Things I Love to do - Camping

Camping isn't something I have always liked. The first time I went camping was with the girl scouts. We slept in platform tents which were extremely uncomfortable. It was like sleeping on the boardwalk at the Jersey Shore. I didn't make it through the first night. My leaders called my dad and he came to pick me up. I guess I didn't make a good girl scout.
That was the only time I camped until I was an adult, married and with a child. 

The first time I went camping it was at Dillion State Park in Zanesville, Ohio. My husband's parents were visiting us at my husband's first church appointment in Trinway, Ohio. They were camping there in their pop up camper. We decided to spend one night camping on their sight. We brought a tent and an air mattress. Our daughter who was about 3 decided to stay in the pop up with Grammie. It was actually fun. We didn't camp again for a long time. I was busy with going to school to get my master's degree, being a mom and a pastor's wife. 

We started camping again when we moved to Northeast Ohio. We still had the tent and air mattress and a daughter in high school. The first time we went camping we stayed at Geneva-on-the-Lake State Park in Ohio. It was very damp and rained all night. We had fun and meet nice people camping next to us. They gave our daughter some of the walleye that they had caught in Lake Erie and were cooking in packets on the fire. We also camped at East Harbor State Park which is near Sandusky (Cedar Point area). We camped there several times and it rained. We even camped there with friends. It rained then also. We seemed to have rain every time we camped. 


In a few years, it was getting hard to sleep on the ground even with the air mattress especially for my husband who has MS. (I'll talk about that another time.) So we looked into  buying a pop up camper. We looked for a few features that would make setting it up and taking it down easier on us. Our camper has an automatic up or down button (not the real name) so we don't have to crank the camper up and down. We also go an adaptor or a drill that helps to put down the supports under the camper. There are still some things to set up manually but this helps a lot. 

Our camper

My favorite things about camping:
1. I love sitting outside to read, talk and eat meals (When it's not raining).
2. I love the campfire and cooking on it. We make smores and sandwich pockets. I want to try cooking packets on the fire too.
3. I like having my own bed to sleep in (still working on make it comfortable).
4. I can bring my dog (when it's not too hot for a pug).
5. I love looking at the stars and the moon at night.

We didn't get to camp this summer due to all the rain we had in June and July. Then our daughter had marching band which is everyday during the week in the summer. We want to camp in September and October but our daughter had football games and competitions for band. Saturday mornings, she also is in an area wide concert band and has practice. 
She also is not fond of camping because of the bugs and they like her. Now that she is a senior, there will be no band and we can camp when ever we want in the fall. I can't wait for more camping! Does anyone else like to camp? Share some camping stories or favorite things about camping.

Memorial Day Parade