Posted by Roy Scribner on December 24, 2009 under Camping & Kids, Family Camping, Hiking, camp, campfire, camping activities, camping trip, experiences, family, hike, kids, wildlife | 
As the year draws to a close, I’m looking forward to all the great camping trips we have planned for the coming year and I wonder what new experiences are in store for us. I don’t know if we’re disorganized or just easy going, but we never have a pre-planned agenda, when we head-off on our outdoor excursions. If we spend an afternoon skipping rocks across a stream or hiking some backcountry trail, everybody is having a pretty good time (okay, my younger two are probably whining at the two-mile mark, if we’re hiking!).
One thing that we all like to do is look for different kinds of wildlife. It’s one thing to look at pictures of bald eagles online, or in a book, but to actually see them in the wild is a special treat for us. We are fortunate, here in northern California, to have access to an abundant range of wildlife. It’s not uncommon for us to spot deer on our hikes, even in the middle of the afternoon.
When we are camping at the beach, the kids will even be motivated to get up early and trek down to the beach in order to see the seals fishing in the surf and the dolphins feeding just offshore.
Mealtimes are always a bit special in the backcountry, even when it’s something simple like hamburgers and baked beans. On hikes, I can usually coax another mile out of my young ones with yogurt-covered raisins or trail mix, which is special to them since they don’t get that at home. S’mores or popcorn is a special treat that, of course, the kids really enjoy.
The ability to have a campfire is probably the single biggest reason that we tend to camp in campgrounds, instead of dispersed camping on federal land. The campfire is always the center of activity when we are camping, whether its s’mores or an game of Uno®. In some of the places we camp, an early evening campfire is almost essential to keep the mosquitoes at bay!
What are some of your favorite camping activities?
See also…
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Posted by Roy Scribner on under Camping & Kids, Family Camping, Hiking, camp, campfire, camping activities, camping trip, experiences, family, hike, kids, wildlife |
As the year draws to a close, I’m looking forward to all the great camping trips we have planned for the coming year and I wonder what new experiences are in store for us. I don’t know if we’re disorganized or just easy going, but we never have a pre-planned agenda, when we head-off on our outdoor excursions. If we spend an afternoon skipping rocks across a stream or hiking some backcountry trail, everybody is having a pretty good time (okay, my younger two are probably whining at the two-mile mark, if we’re hiking!).
One thing that we all like to do is look for different kinds of wildlife. It’s one thing to look at pictures of bald eagles online, or in a book, but to actually see them in the wild is a special treat for us. We are fortunate, here in northern California, to have access to an abundant range of wildlife. It’s not uncommon for us to spot deer on our hikes, even in the middle of the afternoon.
When we are camping at the beach, the kids will even be motivated to get up early and trek down to the beach in order to see the seals fishing in the surf and the dolphins feeding just offshore.
Mealtimes are always a bit special in the backcountry, even when it’s something simple like hamburgers and baked beans. On hikes, I can usually coax another mile out of my young ones with yogurt-covered raisins or trail mix, which is special to them since they don’t get that at home. S’mores or popcorn is a special treat that, of course, the kids really enjoy.
The ability to have a campfire is probably the single biggest reason that we tend to camp in campgrounds, instead of dispersed camping on federal land. The campfire is always the center of activity when we are camping, whether its s’mores or an game of Uno®. In some of the places we camp, an early evening campfire is almost essential to keep the mosquitoes at bay!
What are some of your favorite camping activities?
See also…
Have you subscribed to my newsletter? I publish it once a month with articles that are unique to the newsletter and not found in the RSS or email feeds.
Posted by Roy Scribner on August 26, 2009 under Camping, camping activities, kids, koa campgrounds, things to do |
Okay, maybe that’s not all she wants for her birthday, but with Chuck E. Cheese’s® just down the road, a bounce park in town and the lure of a sleepover party with her favorite friends, it makes this dad proud to say that his soon-to-be nine year old daughter chose a camping trip for her birthday. Camping has been a part of our kid’s lives just like going to movies or maybe a restaurant. It’s still something that is special to them, but it surprises me that they still get excited about it since it’s something that we do pretty regularly.
Because this is still a child’s birthday, though, she didn’t select just any regular camping spot to spend our weekend at. A normal camping trip for us is to get away from the crowds by heading up into the Sierras, or one of the lesser-known beaches along the central California coast. But not this time. On this weekend, we will brave the crowds at what has to be one of the more extravagant KOA campgrounds in the country – the Santa Cruz / Monterey Bay KOA. Hey, it’s a little girl’s birthday!
2006 Gilroy Garlic Festival - is that the smallest harness you have?
This won’t exactly be “roughing it” by any stretch of the imagination, but this place is a kid’s dream, with a train, a jumping pillow (I didn’t know what that was either – the kids did, though), a mechanical bull, a huge playground, an outdoor theater and the list goes on. They even have a climbing wall and a climbing rock, which my daughter is really excited about because she has been climbing since she was five.
It’s important to keep the kids interested in the outdoors and particularly in family outdoor activities. If that means enduring a weekend at a commercial campground once in awhile, I think I can live with that. I know that they will have a great time and I’m confident that they will still love the crisp mountain air and the quiet sounds of nature, next time.
See also…
Resources: Free eBook: Introduction To Family Camping
All I want for my birthday is to go camping
