What Is Your Camping Style?
When you book a campsite, the first question you are asked is how you want to camp. So it’s good to decide first if you will be camping in a:
- Tent
- Pop-Up Camper or Trailer
- RV or
- Cabin
Style #1. Tent Camping
This is the way most families are introduced to camping. Kids love tent camping because it’s most different from indoor housing. My favorite memories of tent camping is lying in my tent at night gazing at the Big Dipper, waking up to the chirping of birds, and playing Old Maid with the kids.
We actually have a couple of tents now. A large 4-room tent and a smaller 4-person tent for the older kids. Tents come in so many varieties now. I saw one the other day that had an outer room that functioned as a mud room – screened on 3 sides with a zippered door to the inside and another to the outside. Eureka Tents just came up with tents with built in lighting. Imagine!
If you are thinking of buying a tent, check out our video on how to choose a family tent.
Families who choose tenting usually stay 3 to 5 nights at a campground. It takes time to set up so you don’t want to keep moving every couple of days. Beyond 5 days, you may start to miss a good home-cooked meal or the XBox.
Style #2. Pop-Up Campers
A Pop-up camper makes sense if you camp several times a year or if you camp long periods of time. It can cost as much as a car but it’s more magical. It is solid-looking and compact when it is being towed, then magically pops up into living quarters with window screens, beds, kitchens, even shower stalls at the campsite.
Not many places rent them, if you are thinking of buying a pop-up camper you’ll have to do a lot of research. The best place to start is at a trade show where you can touch, feel, kick tires. Check out our Resource Links page.
Families who have pop-up campers rave about them. It’s their vacation home on wheels. The ample storage room (even when the top is down) lets you keep all your camping gear inside so you are camping-ready anytime the urge strikes.
One of my husband’s dream is to buy an Airstream and travel cross-country after the kids leave the nest.
Style #3. RV
An RV is like a rolling home. Because RVs are self-contained, RV campers can stop in areas with no facilities at all. This is called “dry camping” which means that they are totally dependent on the gas, water, and batteries that they carry to supply in the RV. Be mindful though, one long shower could empty your water tank.
RVs are available for rent for about $150 a day but most require a minimum of 7 nights. Don’t forget the fuel, RVs get 8 to 12 miles per gallon.
If you want to go exploring after you settled your RV, you need to tow a second vehicle, your car. Backing up an RV, especially with a car behind is tricky. Most RV sites are ‘pull-through’ so you can drive straight ahead when you leave.
Style #4. Cabin Camping
Cabin camping ranges from primitive rustic log cabins without water or electricity to furnished luxury cabins. The cabins at Walt Disney’s Fort Wilderness Campground Resort are air-conditioned with fully-equipped kitchens. They even have laundry facilities, ironing boards, and, of course, the Disney Channel. You see why some people refuse to consider cabin camping real camping?
But of course it is! Camping is about getting back in touch with nature. And if some families need a few creature comforts to encourage them to go out there and smell the pine trees and dance in the streams, I don’t see anything wrong with it.
Check out our Resource Links page for more links.
Airstream camping camping guide Eureka Tents family camping
Comments