family trip to WDW in May of 1982 when I was 4 and my sister was 10 months old. Of course we drove (cheaper) and camped (twice on the way down, at Ft. Wilderness and once on the way home). I vividly remember the trip and loving the Ft. I even remember the movies I saw and who took me. I remember the toys I played with, the neat cereal that mom brought along and the image of my sister sitting on the corner of the sand pad eating fistfulls of sand.

All my camping experiences (all done in a tent and also including another tenting trip out west) have been good - or at least I've managed to find the good in them.

I hope I'm passing the good camping experiences on to my family.

 

[BibbidyBobbidyBoo]

Well.....
My DH and kids have always loved camping. I guess I'd have to say DH always loved camping and the kids "got into it" because of him and also because of Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts.
Me? I wasn't really "into" camping- until we got the travel trailer.... I'm not a tent person. I've done it before but I do NOT enjoy it..... t'all. I'm totally fine with "roughing it" (hahaha) in the TT though.
(sorry- I primarily grew up with single mother/2 sisters and mom working so much we never had time to go camping even if we had wanted to!)

I know I'm going to be way more "into it" at FW than anywhere else though. I'm always drawn to visit and do things there on our WDW trips when we used to stay at other resorts. So we're looking forward to this trip! which we take off driving heading that way in just over 24hrs! (friday early am) omg I still have things to do and stuff to pack!

 

[SCCamper]

Ever since I remember, my family has always gone camping. I can remember when I was very young (early 70's) that my parents owned a small TT. Couldn't even begin to tell you what it was. In the mid 70's when I was about 9 or 10, my parents started shopping for a new TT. I remember going to different RV dealerships in Savannah, GA looking at different models. I thought it was an adventure back then. I remember looking at the brochures for hours on end. They had bought a 28' Shasta TT, I think. Later, my Dad got tired of pulling a TT and moved up to a class c motorhome. This was what we took on our first trip to FW in '78. We used to go everywhere in it.

Fast forward to the late 80's.
When I was finally on my own, I really missed camping. I went out and bought a dome tent and all the gear. I didn't mind the heat back then so it wasn't a big deal. I would just bring along a fan and I'd be fine. Later, I began to tell myself that I was getting tired of sleeping on the ground and being hot. I broke down and bought a pop-up camper. Loved having the A/C, fridge, stove, etc...Since then I have been upgrading to the rig I have now. When I retire, I will probably move up to a motorhome and full time it around the country.

 

[daddyphat808]

For us it was the Fort! We stayed in a cabin and about 6 months later we had a camper!

 

[kc5grw]

I was going to say Boy Scouts, but after thinking about it I realized that we went tent camping as a family quite a bit before I ever started camping with the Boy Scouts. We camped in tents for years in northern CA. My dad then bought a little 16' self contained travel trailer. He then decided to get rid of that and get a pop-up. The first RV I bought was a pop-up then onto my 5th wheel.

 

[WalkingintheFog]

I guess I was still in the womb when I started camping.
My parents went tent camping on their honeymoon here in NL in 1957. The first year that baby me actually went, it was with my folks and my 4 sisters....5 girls under 6 including 3 of us under 2yrs and in CLOTH! diapers, in a tent.

As years passed, we moved up/to a tent camper + tent
And then to a small trailer (M/D on the table bed, the twins in the upper bunk and the "2 big ones" + little me in the bottom bunk).
Next came a slightly bigger trailer with a wee bathroom.
And then a small tent was added (We thought how cool! I realize now, it was my dad's way of making more room for peace and quiet for them! Although I have no idea why he would not want to spend a rainy day in a small trailer with 6 women, 5 between the ages of 11 & 17, and therefore gteed to have a least 1 pms'ing at any given moment....)
And then eventually the 2 oldest teenagers starting opting out of camping (I thought they were crazy, but hey, it finally meant I had a chance at a bed to myself.
And then, as I finished junior high school, they bought some land, parked the trailer, and built a cabin , then sold the trailer.

I don't know if there were any summers we didn't camp--usually at Terra Nova National Park, or a Provincial Campground. Sometimes we were gravelpit campers! We'd always have "camp friends" that we'd meet year after year, and almost always have various cousins and grandparents nearby on their own site. And then there was Girl Guide Camps!

