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smittenbyuWe went back and forth about going camping or not for the whole month. We forgot about it for a while. Then a few days before our friends were going we decided on going but hadn't gotten a tent yet.
We were not so encouraged with a recent Wall Street Journal article comparing the most popular tents around the world (Western world anyway). Apparently the European ones are much better built as Europeans on average take longer vacation/trips out into more rugged terrain and weather. Nice informational piece. We probably fit in the market for the $80 tent they showed to being the most popular American bought tent.
We made our trip to REI and got sucked in. The guy was great though! He kept us from buying a lot of gear, gave suggestions of what we could just take from home, etc. But we were happy we went with it. We got one that was $240. He reassured us that if we didn't like it for any reason to bring it back, whether this month or next year! I guess though not many do that.
But we liked our tent very much! Our friends had a tent that has survived two generations! So, figure this will pass on to D! But we already are booking our next trip in October!
The camping excursion was great! The friends were there Thursday-Sunday. We joined them Fri-Sat. Well, Friday morning came and it was pouring rain! There was no way to contact our friends as the park (Shenandoah National Park) has no reception! And by the time we left it was noon and reached around 3:30pm. They were pleasantly surprised we showed up! They figured with the rain we would have cancelled our plan!
But luckily within an hour of reaching there the sun came out and it was a wonderful time. D's good friend was there and so it was a fabulous time had! D went to bed by 8pm and the adults stayed up till 11pm (actually, these are all estimates..none of us had our phones out and even cameras out for that matter the whole of Friday).
Night came...D slept so well. At 3am (again an estimate from her usual night wakings) she needed to use the potty! Hubby would take her and somewhere in the dark his elbow hit her (ever so lightly) and she screamed and cried! Hubby was happy to carry her over, she so annoyed that we always underestimate her, said firmly, "I will walk with my flashlight" and walked over to the bathrooms (not the travel potty our friend had which would have been more convenient!
Saturday morning we had a nice relaxing breakfast while the kids did some wood carving (the only time we got pics of the camp/tent). Then we went our ways. They went for a long hike. We went for a walk through the meadows (which was nice and wet/marshy). The main reason, our daughter loves to walk. She walked through the whole "hike" that took almost 2 hours. We noticed her love of walking when we were in Yosemite last year!
She loved picking the blueberries and sampling them right away. So, that's what we need to do for her to eat blueberries!! Saw lots of caterpillars during the hike with the ranger.
Then we got back, cooked (heated up) lunch on friend's camping stove, packed up and headed home.
D didn't want to leave. She insisted we spend another night under the stars in the tent! Apparently when she did her night potty run, she was the one to notice all the stars in the sky!!
Definitely doing this again!
We were not so encouraged with a recent Wall Street Journal article comparing the most popular tents around the world (Western world anyway). Apparently the European ones are much better built as Europeans on average take longer vacation/trips out into more rugged terrain and weather. Nice informational piece. We probably fit in the market for the $80 tent they showed to being the most popular American bought tent.
We made our trip to REI and got sucked in. The guy was great though! He kept us from buying a lot of gear, gave suggestions of what we could just take from home, etc. But we were happy we went with it. We got one that was $240. He reassured us that if we didn't like it for any reason to bring it back, whether this month or next year! I guess though not many do that.
But we liked our tent very much! Our friends had a tent that has survived two generations! So, figure this will pass on to D! But we already are booking our next trip in October!
The camping excursion was great! The friends were there Thursday-Sunday. We joined them Fri-Sat. Well, Friday morning came and it was pouring rain! There was no way to contact our friends as the park (Shenandoah National Park) has no reception! And by the time we left it was noon and reached around 3:30pm. They were pleasantly surprised we showed up! They figured with the rain we would have cancelled our plan!
But luckily within an hour of reaching there the sun came out and it was a wonderful time. D's good friend was there and so it was a fabulous time had! D went to bed by 8pm and the adults stayed up till 11pm (actually, these are all estimates..none of us had our phones out and even cameras out for that matter the whole of Friday).
Night came...D slept so well. At 3am (again an estimate from her usual night wakings) she needed to use the potty! Hubby would take her and somewhere in the dark his elbow hit her (ever so lightly) and she screamed and cried! Hubby was happy to carry her over, she so annoyed that we always underestimate her, said firmly, "I will walk with my flashlight" and walked over to the bathrooms (not the travel potty our friend had which would have been more convenient!
Saturday morning we had a nice relaxing breakfast while the kids did some wood carving (the only time we got pics of the camp/tent). Then we went our ways. They went for a long hike. We went for a walk through the meadows (which was nice and wet/marshy). The main reason, our daughter loves to walk. She walked through the whole "hike" that took almost 2 hours. We noticed her love of walking when we were in Yosemite last year!
She loved picking the blueberries and sampling them right away. So, that's what we need to do for her to eat blueberries!! Saw lots of caterpillars during the hike with the ranger.
Then we got back, cooked (heated up) lunch on friend's camping stove, packed up and headed home.
D didn't want to leave. She insisted we spend another night under the stars in the tent! Apparently when she did her night potty run, she was the one to notice all the stars in the sky!!
Definitely doing this again!
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