I love to camp, do it quite often and have for much of my life. Many experiences, good and not-so good. I love all your stories, please keep them coming. I'll share some of mine later. I need to get on my exercise machine then do some laundry and making quilt blocks for a swap before I can do that though.

We loved camping and RVing with our kids as they were growing up. They are now looking forward to doing the same when they start families.

I've always thought if a family is having trouble, they should go camping together. Leave all the electronics and financial worries at home and just learn to enjoy each other - playing cards, biking/hiking, cooking over the campfire and sharing stories from long ago. Nothing is better!

I'm with some of the others...my idea of roughing it is a motel without turn down service! ;) :lol: That being said...my ex decided our honeymoon would be a backpacking trip five miles UP a mountain in Colorado...complete with 45 pound packs on our backs to stay for a week. NOT a good plan....

William loves camping, fishing, hunting, etc. In an effort to compromise, I told him that I would NOT go camping in a tent anymore...I'm just too old to be able to sleep on the ground anymore...but if we could get a camper, that I'd go...providing that I didn't have to spend the weekend eating hotdogs and hamburgers...so now we have a little 17 Starcraft Hybrid... It's a hardsided camper with foldouts on each end that cover with canvas for the beds...has a potty and shower, stove, oven, double sink....cute little thing!! It's no big motorhome, and it doesn't have A/C (yet!) but I actually like the thing! We take dutchovens and have a huge dinner party every year...invite all of our friends and family for dinner...and usually cook stuff like a cranberry glazed pork loin with rice pilaf...orange/honey/ginger glazed turkey breast with wild rice...pulled pork enchiladas with green chili sauce....that kind of "stuff"...all done in cast iron dutchovens with charcoal briquets...we usually end up with anywhere from 12 to 24 people for dinner...

This has been an amusing topic! :lol:

We camp about twice a year in our pop-up, we all work equally hard setting up and taking down the camper. DD's love the freedom they get at the campground, as well as sitting around the campfire at night. We've camped for years and also former Girl Scouts & leader, so DD's take turns building the fire each night. We usually camp for a week and 1-2 of their friends will camp with us a day or two. Most of them have never been camping and just love it when they find out we're going, I figure it's something they'll always remember about our family. My 16 yr.old DD also puts the tent up in our backyard when her friends come to stay the night. They like that too, but miss the campfire.
A week of camping also makes you really appreciate your home & bed. :)

Camping to me is living it up in our 32 ft fifth-wheel camper with all the conveniences. We started with a pickup camper when the kids were little because that is all we could afford. Through the years we have owned several campers and enjoyed each one. The heat and a/c make it good for anytime of year. My way to camp!!

I practically grew up in a camper. My father was a career Marine, and so a lot of our equipment was Marine Corps green. I thought everybody's equipment looked like that. We traveled back and forth across the US four times moving from one place to another. Even now, decades later, I feel at home among the tall trees. We had a trailer that was sort of oval shaped, 12 feet long, 6 1/2 feet wide. There were four of us. We had a rule: "Only one person standing up at a time." It had an ice box. I slept in a little cot above my parents' bed. The dining room table slid out and the booth-style seats made into a bed for my older brother. No bathroom. My brother always said he was going to write an autobiography entitled "Fifty Yards to the Outhouse."

My husband and I started camping when our oldest was about 15 months. We camped every summer--tents and sleeping bags on the ground. I had a Coleman stove. We washed dishes in a plastic tub. No paper plates for us. We have great family memories of those days. I love thinking about our two boys sitting beside the water chucking rocks and listening to them go ker-plunk! The sound was higher or deeper depending on the size of the rock. When they were older, they skipped rocks across the surface.

When they were grown, we got our first fifth wheel trailer--a 27 footer. We did a lot of traveling. Now we are snowbirds and travel in a 32-foot fifth wheel. It has everything except a dishwasher. Very comfortable, and we can actually stand up in the bedroom. We still love traveling. We keep it fully loaded with everything but food so that we can leave in about an hour's time.

Hey Up North, we need to go camping together. I promise not to run the generator unless we want to use the sewing machine! We went with our son and his kids and their spouses to Tallulah Falls in north Georgia last fall. They all had tents, and pitched them around the Big White Bus like little chickens. We had a great time, had electric and water. The morning we left, the sky opened up and about 2 inches of rain fell in 10 minutes. They all gathered inside, and decided to get pop ups the next time! They did get their tents down before the downpour, but trying to get them packed up they all got soaked. It took me 2 days to get all the mud out, but it was worth it. Except for one's little terror of a dog who lifted his leg on my sofa! He is not welcome in the house either for the same reason! Do you take a dog?

My worst experience was when we went to the Sierra's and my husband wanted to sleep under the stars. Well, it was freezing!!!!!! When I woke up we had 2 inches of snow on our sleeping bags. The only thing that kept me warm was my dog that was sleeping inside my sleeping bag at my feet. It was horrible. I think I had every piece of clothing on that I brought. I even wrapped a jacket around my head.

My hubby and I just got back from an 11-day camping trip. We had a blast! Hated to come home. He will be able to retire in about 10 years...now we can't wait for that so we can go more often and for longer periods of time. We have always camped where there were no people, no toilets, etc...really roughing it. Now we go where there are toilets and take along our shower bag and pop up shower and port a potty in case there aren't any where we stop. Glad you still find it fun, I know we always will! :)

I remember going on fishing trips with my dad and one or two of my brothers. Mom did not like camping at all, so she always stayed home. We had an old homemade pickup camper and stayed in some of the primitive parks in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. No electricity, water was a hand pump and the outhouses were the kind where you took a breath before getting too close, held it while speedily doing your business, and gasping for air as soon as you could get away from it. The joys of standing in ice cold water up to your waist with leaky chest waders and dipping out tiny fish (smelt) in the middle of the night. Then having to clean the little critters! But oh so good, rolled in flour and fried in butter until crispy. Another time, I drove up separately and slept in the back of my car. I had a Pinto hatchback. Much quieter and could sleep better as my dad snored very loudly.