Pros and Cons of Holiday Camping

This past 4th of July weekend our family enjoyed a camping trip with Uncle F (owner of previously mentioned Chuck Wagon) and MamaRose's family. Clay is now almost 2 and Tyler is 2 1/2. It was their first time camping together. There were moments that I felt like I might need a t-shirt that said, "I went camping with a 2 year old and survived". Clay and Tyler ran, climbed, played with trucks, rode in the sidecar of a bicycle, slept on a hike to a waterfall, blew bubbles, sang songs and tracked down squirrels. Everyone had a great time, including Baby Zoe who received a lot of kisses from Clay. It was my first time camping on a holiday or busy weekend for that matter. I have come to the conclusion that your expectations for holiday camping need to be different from mid week or low season. Laying down with Clay in the tent for his nap I came up with some pros and some cons. First the cons so that I can end on a good note.

• Traffic, traffic coming and going and at the site. Expect it when traveling on a holiday. The drive for us was fairly steady until the last 7 miles where the road was closed due to construction and the detour was a one lane road where a trailer had got stuck and was waiting for a tow truck. By this time Clay was done with sitting in the car seat, so we turned back and walked around the nearest town for awhile (not all was lost).
• The place is busy, the trails are full of people, the bathroom has a line, you have to do a people shuffle for popular scenic sites. I thought nature was an escape from the hustle and bustle.
• It's work! I constantly felt like we were policing the campsite edge near the road for cars, the back of the site for the steep edge that lead to a creek and the grumpy dog next to us that was not friendly but of course the wee ones constantly wanted to say "Hi" to him.
• Is the holiday a drinking holiday? Loud, obnoxious campers who holler into the night are a real possibility. Thankfully we did not experience this! We did have a drunken group parade into our site and demand to know who had built the Chuck Wagon. Uncle F got a high five for his work. The next morning at the restroom unveiled that someone had sung to the porcelain god and missed! Hmm, wonder who that could of been?
• Last but not least the noise level is to loud to hear the wind in the trees. I had been so busy that it did not strike me until night fell and the noise level fell with it, at least 5 decimals. I really noticed it when I lay down for that nap with Clay and could not escape the noise!

Now, with every gray cloud there is a silver lining so here is my list of pros for holiday camping:

• Families first! We were surrounded by families. In fact in our campground there were two different large family groups of campers spread out in the sites. So, I may of not been able to enjoy a relaxing nap in the middle of the day but I also did not have to stifle any part of my son's experience. He could be a toddler in all his toddler glory and it would not infringe on someone else's camping experience. In fact I did not have to worry that he would wake up and cry in the middle of the night because other children did the same. We were all families with children.
• It was packed! Which meant lots of different nationalities, languages, faces and food smells! I did not expect camping to be such a cultural experience. Our ears were filled with laughter and languages, and our eyes meet other smiling that differ from the ones in our own mirror.
• Small town celebrations were happening all around. So the campground was full and trails were sluggish with people and the auto traffic could be heard from them. Embrace it! There were many community celebrations happening around the area. Pet parades, 50's carnival games, parades with floats and a marching horn band, midnight hikes, community picnics, petting farm and music everywhere. Going out of town on a holiday means you get to join other celebrations, see what else is out there!

Chances are with my husband's work schedule we will go camping again on a holiday. I will not expect a relaxing union with nature. However, I will look forward to being with family and friends. I have accepted that holiday camping is not exactly camping. But rather a family experience to share with the ones you love where you just happen to sleep in a tent and share a bathroom with a lot of other families. I can do that!

Camping with a toddler (part 2)

