My DH & I used to take our kids camping for our summer vacations many years ago...something we could afford and we all loved to camp...we had things down to an art...I even had a portable kitchen sink/table which was waaay cool! Now we're empty nesters and have recently moved back to the Northwest and downsized our camping equipment majorly! We wanted to know if we could camp without our kids (DH married me with 4 kids and we had one more together), so we went this past weekend...wwweeeeeelllllll...I think we picked a bad weekend to go...the temps were off the charts and I'm NOT a hot weather person...by noon, it was goodbye shade and hello hot, dry, sunshine beating down on us! We went into town and hung out in the local Dairy Queen for a while and did a bit of shopping, but eventually, we had to go back to our camsite and still had several more hours of fun sunshine...two times I even got in the car and turned on the A/C...also had one of those misting water spray bottles with a mini fan? Finally cooled off after midnight...can you spell "stupid me"? I let my DH talk me into a place called, get this - "Hellgate Canyon"! LOL! On the good note, we did discover that we still love to camp and that we can relax more and just do nothing and have a great time if the weather cooperates! :-)

What's your story?

RW: never been camping, never will!! Roughing it for me is when the A/C is out after a storm!!! Glad you got away from everything and still had fun.

WE have been camping every year for 38 years, Will be leaving again this weekend. I had 5 boys and now the 4 grands come camping. What a blast! I have to tell you tho the most memorable are the worst ones, Rain for 9 out of 11 days, skunks in the tent and me 8 months pregnant, (I am known as the skunk lady at the campground now!!), Tornado's Flooding, Heavy rains and high winds, rescuing other peoples boats from blowing away, Tents blowing down while us parents partied and the kids slept!! They sure are good memories!! Do we remember the trips that went smoothly? Nope, not sure there wasn't at least one thing to remember about each one. This year we can not get out pop up camper to go up!!! GRRR one corner is stuck and refuses to go all the way up. So we may be back to the tent. I do not mind the tent in fact I prefer the tent. it is just all the extra stuff I have to put in the van that is packed in the camper. We bought a pop up so we wouldn't have to pack all the pots, pans and paraphernalia that you need to haul. I do NOT allow a radio either! I love the quiet relaxing atmosphere and a good book! Wait, did I say quiet? With the 4 grands there is no such thing! LOL

I have had great camping trips with hubby and family; but the favorite was last year when my friend joined me for 5 days on the Maine coast. Hubby set up camp for us then left us there; and we spent every day antiqueing, hitting quilt shops, and eating great food!!

Oh wait I can't forget this one!! WE were camping on a river, Downstream was a bridge and farther down is a waterfall, Not a huge one it is the local swimming hole. Well we had just gotten a Kayak and my son wanted to try it out, So we launched it in the river, Need I say much more? He was paddling along and the current caught him pushing him towards the bridge and falls! He had to swamp it What a hoot!!

Love camping with or without kids. Last year a group of us went 5 couples had a blast. we're right on the water and sit around the fire and watch the canoes and innertubes float by take our shephard with us and shes good as gold Eventually would like to get a camper but when go out west theres some places you can't pull it. Found that out on the Going to the sun road. We had to park it do the trip backtrack down and then drive around the area added a lot of hours to the trip but well worth the time

We love to camp! Our first camping trip taught us many things! LOL!! Most importantly, do not put your tent site on damp ground, because when it rains, it becomes a swamp!!! :mrgreen: And make sure your do a trial run of putting up your tent BEFORE you go camping. It will make it much easier and less likely that you will want to kill your mate. :mrgreen:

We have now graduated to a pop-up camper. We really enjoy it. My bones are getting older and sleeping on the ground just is easy for me. We take our children and grandbabies when we go. The more we have, the more we enjoy it.

I am afraid of heights, so when we when over the pass on the "Going to the Sun" road, guess who was huddled on the floor with the kids shouting and hooting? Yup...me! We stopped at one spot and the kids got out and started running to the edge and I thought I 'd have heart failure! I've never seen more beautiful country anywhere else though...

Donna, you are an inspiration! I'll bet you are just the most fun gal to camp with! I'm so enjoying your stories of camping...keep em coming!

Oh boy do I have camping memories. And you are right the disasters at the time are much more memorable then when everything goes right. One trip was with all of my husbands family. He has 4 sisters and 2 brothers and all of their kids. We each trickled into the campground at our own pace and his younger brother and his brood of wife and 3 sons got there after dark. He didn't take very good care of his equipment and had one of those old canvas tents that he stored in a shed over winter that was obviously not water tight. We all stood around with flashlights so he could see to pitch the tent. First unroll of the tent, what is that smell?? As he unrolled it more and more you could see the tent was full of mold and holes. We called it the radioactive tent as I swear some of the molds were glowing in the dark. Needless to say it was unusable. Someone had an extra pup tent to lend them for the weekend. Family of 5 sleeping in a little pup tent. DH's poor brother was the butt of every joke that weekend.

[quote=SherriB

We have now graduated to a pop-up camper. We really enjoy it. My bones are getting older and sleeping on the ground just is easy for me. We take our children and grandbabies when we go. The more we have, the more we enjoy it.[/quote]

We are tent campers, at least for now...we both have nice cots and sleep comfortable...I'd like to hear more about pop up tents however...I've always wondered about them...