10 Reason to Go Camping

Sure there are a lot of vacations to take but here are 10 reasons to go camping.

“I really want to go camping this summer.  Preferably” by myself in a hotel with a spa and room service.”

I have to admit, this was me.

My family didn’t camp when I was younger.  I was at the bottom of 5 children and quite a bit younger than my siblings.  The boys went camping, with my Dad, in the scouts.  By the time I came around, no one went anymore.  Oh, and we lived in the middle of the city in Chicago.

Now, we did do some low maintenance cabins and such.  I remember them fondly, LOOKING BACK.  At the time, I was very afraid of the, what seemed to be, HUGE spiders (daddy longlegs)!  And hotels seemed just so much more fun…THE POOLS!!

But then……

I married a man that grew up camping and had two boys.

So what’s a girl to do?

Now I will admit there are times where I am tempted to just send the boys on their way for a guys weekend.  “You guys can bond.”  Sometimes I do, but most times, I go and here’s why………

MY TOP 5 REASONS TO GO CAMPING

1. FAMILY TIME/MEMORIES –Camping is something that brings you closer together as a family.  I don’t know if it’s the fresh air, games, injuries, no electronics, or what.  The stories we can tell from these trips are invaluable to me.
2. INEXPENSIVE – You can’t beat the cost.  We have a VERY OLD pop up tent trailer!!!  It was $300 10 years ago old.  If you break that down plus the cost per night of the spot and gas, we paid about $25/night.  Plus, we didn’t have the air on or use the water at home so there are savings there.  Can’t beat that!  And if I went on a traditional trip (in a hotel) we would have all the eating out expenses.
3. UNPLUG- Yeah, you can’t match this kind of unplug anywhere else.  When you go on a trip, you have your cell phones to take pictures and guess why, free internet from the hotel.  When you go camping, no free internet.  In fact, no internet in a lot of places.  All we could do was take pictures!  NO EMAIL, NO FACEBOOK, NO INSTAGRAM!  Sorry guys..love ya but need a break every now and again
4. NATURE – Let’s face it, camping is in some awesome parts of the world.  You are surrounded by amazing birds, flowers, sunsets, sunrises, trees, lakes, rivers, on and on.  You can hear the birds in the morning and the insects at night.  It’s peaceful.  You can see a short video we took on our most recent trip, HERE.
5. SLOW DOWN- There can be a lot of downtime in camping.  Sitting around the campfire, sitting by the lake, sitting after a meal, sitting after a bike ride, etc.  It’s a great time to enjoy nature, your family, and God.  When we are still we can hear the voice of God.

 

5 MORE REASONS

1. FACE FEARS – Remember the spiders I was talking about.  Yeah, I still don’t like them.  In fact, I could do without a lot of bugs, to be honest.  The more I go camping, the better this becomes.  In fact, many years ago, on a “glamping” type trip, I got freaked out about a spider The Mister hit with a stick.  I couldn’t see where it went and had nightmares all night.  Believe me, this is a story that will go down in family history.  The last time we went camping, I think I had a dead spider (be it small) on our little mattress thing we sleep and I was like oh well!  For me, that is one step toward conquering this fear.  But even if spiders aren’t it, there are other fears that get conquered in the great outdoors like heights, dark, water, wildlife, hot dogs.
2. COMPASSION – There are a lot of things that can go wrong on a camping trip.  If for instance, your son gets stung a bunch of times, husband falls on some rocks, another son burns his hand, and you inadvertently fall over the handle of your bike, there’s plenty of time to be compassionate toward each other.  Not that we would know or anything.  But seriously, when I need to stop, my kids stop and wait.  I think that it’s good for them to learn how to wait for others.
3. CHALLENGE MYSELF – I push myself a little harder.  If the trail seems a little harder, I am going to go and try.  I’m not going to be the only one that didn’t make it.  I also believe my boys can see that I am going a little outside my comfort zone and hope they will as well (like maybe antique store with their mom).
4. LOWER STANDARDS

   When I am on a regular hotel vacation my standards don’t change nearly as much as they do when camping.  No makeup, spit cherries seeds on the ground, and easy paper plate dinners.  There is an element that you are dirty, or going to be, anyways so “If the food falls on the ground, Oh well!” attitude.  This, I think the boys love the most.

5. GOOD WORKOUT – Hiking, biking, water sports, and more can be found out there.  They are a great workout and generally, you are doing them with other people, not in a hotel workout room, which makes it more fun.

BONUS

• It might have looked like we failed to mention tasty food.  Well, there was a camping incident with Smores that we don’t like to talk about.
• Here is a few more posts of our beautiful state: A Weekend in Astoria, Oregon, and Visit Natural Bridge Southern Oregon

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