Now, all 5 girls own tents, and with various husbands, children, or without, make enthuastic plans and gadgets and camp menus and tarp arrangements for camping (all OCD types!). One just made a big move and is part owner of a big travel trailer.
I'm "old school" and don't want any electricity on my site, another wants that extension cord in the tent for her bedside lamp and minifridge. A trip to visit Sis in Calgary has to including camping in the Rockies (I sleep in the dead center of the tent, just in case a bear pokes the tent! Not much protection, but I take what comfort I can!)

Camping and thoughts of camping are my original happy place!

 

[banfam4]

I've never been to FW but will get to camp there this summer! I did camp a lot as a child. My dad loved camping. We had different campers. I remember a pop-up, a camper that went on back of a truck, a huge van with a bed, and a trailer we hitched and pulled. I grew up in CA so most of my camping was there. My dad passed away when I was 11 and my mom wasn't one to take us camping on her own. I think I only went camping with friends 3x between ages 11 and 18 (when I got and married).

My husband (a Marine of 18 years) and I went camping many places during the 8 years before having children. I think I like camping even more than him. He rarely went as a child and only knows of roughing it military style. I'm the family-style camping pro. We've camped in several different states- all tent camping. I tent camp in luxury though. Nice blankets, air mattress, table cloths, and at campgrounds with nice facilities. I've never roughed it, though I would like to try....just have to get over the issue of going to the bathroom. I have a now 6 year old boy and a soon to be 3 year old boy. My six year old went camping in the Palomar Mountains for two nights and on the beach in SoCal 1 night. My younger son has never been camping at all.

With my boys at the perfect age to start family camping I'm thrilled about our upcoming adventures this summer! We are making a military move from NC back to CA and we have 47 days to do it. We're making a fun vacation out of it that will included lots of camping across the states and some hotel time as well. By the end of this summer we will be pro tent campers!

Happy camping to all

Sarah

 

[GOBA Mom Lynn]

I am so glad this thread was started! I was thinking of starting a similar thread myself.

My camping started early, as my older brother was a boy scout, so we tent camped for a few years until my mom discovered a dealer selling Scotty trailers near where she worked. We progressed from a 13' to 15' to eventually an 18' trailer, doing weekend trips and week-long "caravans" to Nova Scotia (with 54 trailers!) and the Black Hills of SD. After my dad died, mom kept the trailer, but it was permanantly parked in a campground.
My DH did boy scout camping growning up as well as one trip to CA in a small trailer with his family. We met at an outdoors club (AYH) and did lots of weekend trips backpacking and bike camping (carrying all your stuff on your bike). After the kids came along the biking and tenting continued, only we didn't carry the gear on the bikes anymore. Meanwhile, my in-laws bought a trailer and lot in a former Yogi Bear campground, so we do weekend trips to their camp, staying in a park model trailer, although when the whole family shows up, there's usually a couple of tents set up so everyone has a place to sleep. Just this year we finally stayed at FW, and had a great time. It was the first time in a long time that we've done a regular family camping style trip, but hopefully we'll be doing more. I would love to get a small trailer like our family's original 13' Scotty, or a nice little T@B and get back to FW sooner rather than later!
Hope I didn't bore everyone with the novel, but I have really enjoyed reading everyone else's "histories" Thanks for the thread!

 

[splashmtnfan]

When we were kids we went tent camping, one time it even snowed! That is really starnge in Southeast Texas! It was a fluke! But our whole family would get a large campsite and we all had tents, we had a tarp-type cover that we had set up where our "kitchen" was ( tables, sink, food cabinet etc.) and another one set-up with a changing room portable toilet and shower bag thingy that hung from a tree it heated up in the sun all day and the water was really warm! We always had our bicycles and we got up early and left camp, I think we only came back to eat! There was my two older brothers, my nieces and nephew who were only 4 and 6 yrs. younger than us and we just roamed the trails. Completely carefree... it was great!

 

[SunshineCamper]

great stories-i love reading all of them. it looks like most camped as kids some even in the womb first.