Part Deux: I completely over packed. We had spent the weekend before horseback riding with Uncle and I had barely unpacked from that trip. We packed for the entire camping trip the night before and shoved it into the car the morning of. I had a bag of toiletries for the family, including Clay's emergency bag. I packed a backpack of board books, scratch paper, crayons, bubbles, one soft animal that I could throw in the washing machine, a soccer ball, and plastic dinosaurs that I had purchased at garage sale the day before. I also brought along two big trucks to share with the 4 yr old and a pop up tent to put the toys in. Then there was a large bag of Clay's clothes and an even larger one from my husband and I. We were expecting warm weather but the forecast had changed to include light showers. I packed for warm and cold weather. We also brought our 'camping ala tub' plastic tub. All of our camping essentials are in it. When we pack it up I keep the linens separate to wash and take all the batteries out of the gizmos and put them into a ziploc bag. At home we wash the dishes and linens and it all goes back in the tub for the next trip. The tub works for us. Clay ended up only getting a few pieces of clothing dirty compared to all that I packed for him. Don't get me wrong he was filthy almost every moment of the day. But it was to cold for the creek so we never got wet and as filthy as he was there was no point in putting him in clean clothes until pajama time. His hands, face and clothes were covered in dirt. His nail beds were black. He would make dirt angels, scoot down the hills on his bottom and dipped most of his food into the dirt. He was happy. We went on many short hikes and one long one. He saw many big trees and banana slugs. Everytime he picked up a pinecone he proudly proclaimed, "Porcupine!' I kindly labeled them as pinecones and was imediately corrected by him. They were porcupines. We were also lucky enough to have met another family with a young child. They had a daughter who was wonderful with younger children. Clay followed her from the moment he saw her. In fact that is how we met! She showed him the trees she had been playing in. They had been through a fire and had hollowed out trucks that made great tee pees and caves. She used a flashlight and showed Clay how to look up into the tree. She climbed on the trees and invited him along. He was amazed with everything she did.

The next day she came over and brought different types of moss that she had collected. The two older children used it to make beards and mustaches. Then all three played in the trees next to our camping site. It was wonderful play full of castles, tree spirits, fire building for the tee pee tree and what ever else their imagination lead to next. Clay tagged along as best as he could and settled for making dirt angels again. The other big hit was the bicycle with side car that Frank built. (Yes he is pretty incredible) Clay and the 4 year old would take turns getting rides in the side car while aunts and uncles pedaled the bike. At night I read stories huddled in the pop up tent with a lantern. At night we put the pop up tent inside of the gigantic one. We folded a sleeping bag to fit inside for a mat and blanket for Clay. He was very cosy. We are looking forward to camping again in July.

Camping with a toddler (part 1)

It was fun! We survived and it was fun. We went camping with Clay twice before, but he was not walking or crawling yet. This was the 2nd annual memorial camping trip for John Taylor. He was my husband's friend, mentor and best man at our wedding. He was like family to us. Johnny wanted to be scattered among the redwoods. Let's just say he got his wish. Now we go camping around his birthday with his family and 'Chuckie'. Frank, his older brother, built Chuckie years ago when he and his girls first started camping. Chuckie is a modern day chuck wagon designed for camping. On one side panels fold down to reveal cooking utensils, spice rack, pots and pans, cutting board and a surface to put the camp stove. The other side folds down to a wash area complete with a sink (just add boiling water). The top is covered with a trap for protection from the rain. The middle is used for storage. Chuckie is hitched to the back of a truck, backed into the camping space, opened up and is ready for business. For many years Chuckie went to Yosemite. People would stop and give Frank coffee orders, thinking that it was a drink cart! Chuckie is painted in camouflage to blend in with his surroundings. He also bears the mark of every time he has been camping with campfires stenciled on his side panel. So needless to say, Frank was our chef for the trip. Chuckie is so well equipped that Frank has never once made a hamburger with him. Over the course of this trip we had pumpkin ravioli, broccoli salad, zucchini pancakes, mushroom omelets, and blueberry pancakes. Not the camping food I grew up on! We use two sites when camping. Frank has a tent with cots that his family uses. Johnny's sons use two smaller tents. His daughter along with her almost 4 year old boy, 2 month old daughter and husband have a pop up camper on their truck. And we have a gigantic tent. I am not kidding. This tent is so large that I am almost embarrassed to put it up for only 3 people. We acquired the tent we were going on our babymoon to Mount Lassen. I was almost 8 1/2 months pregnant and my DH would not let me sleep on a mat. In fact he went out and bought an expensive queen size double air mattress (that popped two years later). The mattress was so large that it did not fit in our 3 man tent. So we had to buy a tent to fit the mattress. We were in Costco one day and hanging from the ceiling was a 9 person tent. My husband's heart went all aflutter as he rationalized that we could use it for the whole family and take our nieces and nephews camping with us, plus the insisted upon mattress would fit in it. Some battles you can't win, that was one of them. The babymoon was an amazing experience and I slept wonderfully. Which brings us back to present day with me setting up a 9 person tent for 2 adults and a toddler. Chateau la Ruck.