We recently went on our first family camping trip. Those of you that are Facebook friends got to follow along on our journey so you know most of the highlights. And if I've seen you since then, I'm sure I've filled you in on all the adventures we had. But if not, you've come to the right place!
Let me start by saying that I'm not outdoorsy. At. All. If you've read other post or know me, you will agree. My idea of relaxing is curling up with a good book or movie. In a house. With a comfy couch and either a furnace or air conditioning depending on the season. My husband says I have a small comfort zone between the temperatures of 69-72 degrees. I don't argue that fact. He's right. I like to be comfortable. I don't see anything wrong with that.
Also, I'd like to point out that my husband has known this from the start. I wasn't one of those girls that tricked him by wearing Birkenstocks and eating granola so he thought that I liked the outdoors. He's known me since high school. He knew what he was getting. So I'm not sure why he's trying to trick me into this whole camping idea. I will say he's going to great lengths to make it comfy but I'm still not buying into it. Yes, we have memory foam mattress toppers and yes he just installed an A/C. So props to him for that but alas, I prefer my house.
For everyone that says camping is relaxing, you are liars. Maybe if I had my camper at a permanent spot and everything was there and I just had to show up and cook a s'more, then okay. But that's not the case. We have a pop-up camper. That means that every time we go, I have to load everything up. Wash it all, use it, rewash it, reload it, make food, pack food, clean up from eating food, make more food, etc. It's like preparing for the zombie apocalypse but there aren't any zombies...just me....getting hot and angry and tired.
My son said that I didn't enjoy camping because I was cleaning the whole time and cleaning doesn't equal camping. This is true. But someone had to get the food ready, wash the dishes, repack the food, hang wet towels, move the stuff from the counter to the dinette to the bed back to the counter back to the bed because there's NO ROOM. And my husband helped with everything too. He says next time will be better because it's stocked with stuff now and we will just have to pack food and clothes. I think he's a liar too.
Our first trip was to Holiday World. We planned to camp at Lake Rudolph. We had never been to either place. It rained pretty much the entire first day. My husband didn't want to spend the extra $5 for a concrete pad so we got the basic RV site. Not a great idea. It was a thin layer of gravel and mud. Which all got tracked into the camper. The rain really did put a damper on things. Nothing got dried out. Ever. You know what's worse than using a towel that smells like a fire? Using a wet towel that smells like a fire. I like my towels to smell like clean and Tide and Downy.
Tuesday was spent setting up camp. My husband and son "popped up" the camper, got it level and did all those necessary items. We forgot a hose and cord so they then left in the golf cart (which was the best part of the trip) to buy said items and I was in charge of making the beds. At this point, the rain has stopped and it's 175% humidity. We didn't have the A/C in the camper for this trip. Big mistake. Making a bed in a pop up is like making the top bunk of a bunk bed in the Sahara Desert. I had two king size beds to make which included the mattress pad, fitted sheet, flat sheet, comforter. After the first one I texted my husband "I HATE CAMPING" After the second one I texted him "THIS IS THE STUPIDEST THING YOU'VE EVER TALKED ME INTO!" He came back to the camper, got me in the golf cart and took me for an ice cream cone. Camping was okay for those 15 minutes.
The rain cleared up and we headed to the pool. I wasn't real impressed with Lake Rudolph. There were a lot of empty rental cabins so I can't imagine what it's like at full capacity. I felt like the camping sites were really close and we were on top of each other. I don't have much to compare it to though. It did have a free pool though and a water slide area you could pay to enter. We stuck with the free pool because it was already 5:00. The pool started to fill up because it was finally not raining. My family jumps in. My son promptly proceeds to puke in the pool. He has a habit of doing this because he swallows water and then panics. Granted, I don't want him to choke and drown but really? And he's not quiet about it. I'd be fine if he puked, swished it away from him and moved on. There's a ton of chlorine in there and it's not worse than the kids who are peeing right? But no, he has to draw attention to it! I thought no one saw but wrong....shortly after that, a girl went and told on us. Pool was cleared and closed. Fun times. We had a few enemies after that little incident.
The golf cart was the best thing about the trip. My kids loved riding in it, checking out the other campers, getting ice cream, etc. It helped cool us off too! We went back and cooked dinner over the fire. My husband got these cast iron cookers and told us it would be the best hamburgers we've ever had. They weren't. My son was in his glory starting the fire and cooking on it. My daughter finally got on WiFi and was happy for a while.
We tried out the bath house and it was really clean which was a bonus. My daughter had never used a public shower so she was a little leary but it went fine. She was not impressed with the spiders that were ginormous. She's a lot like her mom, she's indoorsy too.
We went to bed. Luckily it had cooled off. We listened to the neighbors. I'd like to point out that at a hotel, I don't have to listen to the neighbors, wood peckers or nature. Also, at a hotel, I can close the curtains and sleep in. When you are camping it gets bright even with the curtains closed. It was all just a little too earthy for me. Also, having a bathroom at a hotel is a nice touch. I was really wishing I had the "she wee" or a toilet because by 7:00 AM, that golf cart couldn't get me to the bath house soon enough!
We went to Holiday World the next day which is entirely different post. (coming soon)
By time we were ready to leave on Thursday, we had no dry towels. I wasn't about to shower and use a wet stinky towel so I put on a hat and we headed home. I told my husband that I was gonna get a shirt made that said "You won't like me when I'm camping" I looked pretty scary. I guess "roughing it" does that to a girl.
All in all, it was okay. I don't think I'm ever going to enjoy it unless we get a fancy Prevost. That's not happening any time soon. My husband and son loved it so if they want to go and pretend we are homeless, more power to them. I will make them some foil packet meals and send them on their way. While they are gone, I will enjoy my house, a movie and my prefect 70 degrees.
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