 

[gillenkl]

We got ionto camping because we got tired of paying out the nose for a FILTHY hotel room and lousy service. So now we take our hotel room with us and no one to blame on bad service cept ourself.
Now we KNOW we sleep in fresh clean linens.

AMEN! I grew up camping as a kid - my parents toted me around in their trailer from the time I was just a few months old until I was around 16. I couldn't wait to be done with camping and move up to the hotel chain. But after paying high prices for supposedly 5-star hotels that weren't that great - plus who knows who or what was sleeping in that bed before I got there......camping started to look good again. And it's way more economical for our family. We can afford 13 days at disney in our trailer - versus a week in a hotel.

 

[guardwife66]

My camping began as a child. My family spent every year at "shut down" week at the lake. We started out in tents and screen rooms. There was no air mattresses for this girl. Then we graduated up to a school bus. It was stripped of its seats and dad added beds, tables, chairs, and even an ice box (with actual ice to keep things cold) . Later after I got married my parents went and got an actual 5th wheel and parked it at resort. We visited them there at least once a year.

Hubby and I did a couple of camping trips alone in tents and once in a shelter half he had from the Army. When DD was 4 we decided it was time to return to camping. We bought a pop-up and headed for the lake. After a few years of heat and no AC, we upgraded to a TT. We actually only kept the TT for about 9 months before we traded for our class C MH. We have camped all over the place. And we have been to Disney several times. But it wasn't until we took the MH to Disney in 2006 that we discovered the Fort and we are hooked.

We can't get back as often as we like but we will never go anywhere but the Fort when we go back.

 

[bobnjenn0828]

I started camping when I was a baby with my grandparents. They had a pop up that was only 2 beds on each side with a walkway in the middle. Then they got the Apache camper. We usually camped in the Great Smokey mountains at Mr and Mrs. Owl's campground in Cherokee - it is now condos. My mom bought a pop up and we used it until in my teens - then she decided she only wanted to stay in hotel rooms!

So about 3 years ago we borrowed by brothers tent and went camping in Pigeon Forge in July - bad mistake - it was hot. By the next year we had a pop up with AC and last August we bought a hybrid tt - which we love!!!

Can't wait to be at FW in July and then again in October

 

[Mmketeer]

Absolutley! I completly credit Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort to me being a camper!!
As a kid my parents put me in a tent that of course was damp and horriable. That was to be the end of me ever camping, period.
Until I started working for Disney and wanted to take my four legged child with me on vacation. I quickly learned the only place I could stay with my BT was at Fort Wilderness in a camper. So, DH and I found a small older travel trailer that we upgraded and converted to our taste and we started staying at Fort Wilderness. I was just happy to have a solid roof over my head as I had also borrowed a friends pop-up and found it to close to a tent for my tastes. The first time we camped at the fort we didn't even have a/c, course that was miserable and by the next time we went we at least had a room a/c unit in a window. We had twin beds and it was small, but the resort made it all worth it. At that time we stayed exclusively in the 1900 loop.
Fast forward 12 years later and we now have a 5th wheel that we got for a steal, with all the ammenties I could ever hope for including a king size bed. You can now find us in the 800 loop and I now love camping and am finally ready to spread my wings and try other places. Though I have to admit Disney has me and my two BT's spoiled as we are having a really hard time finding a resort anything close to staying at Disney. So, far I have only found one place that we have been to that we enjoy almost as much...Holiday Cove in Bradenton. It doesn't offer all the same ammenities, but it does offer free cable, free internet, it has a gym, pool and is on a canal where if you have a boat you can bring it or just go fishing. The best part in my opinion is it is just a quick bike ride to the beaches, a free trolley ride to Anna Maria and you can find the best seafood around. So, thanks to Disney and Fort Wilderness I became a camper as an adult after all.

 

[tloveswdw]

sisters....5 girls under 6 including 3 of us under 2yrs and in CLOTH! diapers, in a tent.

Funny... as we will be in the cabin with our four children, with our cloth diapers Just as we do everyday, and every trip (all in clusive 5 star in Jamaica, Four Seasons Santa Barbabra, WDW, and everywhere inbetween) It is not the hard...